Take-off time for manufacturer with sights set on aerospace market

Thanks to help from MAS East Midlands to secure ISO9001 certification for the design and manufacture of precision engineered components, Micron Design has positioned itself to win more orders from the aerospace sector and expand its business further.

Neil Johnson is the joint owner and general manager of the company which employs 11 workers and is based at New Star Road in the city. He said: "ISO9001 is the recognised quality management standard that's required before firms like ours can become accredited suppliers to the aerospace industry. Our skills base and capabilities are well-matched to this sector, so it's a natural move for us to progress in this direction. And obviously increasing our turnover in this area will mean a more secure future for Micron and its employees."

Micron's current customers include BAe Systems Limited; US laboratory instruments giant, Mettler-Toledo; Taylor Hobson; De Montfort University and Contour Premium Aircraft Seating.

"We knew it would be very time-consuming trying to interpret all the requirements needed to attain the standard single-handed and that MAS had the expertise in-house to guide us through the process," Neil continued.

The funding and practical support and training for staff about the procedures it needed to adopt to win the ISO9001 certification came through MAS EM's LiftOff scheme, which helps aerospace businesses in disadvantaged parts of the East Midlands to boost their profits.

To gain IS0 9001 certification, a company must show that it has the systematic controls and improvement activities in place to satisfy the needs and expectations of its customers.

Richard Hopkinson, the practitioner assigned to Micron Design from MAS, helped the company develop its quality management system which meant breaking down its business processes and putting in place the performance measures required.

Neil added: "We were extremely impressed with Richard's understanding of the quality standards and his professionalism - just what we needed to secure accreditation at our first attempt. He also managed to foster a very positive relationship with our staff which enabled us all to appreciate what we needed to do to achieve registration and the reasons why."

The LiftOff programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is heavily subsidised and is available to manufacturing companies, which are connected to the aerospace industry and based in an Objective 2 area of the region. It can provide help on a range of business areas including developing new workforce skills, introducing new business competencies and processes plus marketing support to look at new markets and diversification.

MAS is looking for companies to take advantage of this offer before the end of March. To find out if your company is eligible to benefit from LiftOff, log onto www.mas-em.org.uk or call 01664 501301.

MAS can also help small and medium-sized companies outside the aerospace sector to improve their competitiveness.