Coventry engineering firm selected as partner for £14m casting centre

COVENTRY engineering firm Sarginsons Industries has been announced as the casting partner at the new £14m National Advanced Metal Casting Centre.

The new partnership will push Sarginsons – one of the UK’s most advanced aluminium diecasting firms – to the forefront of world casting technology as it helps to bridge the gap between fundamental research and full-scale industrial trials.

As part of its new role as official industrial partner for Brunel University-based AMCC, Sarginsons is currently shipping out a Jaguar Land Rover diecasting tool, used to create parts such as castings for safety critical chassis components, to Italy where it will be loaded into a new low pressure diecasting machine being readied for installation at the new AMCC research building.

Once installed at the AMCC, the casting cell will be supported by Sarginsons team of engineers, who will provide all the technical expertise required to operate the unit in a £250,000 investment from the Coventry engineering firm over five years.

In return, Sarginsons will have access to the university’s best postgraduate research students, harnessing their ideas and creativity to develop workable industrial solutions.

Sarginsons said the research and development facilities provided through the new Brunel University partnership would help reaffirm its position as a centre of excellence and showcase its capabilities in the sector to potential new clients.

The Coventry firm is now looking to double its turnover and increase its workforce over the next three years.

Anthony Evans, managing director at the firm, said: “We are proud and delighted to be a casting partner for the National Advanced Metal Casting Centre at Brunel University.

“The partnership will be of great benefit to both parties with the objectives of the centre focused on bridging the gap between new alloy innovations developed by the university’s Centre for Advanced Solidification and the full scale industrial trials.

“We are able to bring decades of hands-on industry expertise, knowledge and innovation, developed from working on a range of exciting automotive projects, to fit with the insight and creativity offered by the research team at Brunel University.”

The AMCC is jointly funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Jaguar Land Rover, the aluminium automotive sheet and extrusions solutions provider Constellium and Brunel University.

The centre has several key objectives that focus on producing innovative solutions to using newly developed alloys and metallurgical advancements. One particular key aim is to develop techniques that produce lighter and sustainable products using advanced manufacturing techniques.

Sarginsons was established more than 75 years ago and counts JLR, Caterpillar, Bombardier, JCB, Aston Martin and Rotork among its client base.