Doncasters invests further in aviation future

As the commercial aircraft market bounces back, leading manufacturer of high-precision alloy engineering components, Doncasters, announced investments totaling $12.9 million in Doncasters Castings of Groton (Connecticut) and Doncasters Precision Castings – Deritend (UK).

With post-covid orders from commercial airlines higher than predicted, Doncasters is doubling the capacity of their U.S. operations in Connecticut, and more than doubling production in the shell lines at their UK site in Droitwich. This closely follows the announcement of Doncasters’ acquisition of Uni-Pol, which increased its annual revenue to over $500 million.

This is particularly good news for an industry still undergoing challenges, as evidenced by Boeing and Airbus in their recent financial reports.

Mike Quinn, CEO of Doncasters, says: “When CEOs such as Dave Calhoun and Guillaume Faury repeatedly talk of supply chain stresses and a lack of stability, we listen and we act. We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver, and these significant investments at two of our fourteen global manufacturing sites will help to alleviate some of the stresses facing our customers.

“All signs show that the aviation industry is recovering, with many predicting the industry to be back to 2019 numbers by mid-2023. One of the headwinds delaying recovery is a lack of stability in component delivery. At Doncasters we’re making sure we meet this demand, offering predictable and consistent service to OEMs.”

With these investments, Doncasters, established in 1778, will be building on its recent successes in the aerospace sector, as well as their IGT and Automotive operations. The two new robot shell lines at Doncasters Precision Castings – Deritend will be delivered by early 2023, more than doubling outputs and efficiencies.

The significant investment at Doncasters Castings of Groton will involve building an extension to their current manufacturing facility to house three robot shell coating cells, and two final drying systems. The line will commence production in 2023.

Doncasters are working with VA Technology to deliver the two upgrades.

Doncasters Structural Castings of Groton’s state-of-the-art Ceramic Shelling system will support large diameter investment cast structural castings. This 17,000ft² two-story addition to the existing manufacturing footprint is expected to enter full rate production within two years of the ground-breaking.