A long-established reputation for working closely with the customer, investing in the latest equipment to ensure high-quality standards and an enduring workforce have resulted in sizeable export growth in recent years for a UK-based aluminium foundry.
About Harrison Castings
The name Harrison Castings is recognised because of the longevity of the company and the ability to work with a range of customers including Tier 1 companies and OEMs.
As one of the largest aluminium sand casting foundries in the UK, Harrison Castings has long been regarded as a trailblazer because of its versatility and non-reliance on the automotive sector.
Indeed customers hail from a vast number of non-automotive sectors and have benefitted from the company’s dedicated workforce, borne out of a mentality that stems from a 100-year history as a family business, growing and developing for modern times.
Harrison Castings produces over 1,500 tonnes of quality aluminium sand castings a year, manufacturing large quantities of small castings or large aluminium sand castings up to 350kg in weight.
Business growth
The expansive production facilities in Leicester and an army of satisfied customers have also attracted attention from clients around the world leading to significant growth in export orders, most notably to Europe, Scandinavia and the United States.
Over the past three years, the export order book has risen from around five per cent to over 20 per cent and whilst this growth rate is exceptional, it is understandable considering the company’s ability to maintain a loyal customer base at home and overseas thanks to an ongoing commitment to investment and development.
Managing director Mick Jenney told Castings Buyer:
“Many of our customers have been with us for several years, including a Swedish customer who we have been supplying for fifteen years. We have good relationships with customers because we are willing to work closely with them, in fact, we encourage that.”
This approach results in the customer getting exactly what they want and the extensive expertise and technical abilities of the Harrison Castings workforce enables complete project support from conception to production and beyond.
“We are able to respond quickly and the world is getting smaller so we can be proactive, which is a bonus for our customers,” Jenney says.
Continuous investment
The company’s investment in plant and people has brought recognition from its peers with a Best of British Company Achievement Award in 2017 and being shortlisted in the Best of British Component of the Year Award in 2018 for a huge diesel, engine sump casting measuring over two metres long. Over 70 of these castings have now been produced, with zero failure rate, for one of the world’s largest diesel engine manufacturers. The new concept castings have enabled the customer to double the working time of their engines, reduce the frequency of planned preventative maintenance and reduce downtime, leading to significant cost savings.
This is just one example of the company’s continued desire to develop its own capabilities.
“We have been around for one hundred and nine years and we are still learning,” Jenney says.
It is not merely that the company continues to learn, moreover, it is a willingness to continue to push boundaries and offer exceptional aluminium cast solutions whether raw castings or fully machined components for development prototypes, small and medium batch sizes or series production.
One of the most recent investments is in the latest Magmasoft simulation package to enable even more pre-planning and ensure a more robust service for customers.
The recent ongoing proven track record in export sales now means even more Tier 1 companies and OEMs from around the world are taking advantage of the services offered by one of the UK’s largest aluminium sand casting foundries, with full confidence that Harrison Castings will get the job done as required, on time and with minimum concerns.
Customer Markets
- Defence
- Energy
- General Engineering
- Glass Container Manufacturing
- Hardness Testing
- Heat Exchangers
- High Horse Power Engines
- Medical
- Off Highway
This article was originally published in the Foundry Trade Journal, Castings Buyer Summer 2019 edition.
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