Collaboration is the key as Sarginsons Technology Centre goes from strength to strength
By Gavin Shipley, Sarginsons Technology Centre manager
Although the last few weeks have been tough in business, our Technology Centre is proving to be a real success story.
By putting collaboration at the heart of everything we do, we are seeing new enquiries from incredibly prestigious names in the world of manufacturing, and we are starting to see existing work come to fruition.
Our investment in X-ray technology, multiple seats of CAD software, Magma mathematical testing and our 3D scanning mean we can help develop products from scratch, test them and prove their capabilities – making us a true partner to our clients rather than just another supplier.
Many of you will have read the headlines at the turn of the year about our work with Char.gy which is seeing us making standalone charging bollards and lamppost mounted units for electric vehicles.
This work includes making, assembling and testing the units, and the first of them are set to be installed in Coventry in the coming weeks as our team have been able to continue working on this project safely.
More and more towns and cities in the UK are looking very seriously at the Char.gy concept and there is even interest from abroad. These are exciting times, and a great example of how we can work in partnership with a business to get a concept off the ground before supporting with production.
And, staying on the subject of Char.gy, we are working in collaboration with the company in the early stages of a new development in electric vehicle charging – contactless induction units.
This is just in the early stage testing phase and we have been chosen as a partner to design and develop the housing for the units with first prototypes set to be ready in June. Again, this is very exciting, ground-breaking and state-of-the-art technology that we are supporting.
It’s another example of why we have taken the decision to really invest in our technology and, just as importantly, in the skills of those people who operate it.
Further to that, we are working on a funding bid with a major high-performance vehicle brand to develop a new, lightweight modular rear subframe wishbone solution for its electric vehicle range.
This is technology that will be really pushing boundaries and it would see us make further significant investments in the Sarginsons Technology Centre by expanding our ‘Digital Twin’ facilities through investment in Magma stress analysis software, enhanced measurement capabilities (including programmable digital scanning), printed core development and further low pressure die casting plant. Watch this space.
And, finally for now, we are also embarking on an aerospace casting development in new collaborations with the Aerospace Technology Institute and its partners, with a particular focus on providing innovative, efficient and sustainable solutions to the industry.
Its focus is on how to reduce the cost and weight of parts that are manufactured from solid aluminium, and has seen us looking at new alloys that would see waste material reduced but meets all of the necessary standards when it comes to strength and fatigue.
Again, it’s an industry that has been adversely affected more than others during this pandemic and we are delighted to be partnering with them at this time to find a solution that could bring future benefits.
It’s what collaboration is all about.
We have just published a Design for Manufacture white paper on our website, which can be found here: http://sarginsons.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sarg-DfM-Guide_v3-20_05_20.pdf