Castle wins record £80m Rolls-Royce aerospace deal

Family-owned manufacturer Castle Precision Engineering has landed a record aerospace order with Rolls-Royce, as it targets annual revenues of £25 million.

Warren East, chief executive of Rolls-Royce and Yan Tiefenbrun, managing director of Castle Precision Engineering. Picture: Contributed

The Glasgow-based firm, which was founded in 1951 and is still run by the Tiefenbrun family, has secured a contract with the global aerospace engineer valued at £80m on a six-year programme, the largest order in Castle’s history.

It comes as the company announced it is forecasting an increase in sales from £15m in 2016 to £25m by next year.

The new agreement continues a 35-year relationship between the two firms, and will see Castle supply Rolls-Royce with compressor cones, shafts, spacers, and turbine seal plates for the Trent family of aero-engines.

Castle, which employs some 120 people, manufactures high precision critical gas turbine components for the aerospace industry, as well as complex prismatic parts for the defence industry.

Managing director Yan Tiefenbrun, son of former MD Marcus and the third generation of the Tiefenbrun family to lead Castle, said: “To significantly grow our activity with Rolls-Royce, a giant in the global aerospace industry, is a privilege and a fantastic endorsement of the high-quality precision engineering work we deliver here in the UK.

“It is the biggest order in our 67-year history and the whole Castle Precision team is looking forward to furthering our relationship with this key customer, continuing to supply precision machined, critical rotatives.”

In 2013, the company was selected for the aerospace business transformation programme Sharing in Growth, supported by the Regional Growth Fund and more than £150m in private investment.

Endorsed by a number of industry giants, including Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce, the programme is tasked with helping the UK advanced manufacturing supply chain become more competitive and win a larger share of global aerospace contracts.

As part of this, Castle has undergone a business change programme to improve performance and deliver leaner operations, including introducing manufacturing cells to reduce lead-time and boost productivity.

Chief executive at Rolls-Royce Warren East added: “There is a national need for competitive and match-fit suppliers who are able to win work from companies like Rolls-Royce.

“What Castle has done is what we all do every day: look at our costs and how we can reduce them, look at how we increase the quality of what we do, and look at how – through clear leadership, technical and business process innovation – we can make our business more competitive and win more orders.”