Supplying nickel alloy wire to nuclear industry boosts growth

Supplying high performance nickel alloy wire to the growing nuclear power industry is helping a British manufacturer expand.

Employing 31 people across sites in the West Midlands and Yorkshire, the company is on course to hit £1 million of sales for this industry for the first time in 73 years, and the management team believe its ability to fulfil orders in three weeks is a big factor in this increase.

It also pointed to the way a lot of the nickel alloy wire in its range can be treated with a special process that can offer the critical performance required to operate in one of the most demanding business arenas in the world.

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“We have been supplying into this sector for a long-time and our track record for manufacturing quality is well known with customers in both the UK and overseas,” explained Mark Venables, managing director of AWI.

He added: “The last nine months have definitely been our busiest time to date and we are supplying wire that is going into both existing plants and also new projects taking shape across the globe.

“Companies need to know the material they’ve ordered will withstand harsh temperatures/corrosion and is manufactured in accordance with strict quality controls. With the world relying on nuclear power more than ever, any type of disruption would impact on a lot of people.”

AWI is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of round, flat and profile wire.

It has over 200 tonnes of EU/DFARS approved stock available at any one time, with its 60-strong range including Inconel 600, Inconel 718, Inconel 750, Nimonic 80A and Nimonic 90 – all materials suited to nuclear applications.

The firm’s emergency manufacturing service, which involves wire being produced and delivered within a few days, has also been in high demand, up nearly 15% on the same period last year.

This underlines the fluctuating requests being placed on spring makers supplying into nuclear and the importance of being able to access material quickly to meet sudden spikes in usage.

Mr Venables continued: “Investment in our manufacturing capabilities and our technical team allow us to offer this unique service and we have spent over £250,000 already this year in the acquisition of 560mm single block and 200mm multi-block drawing machines.

“This has increased our capacity to be able to take on even more nuclear work as we look to build on a record year in this sector.”

AWI www.alloywire.com