Low tech can be cool

Practically every engineering and manufacturing company that I’ve ever come across is on a mission to become more productive.

Machine tool manufacturers work tirelessly to squeeze every last drop of performance out of their machines; it’s all about more rpm, higher rapids, faster chip to chip times; more torque. And for cutting tool producers, optimising metal removal rates and prolonging tool life is the order of the day. Now more than ever before we live in a world where it’s all about doing things better, faster and more efficiently – driving manufacturing costs down and ramping productivity and quality up.

So when I visited Supermarine Aero Engineering in Stoke on Trent a couple of weeks ago it was like being sucked into a time vortex and transported back to 1983. I had to look twice; there wasn’t a CNC machine in sight and staff on the shopfloor seemed to be making things (wait for it) by hand! I grinned uncontrollably. This was proper engineering.

And then it all started to make sense. In the business Supermarine is in – making parts and assemblies for Spitfires – it really doesn’t matter if you don’t have the latest all singing, all dancing trillion-axis machining centre because in this line of work, customers want authenticity rather than innovation. If any one thing typifies the British Bulldog spirit of World War II it’s the iconic Spitfire and when enthusiasts and hobbyists decide to build their own, it’s not about how quickly they can get the thing in the air; no, it’s all about using parts manufactured to the original specifications and drawings using the very same methods used on the original aircraft.

I can honestly say what the guys at Supermarine didn’t know about Spitfires really wasn’t worth knowing and much of their time is spent researching and information gathering with the ultimate aim of standardising and ‘productionising’ the building of a Spitfire aircraft. The company runs on pure unadulterated passion and unbridled love for an aircraft that was simply years ahead of its time and a true feat of British engineering. You get the feeling that they’d do what they do for nothing.

My visit was particularly poignant with the recent Battle of Britain commemorations. I left the building thinking that there’s something very cool about being so unashamedly low-tech. Take a look at the article on page 32 in the October issue.