Three decades and counting

Now in its 30^th year, Perfect Bore Manufacturing, a leading UK manufacturer has seen many changes in the deep hole drilling subcontract market over the past three decades.

Specialising in gundrilling, deep hole boring, CHC turning, honing, CNC grinding and super-finishing, the company is continuously evolving to keep pace with customers’ exacting requirements and indeed combatting the development of machining centres and tooling advancements.

Since being sold by the US Conglomerate company, Dover Corporation Inc in 2004 the business has gone from strength to strength whilst surviving two deep recessions.

Since 2004 Perfect Bore has continued to expand through heavy investment in its machinery, management infrastructure and employees, leading to an increase in its manufacturing footprint from 6,000ft² to 32,000ft².

This investment has enabled the company to meet the increasing demands of its customers to provide additional services, including preparatory turning operations, boring and honing of billets up to 300mm diameter and 3m in length.

Its £1 million investment in a new CNC/Prismatic Drilling division, allows it to drill multiple holes in various shaped blocks and offset holes in round billets. These machines can provide cost-effective solutions to drilling holes in mould tools for high-end automotive applications, manifolds for oil and gas tool applications and plates for nuclear fabrications.

Perfect Bore successfully transitioned over to AS9100:2016 and gained ISO 14001:2015 and BS18001:2007 approvals last year. The company was accepted as a partner within the Fit for Nuclear programme during December 2015 and today is committed to providing the aerospace, defence, power generation (including nuclear) and oil and gas markets with bore solutions for highly critical parts.

The aerospace market represents an important market for Perfect Bore, where the company provides bore solutions for major OEMs with approvals from clients including Airbus, BAE, Goodrich Actuation Systems, Boeing, Moog and Rolls-Royce; supporting projects including B787 Dreamliner, A400M and A350.

Indeed, in the field of major aerospace component manufacturers, Perfect Bore’s name is renowned for quality and on-time delivery, while continual investment gives its customers the confidence to offload components that have critical geometric ID and OD requirements.

“There is currently a strong market for the construction of aircraft and we have recently seen a return of demand to the UK from low-cost manufacturing environments. UK manufacturers are valued for their quality and as a reliable source for long-term support across the total lifetime of supplied components,” reveals Perfect Bore’s manufacturing managing director, Jason Wyles.

“We offer an honest and reliable service where both quality and on-time delivery to the client is paramount. We also provide service at a price that we feel adds real value to the overall supply chain.”

Perfect Bore continuously invests in R&D to maintain its high levels of quality and product support across all of the industry sectors it serves. The company also invests heavily in the development of its machining capabilities and continually undertakes pure research on new techniques around its core deep-hole processing services.

The company is now seeing rapid growth in its’ CNC Cylindrical Grinding Division to complement its bore producing services as one of the largest subcontract suppliers in the UK, providing: high specification CNC cylindrical grinding; fully temperature controlled environment equipped with Studer S35 grinding machines; state-of-the-art measuring equipment including a Mitutoyo Laser Scan Micrometer, RA120; roundness tester and 2D colour vision system; and improved logistical management and reduction in manufacturing lead-times for parts that require honing and match grinding

By providing a comprehensive in-house service, Perfect Bore is able to afford its clients the highest levels of quality and a trusted lifetime support service. Although the company has been highly successful within the aviation sector in recent years, it will increasingly look to expand its operations within the energy and nuclear sectors over the coming months.

“Over the next 12 months we will also be looking at returning opportunities within the oil and gas tool sector,” Mr Wyles concludes. “We will also be looking to explore opportunities within the nuclear industry in both new build and decommissioning applications.

“We are fully on-board with our Fit for Nuclear programme and are endeavouring to seek partnerships wherever possible. We would welcome the opportunity to provide a service to prospective clients that require a trusted supplier that has the approvals to cement a strong relationship.”

Perfect Bore www.pbm-ltd.com