Award-winning friction welding machine manufacturer Thompson has signalled its ambitions to further build on its success in the aerospace market with the appointment of a dedicated sales manager for the sector.
Simon Jones, who joined the Halesowen-based company in 2005, has been promoted from his role as head of sales for Asia to the new position of global aerospace sales manager.
His responsibilities not only include developing new business for Thompson's well-established range of rotary friction welders, but also its new series of linear friction welding machines, which are specially designed for joining aero components.
Rob Stevens has succeeded Simon as Thompson's Asia sales manager and was previously global business development manager at NIS, a specialist integrated engineering company. A graduate in manufacturing engineering, he has also worked for Rolls-Royce and Siemens.
"The creation of a dedicated aerospace sales manager position underlines Thompson's commitment to further expanding its presence in the worldwide aerospace market, a key objective for the company following the development of our new linear friction welding machinery," explained Nick Edge, Thompson's global sales manager.
Thompson, the holder of a Queen's Award for Enterprise (International Trade), says its linear friction welding equipment can produce components at a fraction of the cost of other traditional manufacturing methods. Visit www.linearfrictionwelding.com for more details.
Leading independent research organisation, The Welding Institute, has just ordered an E20 linear machine for its facility in Cambridge and will use it for welding a variety of aero parts such as blisks in a selection of materials including titanium, nickel and aluminium alloys.
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