WEST
MIDL
ANDS
CO
MP
AN
YG
UIDE7Ah
ea
di
nt
he
cl
ou
ds
No
business
can
be
said
to
be
re
cession-
pr
oof
but
Wa
rw
ickshir
e-
based
Umeco
has
mor
e
cause
than
most
to
be
optimistic
.
Du
nc
an
Ti
ft
talks
with
chief
ex
ecutiv
e
Cliv
eS
no
wd
on
to
64257nd
out
wh
y
Umeco
is
al
eading
international
provider
of
supply
chain
and
advanced
composite
mate-
rials
primarily
to
the
aerospace
and
defence
industries
.
The
major
ity
of
these
products
and
serv-
ices
are
supplied
to
major
customers
includ-
ing
Rolls-Roy
ce,
BAE
Systems,
Smiths
Industries
,G
oodrich
Aerospace,
Boeing,
Airbus,
Lockheed
Martin
and
the
US
De-
partment
of
Defence.
The
Leamington
Spa-based
group
is
man-
aged
through
two
divisions
8211S
upply
Chain
and
Composites8211
and
generated
revenue
in
the
year
to
March
2007
of
163333.9
million.
The
group,
which
employs
1,600
people
globally
,h
as
facilities
throughou
tt
he
world,
including
the
UK,
North
America,
Europe,
China,
Singapore
and
South
Africa.
Much
of
its
success
is
due
to
the
healthy
condition
of
the
global
aerospace
sector
which
has
seen
massive
orders
placed
with
leading
manufacturers
and
pioneering
devel-
opment
work
in
the
use
of
new
material
s.
8220W
ea
re
still
seeing
double-digit
growth
and
despite
the
current
climate
we
expect
this
to
continue,8221
says
chief
executive
Clive
Snowdon,
picking
up
the
story
.
That
growth
is
driven
by
several
factors.
Firstly
,a
round
70
per
cent
of
all
Umeco8217
s
business
is
derived
from
the
civil
aerospace
market
and
with
Boeing
and
Airbus
saying
they
have
something
like
as
even-year
back-
log
of
work8211
equivalent
to
around
7,300
planes
8211t
hen
suppliers
are
confident
of
work
for
some
time
to
come.
Added
to
this,
there
has
been
ah
uge
in-
crease
in
new
orders
and
the
companies
ex-
pect
to
deliver
around
950
planes
this
year
8211t
his
compares
with
831
in
2006.
Long-term
prospects
are
strong
because
of
the
level
of
economic
growth
in
the
Middle
East,
Asia
and
China.
Many
so-called
legacy
carriers
8211u
suall
yn
ational
airlines
8211w
ill
also
be
looking
to
update
their
fleets
with
more
modern,
efficient
aircraft.
Many
of
these
will
be
manu-
factured
using
revolutionary
carbon-compo
site
materials,
which
are
lighter
than
tra-
ditional
material
s
and
together
with
new-generation
engines
can
pro-
duce
more
fuel-
efficient
aircraft.
Umeco
is
help-
ing
to
pioneer
the
use
of
such
materi-
als
and
the
enlight
-
ened
approach
is
paying
dividend
s
in
terms
of
orders.
8220The
high
price
of
oil
is
helping
to
make
composites
af
ar
more
attractive
proposi-
tion,8221
says
Mr
Snowdo
n.
One
aircraft
to
feature
the
new
materials
is
the
Boeing
787
Dreamliner
.T
he
much-
delayed
project
is
expected
to
be
completed
by
quarter
four
of
2009
when
the
first
of
the
new
planes
will
be
delivered.
There
is
much
riding
on
the
project
for
the
Seattle
company
,w
hich
has
suf
fered
a
series
of
setbacks
recently
,n
otably
the
loss
to
Airbus
of
am
ajor
tanker
contract
to
the
US
Air
Force.
The
figures
involved
are
mind-boggling
.
Boeing
is
thought
to
have
orders
for
around
900
of
the
revolutionary
aircraft,
each
cost-
ing
$200
million.
8220Once
this
has
started
to
feed
into
the
in-
dustry
then
it
is
going
to
have
am
ajor
im-
pact,8221
says
Mr
Snowdo
n.
8220The
sooner
this
gets
going
the
better
as
far
as
we
are
con-
cerned
because
it
is
likely
to
sustain
our
business
for
some
time
to
come.8221
Airbus
also
has
ab
acklog
in
orders
of
189
for
its
new
super
-jumbo,
the
A380.
8220As
more
of
these
get
into
fleets,
then
again
we
will
see
our
business
grow
,8221
says
Mr
Snowdo
n.
Umeco
8211t
hrough
its
AGC
(Advanced
Composites
Group)
subsidiary
8211i
so
ne
of
a
number
of
firms
joining
Airbus
in
am
ajor
163103
million
collaborative
research
pro-
gramme
to
develop
the
Next
Generation
Composite
Wi
ng
(NGCW).
This
will
be
cru-
cial
to
the
plane
maker
and
it
is
thought
that
the
system
will
be
used
on
the
replaceme
nt
for
the
A200
series
and
A320.
The
Government
is
contributing
half
the
cost
for
what
is
seen
as
one
of
the
most
sig-
nificant
joint
aircraft
research
and
technol-
ogy
initiati
ves
in
the
UK
for
decades.
NGCW
brings
together
16
British
in-
dustrial
companies
and
research
bodies
on
the
three-year
programme.
In
addition
to
Umeco,
the
list
includes
Redditch-based
GKN,
Goodrich
Actuation
Systems,
which
has
am
ajor
operation
in
Coventry
,d
efence
group
Qinetiq,
GE
Av
iation
and
eight
re-
gional
development
agencies.
According
to
Mr
Snowd
on,
the
partner
-
ship
involvement
is
ac
onsiderable
boost
for
the
firm.
8220This
puts
us
at
the
top
table
and
we
are
very
excited
to
be
ap
art
of
it,8221
he
says.
To
maint
ain
its
position
at
the
head
of
the
pack,
the
compan
yi
sr
ecruiting
new
engi-
neers
to
work
at
its
R&D
centre
in
Derby-
shire
and
it
will
be
key
in
NGCW
develop
-
ment.
The
work
will
bring
major
benefits
in
terms
of
more
fuel
efficient
aircraft
8211b
oth
in
the
civil
and
mili
-
tary
fields.
The
technology
will
be
applied
not
just
to
medium-sized
airliners,
but
also
in
business
jets,
transport
aircraft
and
possibly
mili-
tary
jets.
Aside
from
this,
Umeco
is
also
benefiting
from
am
ajor
ex-
tension
of
its
parts
supply
contract
to
aero
engine
manufacturer
Rolls-Royce.
The
deal,
agreed
last
year
,h
as
taken
the
existing
contract
to
2015.
The
work
is
being
managed
by
Pattonair
from
its
new
1637
mil-
lion
facility
in
Derby
.
According
to
Mr
Snowdo
n,
who
was
the
recent
recipient
of
the
Entrepreneu
ro
ft
he
Ye
ar
title
for
his
work
in
transformin
gt
he
fortunes
of
Umeco
over
the
past
decade,
the
only
thing
that
would
dent
the
firm8217
sc
onfi-
dence
would
be
af
all
in
orders
for
both
Boe-
ing
and
Airbus.
Considering
the
demand
for
their
prod-
ucts,
however
,t
his
would
appear
unlikely
.8220W
ea
re
still
seeing
double
-
digit
gr
ow
th
and
,d
espit
et
he
curr
en
tc
lima
te
,
we
ex
pe
ct
this
to
co
nt
inue
,8221
sa
ys
Umec
oc
hief
ex
ecutiv
eC
liv
e
Sno
wd
on,
lef
t.
Hi
sc
ompan
y
is
helping
to
pioneer
the
use
of
mo
dern
ma
te
rials
be
ing
used
in
the
pr
od
uc
tion
of
ne
w-
gener
at
ion
jets
such
as
the
Bo
eing
787
Dr
eamliner
,
be
lo
wl
ef
t
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