Manufacturing capability
Prototype & First-Article Development
The gap between a drawing and a part you can hold is where most programmes lose time. Our laser cuts without tooling, our tool room builds simple soft fixtures quickly, and our press line covers 20 to 250 tonnes — so we can usually produce a representative first article in days rather than the weeks a hard tool demands.
Tooling-free first parts
For flat and profiled components, the laser produces a real part in the real material straight from your DXF or STEP file. No die, no tooling cost, no waiting.
For formed parts we can often use soft or temporary tooling to prove geometry before committing to a production die — which means design changes discovered at first article cost a fixture modification instead of a die rebuild.
Feedback you can act on
Because our tool room designs the production tooling, the people reviewing your prototype are the people who will have to make it repeatably at volume. Feedback on draw ratios, bend reliefs, hole-to-edge distances and weld access comes from that perspective, not from a sales desk.
If a feature is going to cause a tooling problem at 50,000 pieces, the prototype stage is when you want to hear it.
A clean path into production
Prototypes made here transfer into production here. The material, the process route and the inspection method are already established — so first-article approval on the production tool is a shorter conversation.
Several of our longest-running programmes began as a small trial batch that never needed re-sourcing.
Typical applications
- First-article samples
- Design validation batches
- Fit and function trials
- Pre-production pilot runs
- Design-for-manufacture review
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Other capabilities
Let's talk
Send us your drawings — we'll take it from there.
From RFQ to first article to volume supply. Upload a PDF, DWG, DXF or STEP file and we will come back within one working day.