Archive for the ‘Business update’ Category

Sunday, April 1st, 2012 Plastic Moulding Success at The Big Bang Fair

ENL Limited were proud to be part of the Enstruct range of educational products at the Big Bang Fair 2012. As reported by the BBC, “Three massive halls in Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre were roaring with excited children, exploding exhibits and scientists and engineers buzzing with answers.” The three-day Fair attracted 56,000 visitors almost doubling last year’s impressive numbers.

Through a collaboration with Winchester College Head of Design Technology, Simon Tarrant, and educational supplier, Rapid, ENL Limited have brought to market a construction set that enables people of all ages to have fun whilst learn about structures and forces – how to make things stand up!

On display at the Big Bang Fair, was a full-size racing car chassis built from Enstruct parts and a selection of tubes and connectors for visitors to the show to try out on the stand. From robots to aeroplanes, the future engineers and scientists visiting the stand demonstrated that, with a bit of imagination and teamwork, it is possible to build exciting life-size structures with Enstruct.

Enstruct model developed by plastic moulding company ENL featured at the NEC's The Big Bang Fair

Saturday, the final day of the show, was probably the busiest, with around 300 people visiting the Enstruct stand. Interest came from primary school teachers through to University lecturers, as well as parents’ and their very excited children.  The show was a success as orders for Enstruct starter kits have been placed with Rapid (the exclusive distributor) since exhibiting.

Other PR events are planned to raise awareness of this new product, designed to transform the learning of science and engineering in schools and to be used for team building activities at universities, engineering firms and architectural practices.

Friday, March 16th, 2012 Aerospace brochure

ENL have been active within the aerospace market for some 50 years.  With continued investment into state-of-the-art machines and supported by the all-important AS9100 quality standard, we continue to grow within this important global business segment.

For example, ENL are proud to be supporting the Airbus A350XWB program.  This new Airbus program brings together the very latest in aerodynamics, design and advanced technologies in the A350 XWB to provide a 25 per cent step-change in fuel efficiency compared to its current long-range competitor. Contributing to this performance are the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines that power the A350 XWB family.

Over 70 per cent of the A350 XWB’s weight-efficient airframe is made from advanced materials, combining 53 per cent of composite structures with titanium and advanced aluminum alloys. The aircraft’s innovative all-new Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) fuselage results in lower fuel consumption, as well as easier maintenance.

ENL are a key supplier for the fuel-pipe application which uses a moulded Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), a semicrystalline thermoplastic which operates at extremely high temperatures (260 degrees celsius). PEEK has one the lightest strength to weight ratios and exhibits outstanding resistance to aggressive chemicals.

To celebrate our success, we commissioned a new brochure that describes our aerospace services. You can read it by clicking on the following link: ENL-Aerospace-web.

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 Ethical investment

ENL’s social conscience can be seen in our support and investment in education. With a view to extending our in-house apprenticeship program and encouraging the engineers and scientists of the future, ENL has been working with Simon Tarrant of Winchester College in the development and production of a novel new concept, Enstruct.

In exchange for an exclusive manufacturing license, ENL provided all the tooling that has facilitated this new design becoming reality.

Enstruct is a connector system that is designed for use in educational establishments that teach the basics of structure and forces. It enables individuals or groups to create life size structures including bridges, car chassis or light aircraft, bringing the theoretical forces taught in schools to life. Enstruct can be utilized in Science and Drama lessons and its application extends to team building exercises & problem solving and due to its structural strength, to the provision of emergency shelters in disaster zones.

Enstruct was launched to much applause at the Design & Technology with ICT Education Show, at the NEC last year and can be bought online at www.rapidonline.com/enstruct.

Thursday, January 5th, 2012 Slovak facility expands

To fully engage with the rapid expansion in the automotive industry in Eastern Europe, ENL Slovakia has just purchased a Citizen A32 Sliding Head Lathe that can turn up to 32mm bar.

This will help ENL fulfill the new 10-year contract they have signed. This new machine ensures that ENL can continue to deliver exceptional quality in-house as well as managing the increase in volume that follows the new contract.

The Citizen A32 has been commissioned and has already produced 10,000 steel inserts over-molded with plastic for their ongoing automotive contract. As ENL are in a period of rapid expansion and development, we have bought another two lathes that will be delivered in 2013 and 2014.

Ben Sheppard, the General Manager in Slovakia, is very excited about this ‘seriously nice piece of equipment’. It holds a 22μ (micron) tolerance, has a Cpk of 5.3 and is more than 2.5x faster than the current machines used by our closest competitors!’

To support this growth the office team has expanded by 30% including new quality and technical roles.