“Production of the complex STARStreak canister [has] boosted CCP Gransden’s reputation in the manufacturing sector”. CCP Gransden’s collaboration with Thales has been featured on page 27 of the ‘Economic Impact of Thales in Northern Ireland’ report by Oxford Economics.
CCP Gransden is a leading specialist in advanced composite manufacture that started working with Thales after taking part in a joint research project that was organised through the Northern Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering Centre. Its ongoing collaboration with Thales Belfast has played a crucial role in the development of its productive capacity and opened the door to new opportunities and customers. CCP Gransden’s move into high-specification advanced composites was accompanied by considerable capital investment, with a focus on quality, speed, and automation.
Jim Erskine, Managing Director of CCP Gransden, said: “Thales have taken us under their wing and have been extremely supportive in a number of areas, from prompt payments, to sharing development costs and introducing us to other opportunities where composites can be used. We have also gained hugely from the fact that Thales are located only 15 minutes from our offices as this has enabled us to work very collaboratively with a high level of trust.”
“We are the first company in Northern Ireland that Thales has sponsored to carry out the Supplier Chains for the 21st Century (SC21) Supplier Certification Programme. The scheme helps suppliers to meet certain standards of quality, delivery and good business practice, whilst raising the performance of aerospace and defence industry supply chains.”
Having showcased its capabilities and built confidence between both parties, CCP Gransden was commissioned by Thales Belfast to manufacture the cannister for its close-range guided weapon system STARStreak, which was used to provide air defence at the 2012 London Olympics.
Jim states “One of the products that we make for Thales is a missile system filament wound launch canister which is assembled from over 50 different parts. Over 50% of these parts are made locally, which demonstrates how the benefits of our partnership with Thales are being shared across Northern Ireland.”
Engagement with a large corporate necessitated upgrades of CCP Gransden’s existing business capabilities in areas such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), traceability, and billing of materials, enhancing its production standards, and improving CCP Gansden’s offering for other customers.