Expansion at Atomising Systems
The company’s new apprentices with Simon Dunkley (centre). Left to right: Ashley Coe, Steven Parker, Natalie Galt and Ben Twomey
Atomising Systems Ltd, Sheffield, UK, has reported that it has expanded its workforce to cope with a major influx of orders for metal powder. Staff numbers at its Darnall facility have increased from 35 in September 2014 to over 60 in June 2015 to allow the company’s two 500 kW melting furnaces to operate at maximum output to service an order book stretching into 2016.
The company, which as well as manufacturing metal powders is a major supplier of equipment for the atomisation of metals, has taken on four new apprentices to join several that were hired two years ago and who are now finishing their training.
As well as hiring enough staff to operate the existing plant at maximum output, ASL is investing heavily in new equipment. A £100,000 major upgrade of the gas atomiser is in hand, while a large new sieving station of similar cost has just been put into production on special steel grades.
After some tough times, it is very gratifying to see our investment in plant and research at last paying dividends
Further investments include a new instrument using laser diffraction to measure particle sizes as fine as one micron and the QC laboratory is being expanded with the addition of an oxygen analysing system.
Simon Dunkley, who took over management of the company from his father, Dr John Dunkley, in 2010 stated, “After some tough times, it is very gratifying to see our investment in plant and research at last paying dividends. It is particularly pleasing to be able to offer so many young people the opportunity to work in a leading-edge technical environment that allows so much scope for them to develop their talents. Our recent investments should further allow us to fulfil the exacting demands of leading metal powder users around the world.”
