Cosworth revs into aviation

UK engineering firm Cosworth's name and the sound of its engines are instantly recognisable by two generations of racing fans. For four decades since 1967, the DFV and its successors made the UK engineering firm the second most successful engine manufacturer in Formula 1. Its expertise went beyond the track. The limited-edition Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 rally car - which now sits alongside more than a dozen engines in the museum room at its Northampton factory - was a must-have for many a 1980s whizz-kid executive.

Cosworth's Formula 1 days came to an abrupt close at the end of the 2006 season, when Williams switched to Toyota engines. But like several companies that have established their reputation in the UK's motor sport sector, Cosworth is turning to aerospace. It is harnessing its skills in precision-engineering prismatic components in a tier of the supply chain that may be less glamorous and high profile, but, according to chief executive Tim Routsis, offers a more secure long-term revenue stream than the "near-term, instant gratification, but instant-on, instant-off" business of motor sport.

Accreditation

The company, which employs around 150 people in Northampton (many fewer than in its Formula 1 heyday), and a further 50 in a subsidiary in Torrance, California, has just marked the award of its AS/EN9100 accreditation to manufacture aerospace products. This was prompted by its biggest aerospace customer, US general aviation engine manufacturer Lycoming, which in May handed Cosworth a seven-year $20 million deal to supply forged pistons. Cosworth is investing more than $2 million in Takisawa equipment to produce the parts.

Cosworth has also secured contracts with UK-based manufacturers GE Aviation (the former Smiths Aerospace) and Messier-Dowty, to produce parts for the Piaggio P180 Avanti's landing gear. Although the company is still involved in the automotive sector, producing motor sport components and aftermarket parts for the thriving performance car market in California, and running an engineering consultancy arm in Northampton, aerospace now accounts for a fast-growing 20% of the business, or around $2 million annual revenues. But that is set to grow fairly quickly to about half. "The rate of growth over the past two and a half years has been 50-80% year on year," says Routsis. "Since October, we have secured $35 million of aerospace contracts and it shows no signs of slowing down."

Cosworth - founded in 1956 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth - went through various owners before ending up with Vickers in the 1990s and then Ford, which sold it on as part of a disposal of non-core businesses three years ago to two investors, Kevin Kalk­hoven and Gerald Forsythe, who are behind the Champ Car World Series. Cosworth had been run by Ford with a "cost-centre mentality", as a technology incubator with little emphasis on profitability or third-party revenues, and Routsis says he was brought in to "create a sustainable, long-term business".

The first step was to "sit down and ask what is it we are good at that we can apply to other industries, where there is a clear synergy. Aerospace was an obvious fit."

The end of the Formula 1 contract accelerated the diversification and Routsis has been pleased with the response to a new name in aerospace. "It has been very gratifying to see what reception Cosworth gets," he says. However, although Cosworth's past glories may "get us through the door, it's more about what you do next". What Cosworth did do next was deliver on its promises. Initially awarded "distress" contracts to help with an immediate supply problem, work for companies such as GE Aviation developed into six- to 12-month deals. "It is now our intent to get these to a five-year level," says sales and marketing director Jog Lall.

Routsis admits that one of the dangers of being a name in bigspending motorsport is that potential customers assume the sector does not "understand value for money. There is concern that those attitudes become embedded in an organisation and end up as counterproductive for those who want to go outside motor sport," he says.

He hopes the award of AS/EN9100 signals Cosworth's intention to run a tight ship. But, given the amount of competition in a global industry, he does not take the aerospace work for granted. "We cannot trade on past glories," he says. "We have to invest and take on jobs that are hard."

Source: Flight International