Founded in 1856 (the same year as The Engineer magazine) Kendal-based Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd has long been at the forefront of the hydro-electric turbine and engine cooling pump market. The company's pedigree stems from its explicit commitment to quality. However, when it comes to the manufacturing of turbine runners, quality has often come at a cost."Turbine runners are traditionally cast and polished by hand, a laborious task taking hundreds of man hours," said Rebecca Sandham, Gilkes' Head of Operations. "We have always had our own in-house machine shop, but have often had to subcontract the machining of runners, before finishing the process in-house. While this was a functional way of operating, deep down we knew it was also becoming limiting."Historically, the machining of a turbine runner resulted in one of the longest lead times of each project. With a view to increasing Gilkes' competitiveness, in 2019, Sandham set the challenge of fully machining a turbine runner from a solid billet of material, in-house, by the end of 2020.
展开▼
