Member Article

North Tyneside’s AIS crafts defence market niche

North Shields industrial trainer Advanced Industrial Solutions has completed more than £200k worth of business in the defence sector over the last 12 months.

The firm’s Technical division has worked on several projects over the past year to provide inspection solutions and non-destructive testing (NDT) for a variety of clients in the industry.

These projects have included preventative maintenance work on specialist defence equipment such as tanks, armoured vehicles and Rarden cannons in order to identify potential component failures and ensure smooth running of the equipment.

Earlier this year, Advanced Industrial Solutions invested in a new NDT centre to complement its existing 20-acre industrial training village on North Tyneside, enabling it to offer NDT component inspection services onsite and in-house, as well as courses in ultrasonic testing, magnetic particle, dye penetrant, eddy current, weld inspection and radiography interpretation.

AIS Technical’s business development manager, Martin Cox, said: “We have substantial expertise in the defence market and all of the essential personnel security checks in place to enable us to work on what can sometimes be highly confidential and sensitive projects.

“Our reputation in the sector is growing and the large amount of defence contracts we’ve completed in the past year is certainly evidence of this.

“Inspection and NDT is relatively new for the land defence industry but companies are now following the lead of those in the aerospace sector and implementing regular and robust equipment testing regimes.

“Preventative NDT can identify structural defects well in advance of any component potentially failing, helping to increase safety for the sector and ultimately reduce overall capital costs.

“In the coming year, we are looking to capitalise on our extensive experience and maintain the momentum by working with new and our existing clients in the defence industry.”