In our Suppliers’ Spotlight series, the best in British engineering and manufacturing and members of Team AW149 UK tell their story.
Team AW149 UK is Leonardo’s onshore supply chain for the AW149 helicopter. Featuring more than 70 companies from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Team AW149 UK members play a vital role in the latest-generation AW149.
Aerco Ltd based in Horsham, West Sussex, was formed in 1956 by Bill Laughton. The company is a stockist and distributor of electrical components, supplying companies within the aerospace, defence, medical, industrial, rail and transportation markets worldwide.
Founder Bill had trained as an RAF Aircraft Radio Engineer and spent time working at Gatwick, before it was the airport it is today, on various aircraft flown by the early commercial freight and passenger operators.
Bill took the decision to work for himself and rented a small workshop in Horsham, and began taking on similar work for those operators and others. The business thrived and developed from there. After some years, the technologies changed and there was little requirement for that work due to the aircraft being installed with radio equipment in the first instance.
Bill decided to adapt the business to become a stockist of the electrical components he had been working with. He developed this idea over many years and the business became a franchised distributor of electrical components serving not only the aircraft market, but also other equipment manufacturers, notably in the defence market.
Rob Laughton, Managing Director of Aerco, commented: “As he was approaching the age of 70, my father suggested I might take an interest in helping to manage Aerco. I had developed a career in IT and marketing, and I was happy to help. My first job was to introduce computers to the operation. A couple of years later we decided that I should take over management of the business, and my wife and I moved from Essex to West Sussex together with our (then) young family.”
When Rob joined the Aerco business, the-then Westland Helicopters was an important customer to whom Aerco supplied products, such as navigation lighting, cockpit lighting and dimmers, switches and connectors.
“Allow the clock to tick on about 20 years and you find me still engaged at Aerco as managing director, with my wife Fiona, son Harry and daughter Amy all involved. Aerco employs about 50 people and we continue as a stockist and distributor of electrical components servicing the high quality manufacturing companies in the UK, including Leonardo of course,” noted Rob.
When his father first transformed the business from radio engineering to a component stockist, the very model of “distribution” in the supply chain was a novel idea. Industry is now completely adjusted to the benefits of fast delivery from stock and being able to focus procurement on a small number of nimble suppliers. It has been Aerco’s concentration on these benefits which has enabled it to continue providing service to Leonardo as it has consolidated its many acquisitions over the years.
Aerco has been able to benefit more and more from new opportunities as Leonardo has searched out the best performers in its supply chain through those consolidations. Aerco has benefited from the consolidation and expansion that Leonardo has achieved, and is now supplying components to Leonardo’s businesses throughout the UK, Europe and the USA.
Other customers include primes and OEMs. The components that supplied are manufactured by TT Electronics, Honeywell, TE Connectivity, Smiths Interconnect, plus further smaller and more specialist component manufacturers, many of which are based in the UK.
Rob said: “Aerco is delighted to be part of the Leonardo AW149 Team which is focussed on the delivery of yet another great helicopter series designed and manufactured by the UK’s aviation industry.”