JJ Churchill
What we do:
JJ Churchill is a family business dating back to 1937.
The company works at the very sharp end of the aerospace industry undertaking high precision machining.
It is one of the few companies in the world making the smaller turbine blades for jet engines.
Compressor blades (the big ones at the front) squeeze air to increase its pressure. The air is then mixed with fuel and ignited, with the resulting hot gases powering the turbine blades set deep inside the engine. These play a central role in providing thrust for the aircraft.
Turbine blades must endure the most intense heat and operate under immense stress. Although only a few centimetres long they must withstand forces equivalent to a weight of about 10 tonnes (equivalent to 4.5 Range Rovers) hanging off them.
Generally much smaller than compressor blades, turbine blades must withstand far greater stresses and extremes of temperature and have very exacting specifications.
The manufacturing process involves machining high-strength nickel-titanium-aluminium alloys pieces, with an accuracy of up to 6 micrometres - that's about 1/5 of the diameter of your hair.
These components must be so precise firstly to give incredible efficiency but secondly because any imbalance could create damaging vibrations in the engine.
So next time you're on a flight, and the Rolls-Royce logo sits proudly on the engines; it could be that the team at JJ Churchill has made critical parts helping you reach your destination.
Why we do it:
Making things promotes psychological well-being. It gives us meaning and pride.
Even though machines play a big part at JJ Churchill, they are the high-tech, equivalent of the hand-tools our forebears would have used to build things. They are just tools to make something incredibly accurately - and after all the machines themselves were in turn created by people.
Something is satisfying about seeing a component, made to exacting technological demands, leave the workshops for installation in an aircraft engine.
With it goes the knowledge that it will eventually help transport people around the world.
The People who do it:
With a team of around 160, JJ Churchill is small enough for everyone to know each other, yet big enough to be a global force in the aerospace sector.
Having invested in some of the most sophisticated precision engineering machinery available, the team is now working at the very sharp end of technology, with a level of precision few engineering companies around the world can match.
It means everyone from the purchasing team, CAD Designers, programmers, CNC machinists, toolmakers, hand polishers, quality checkers and dispatch team all recognising their role in the process. This is about teamwork.
The outcome is a hard-earned reputation of being trusted by Rolls-Royce as a Tier 1 supplier.
Meeting such challenges and answering them is what drives the team forward.
It means always having to be innovative, balanced by a very sound understanding of engineering constraints.
Quality Management SystemBS EN ISO9001:2015/• AS EN 9100 - Revision DEnvironmental Management SystemBS EN ISO 14001:2015Specialist Process Approvals:NADCAP Non-destructive TestingNADCAP Chemical ProcessingNADCAP WeldingNADCAP Nonconventional MachiningCustomer-specific Accreditations:Rolls-Royce UKRoll-Royce Deutschland
