Alloy Heat Treatment (AHT) are delighted to be involved in the Quicksilver World Water Speed Record project. The project is a collaborative venture uniting highly-skilled people and firms from across the broad span of British industry, drawn together by the man who founded the project, author Nigel Macknight.
AHT are the UKs first and only specialist in the heat treatment of aluminium alloys. With over 40 years experience as a subcontractor focused solely on the heat treatment of aluminium alloys, they are the preferred destination for companies within all sectors of the light metal industry.
AHT Director, Ian Perks explained: We are extremely proud to sponsor the Quicksilver project in its aim to bring the World Water Speed Record back to Great Britain, and it would be great to be a part of that. It is brilliant that there is a concentration of local companies that are also supporting the project.
Quicksilver were searching for a company that had the capability to heat-treat components of the boat, to improve their strength without increasing their weight. Macknight explained: I discovered AHT and outlined to them what we are trying to do. We have several companies that are helping us within that region of the country, and this is a project for them all as well as a prestige project for Great Britain as a whole.
Difficulties that can dog a project of this type have come and gone, and Quicksilver have had more than their fair share of expected and unexpected setbacks. Delays are the inevitable result, but none of that has blunted the resolve of the team members, and supporting companies and individuals to keep up the effort and ensure that a boat is put on the water fit for trials. Their ultimate aim is to bring the prestigious international prize of fastest-on-water back to the UK after its long absence.
Quicksilver are currently at the stage where they have done a lot of the design and research work and that has translated into beginning to build the boat. In turn, the Quicksilver project will continue to require more heat treated components. Macknight said: We certainly regard AHT as our exclusive provider of heat treatment services. AHT will have a part in this right up to the day we say the boat is completed. We will then start testing it, and seeing if it performs as all our design calculations indicated it would.
AHT pride themselves on personal relationships with customers. Through training and development of staff at all levels they are dedicated to providing the very best service for all heat treatment requirements. Their organisation holds NADCAP, AS 9100 accreditation, and preferred-supplier status to many aerospace primes.
As a result of AHTs accreditations and respected status within the aerospace community, Quicksilver recognise that they are the ideal company to work with for heat treatment. Macknight explained: AHT are the market leaders in what they can do with aluminium heat-treatment. We have several important aluminium fabrications on our boat, so its a good match. From the start weve had a very good relationship and they have been extremely supportive and enthusiastic. That is the key to our future successes.
AHTs support of the Quicksilver project will be highlighted when they exhibit between 11-17th July at MAA stand 1/B90 (Hall 1, UK Pavilion) at the Farnborough International Airshow. Perks stated: We are looking forward to exhibiting at the biggest possible occasion for the global aerospace community. We plan to take some of Quicksilvers books to our stand, so that visitors will be entered into a competition to win a copy signed by Nigel Macknight, as author. We will also be displaying the project on our TV at the show." This will ensure that the Quicksilver project is promoted to over 1,500 exhibitors from all over the world and thousands of industry professionals.
This sponsorship deal signifies the collusion of a great British idea to bring the World Speed Water Record back to our shores and the highest quality heat treatment company in the country. Macknight concluded: We have not held the record for nearly 50 years now. Were not doing this for any great financial gain, were doing this for the sake of advancing research and endeavour. We rely on enthusiasm and the professional skill of the people that we are involved with. Weve definitely seen that from AHT, as weve had an abundance of enthusiasm as well as skill coming from their side.
Link to content in Machinery Magazine on Page 4: http://flickread.com/edition/PensordFreeLibrary/573b373c5c931/