Smooth operators

Support from UK Trade & Investment has helped engineering company Stirling Dynamics to develop key relationships in India and secure its first order from within the Indian aerospace industry.

Flying is already the safest form of travel, but companies like Stirling Dynamics are making it even safer by helping to support the development of safer and more efficient aircraft. The company supplies software, consultancy services and simulator sub-components to clients like Airbus, Bombardier, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems. For example, active side-stick controls developed for use in simulators, can electronically replicate the feel and performance of actual flight hardware with a high degree of fidelity. Engineers can then use these controls in their simulators to support the advanced development of the algorithms and software for new flight control systems.

Set up in 1987, today Stirling Dynamics has 140 employees split between its offices in the UK and US. The UK operation has been exporting since 1994, and in 2011 over 50 per cent of the company’s £7 million turnover came from sales outside the UK. Most of this overseas business is in the US, but it also sells to Japan, South Korea, Western Europe and Brazil.

“We’re market leaders in active control technology, and have a great reputation worldwide”, says Brian Stockford, Mechatronics Systems Group Business Manager at Stirling Dynamics. “We offer clients a responsive service that uses the latest technology and provides hands-on support. The UK’s aerospace market is relatively small, so most of our business opportunities are overseas. We work hard to develop relationships with customers in other countries.” [named data: fast facts]

Fast facts

Company: Stirling Dynamics

Website: www.stirling-dynamics.com