Quality is in our DNA
Millpart is manufacturing state of the art hydraulic manifolds and the aerospace market is the next goal
When Millpart CEO Niels Jørgen Nielsen founded the company in 2001 his reason was the same as many other entrepreneurs: Instead of making hydraulic manifolds for his boss, he might as well make them on his own. The first CNC machine was bought a small nearby building was leased and Millpart was in business. Today the Western Jutland based company is the work place of 50 people that, except for two weeks of summer holiday, keeps the entire production line running 24/7.
Quality is everything
The global financial crisis also hit Millpart in 2009 but apart from that short break the company has been on a growth path since its foundation and the strategy has been clear from the very first manifold. Director, Business Development, Aerospace & Defense Torben Bøgh Jensen explains:
- We are a rather young company based on a very modern and automated production line that makes it possible for us to incorporate the highest possible quality standards without losing our competitive edge and that is a necessity in this business. Quality is a part of our organization, culture; it is simply in the Millpart DNA.
The company holds six different certificates, customer approvals and quality management systems.
Taking Millpart to the skies
Millpart is located in the part of Denmark in which the big Danish windmill industry is established and still are the dominant business and the windmill market is very important to the manifold manufacturer but according to Mr. Jensen the company have taken the first steps to new growth:
- A couple of years ago it was decided that Millpart should take on the global aerospace industry and our first step was to achieve the AS9100 certification – a substantial investment for a company of Millpart’s size. I spend a lot of weeks and months on the road and the breakthrough happened when Boeing introduced us to Parker Aerospace.
The US based global leader in several aerospace components liked what they saw and asked the Danish company to give their bid for supplying manifolds. After two unsuccessful bids Millpart got the order in the third round and in March 2019 the Danish company is supplying the first of many hydraulic manifolds to be installed in both Gulfstream and Bombardier business jets. The delivery is part of a five year contract between Millpart and Parker Aerospace.
Defense Industry
The aerospace industry is still the smaller part of Millpart sales but the goal is two grow it to half of the company within a ten year time frame. A part of that will be to explore the opportunities in additive production and the prospects in adding the defense aerospace industry to the customer list.
- Millpart is not going to supply manifolds to the Joint Strike Fighter any day soon but we believe that we have a chance of supplying smaller parts of fighter jets and work our way through the supply chain, Torben Bøgh Jensen says.