Sourcing Anodised Titanium
A customer needed titanium screws finished in a specific colour, fully nonmagnetic, and consistent across an entire run, for use in equipment where even residual magnetism from machining could cause a problem. That meant sourcing both an unusual material and a tightly controlled finishing process. These are two specialist requirements most suppliers would treat as two separate jobs. Here’s how we consolidated supply chain.
Overview
The challenge
The customer needed titanium screws anodized to a specific RAL colour [purple]. Titanium was specified for its strength and non-magnetism [including no residual magnetism left behind by the machining process itself]. These screws were destined for applications like gyroscopes, where the equipment relies on the earth’s magnetic field to set its level. Any magnetic interference introduced by the fasteners would compromise the whole system.
The purple finish served a practical purpose too. With similar sized, similar coloured components elsewhere in the customer’s stock, a distinct colour let their team identify these screws at a glance and avoid mixing them up with standard parts.
Sourcing titanium in this form was already unusual. On top of that, the anodizing process needed to be repeatable and consistent across the entire batch, which meant finding a manufacturer who could control the process tightly enough to guarantee it every time
Overview
How we helped
We found a supplier able to source the titanium. From there, we sourced a UK manufacturer capable of setting the anodizing process parameters tightly enough to hold consistent tolerance and colour across the full run.
That control comes down to what is effectively a fixed recipe which includes a specific soak time and temperature that produces the same purple finish reliably. Once that process was established, the manufacturer could repeat it for subsequent runs.
Overview
The benefits
The benefit here was removing two separate sourcing burdens from the customer at once, finding a supplier for a bespoke titanium product, and finding a specialist manufacturer capable of anodizing it to a precise, repeatable finish. Without our involvement, the customer would have needed to become an expert in both. Instead, they got a single point of contact for a component that combines an unusual material with a highly controlled finishing process, and, confidence that future runs will be consistent.
More case studies
Deep Sea Bolt Kitting Requirement
A customer supplying bolts as part of a direct-to-end-user assembly kept hitting a bottleneck.
PEEK Back Up Rings
One of our key customers came to us with a recurring fault on their PEEK Back Up Rings related to a critical angled cut on the product.
Cavalok Cavity Closers
Eurocell approached us in to build a kit around their Cavalok cavity closer, a proprietary cavity closing system used to anchor plastic closers into brick walls.
Time to talk
If a component in your supply chain needs a rare material, a precise finish, or both, we can take on both sourcing and process. Get in touch to talk through your requirements.
Testimonials
What our customers say
-
Coburns are a reliable and reactive supply chain partner, always willing and open to discuss and drive change initiatives.
-
Highly recommend, knowledgeable, reliable and easy to deal with.
-
Working with Coburn Fasteners is a simple and easy process. Whether you send an email or speak over the phone, nothing is inconvenient and they will do their up-most to help you. I would highly recommend Coburn Fasteners for a quote. Their fast and efficient service and delivery lead-time is excellent compared to a lot of vendors.
-
Coburn Fasteners is a responsive and reliable supplier that helps SLB efficiently source off-the-shelf and buy-house items. Their support reduces the need to onboard multiple suppliers and simplifies the procurement process and help us improve work efficiency and workload management.
-
When Jeremy approached us and said he could help with our kitting, it suddenly dawned on me just how inefficient our existing process had become. As our product range rapidly expanded, the time and effort involved in sourcing, designing and assembling kits in-house was becoming a real drain on the business.
