U.K. aluminum foundry Grainger & Worrall earned its third King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its breakthrough in developing lightweight “prototype gigacastings” for electric vehicle programs. The award recognizes Grainger’s investments in research and development, and its well-established technical expertise.
“Gigacasting” refers to the emergent, high-pressure diecasting processes involving large-scale machines to form unitary vehicle structures, as an alternative to casting numerous parts and assembling and joining those to produce automotive bodies.
G&W developed methods to produce prototype gigacastings rapidly and consistently, so that they perform like diecastings, to reduce vehicle weights and improve structural performance and ease of assembly. This capability allows the foundry’s customers to test vehicle designs quickly before committing to production equipment.
“There is no bigger business accolade than the King’s Award for Enterprise, so we are thrilled and honored to claim our fourth award, an achievement that puts us in an elite group of companies that have won so many,” stated CEO Duncan Eldridge. “This achievement reflects the dedication, creativity, and expertise of our talented team, who relentlessly strive to push the boundaries of what is possible in aluminum casting technology.
“Our development of prototype gigacastings is a perfect example of this and is not just a response to industry needs, but also represents our commitment to sustainability,” Eldridge added.
The King’s Awards for Enterprise (known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise until 2023) are accorded to British businesses that demonstrate outstanding commercial success through innovative products or services.
Grainger & Worrall is known for supplying complex aluminum castings as prototypes or production parts in volumes up to 20,000 annually, for manufacturers in automotive, defense, marine, and infrastructure markets. The plant in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England, has 525 employees.