Sharing in Growth celebrates milestone in aerospace sector
Sharing in Growth, a performance improvement consultancy from Derby, is celebrating a major milestone in the aerospace sector. The firm is completing its 100th engagement as part of the Aerospace Supplier Development Scheme.
Founded in 2012, Sharing in Growth (SiG) offers a suite of services designed to drive sustainable improvement, through expertise in operational excellence and hands-on focus on training, coaching, and mentoring. The consulting firm works for clients in the aerospace, defence, renewable energy and nuclear sectors.
Aerospace
SiG was conceived of by Rolls-Royce, and launched with support from the Regional Growth Fund. In the years since, in the aerospace landscape, the firm is a preferred partner of the Aerospace Supplier Development Scheme. The government-backed programme is led by Rolls-Royce, and aims to support the creation of high-impact projects throughout the sector.
Through its involvement in the scheme, SiG is now celebrating having supported close to 100 aerospace suppliers. According to the firm, its work has delivered £9.8 billion in additional contracts, and supported 92,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) years of high-skilled employment through UK aerospace suppliers.
Malcolm James, CEO of SiG, commented, “This ambitious industry-led, government-supported programme demonstrates what can be achieved when industry and government work together to invest in long-term capability and productivity. Nearly 100 aerospace suppliers across a wide range of commodities – from forgings, to machining, optical systems to composite structures – have transformed their leadership, culture, productivity and competitiveness through multi-year engagements with Sharing in Growth.”
Case study
The programme’s economic impact is more than double the original commitment between Rolls-Royce and the Department for Business and Trade and provides a powerful model for the future. However, according to James, SiG’s “mission remains unchanged”, and it will now double down to “help ambitious manufacturers build the people, processes and leadership needed to achieve sustainable growth and compete successfully on a global stage.”
SiG’s methodology sees it deliver multi-year transformation programmes that combine coaching, mentoring, structured training and hands-on operational development. It works with client organisations to build internal capability, embed leadership behaviours and establish operational disciplines that continue to deliver value long after engagements complete – with key capability areas including business strategy and growth, governance and leadership development, operational excellence, production planning, supply chain and financial management, new product introduction and cultural transformation.
This can be seen in practice with the case of Castle Precision Engineering. One of the first companies to join the programme in 2013, it transformed from a supplier focused on a single aero engine customer into a strategic partner serving multiple global aerospace manufacturers. Despite being heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the business recovered strongly, growing turnover from £22 million in 2019 to £41 million in 2025, increasing employment from 121 to 148 people and maintaining an apprenticeship rate of 12.5% – more than four times the UK average. Today, Castle is pursuing its ambition of becoming a $100 million business by 2030.
Yan Tiefenbrun, managing director of Castle Precision, added, “Culturally, SiG had a massive lasting impact on us. The principles introduced over a decade ago still drive how we operate today. They planted little golden acorns across our business that we’ve continued to build on as we’ve grown. Even after 14 years, we still trust Sharing in Growth to support our business because of their proven capability & thought leadership.”
