About Investment Casting Systems Ltd (ICS)
ICS MD James Head and CSS Group Chairman Ted Head with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade 2022
Investment Casting Systems Ltd factory, Paignton, Devon UK
Company Origins
Investment Casting Systems Ltd (ICS) is a privately owned business based in Paignton, Devon in the south west of England. Toolmaking has been at the core of the Casting Support System (CSS) group for more than 40 years and group member company ICS was set up as a standalone company in 2007 by the father and son team, Ted, and James Head.
Market Focus
Our focus is the design and manufacture of tooling up to 10 tonnes in weight for market sectors including aerospace, defence, investment casting, composite components and injection moulded components up to 4.5kg in weight using commodity and advanced engineering polymers.
Technology & Skills Investment
We have a continuous investment programme to keep our machines, IT technology and workforce skills at the cutting edge. This investment has led to continuous business growth and in 2022 we moved to a new 6,000sqm purpose-built facility which includes a large manufacturing space, offices and conference facilities.
Better Together!
As part of the Casting Support Systems (CSS) group of companies, we can access greater resources and knowledge than normally associated with a traditional toolmaking company.
The CSS Group of Companies
The other companies within the CSS group are Casting Support Systems which provides injection moulding services and manufactures the Versatote range of plastic crates and tote boxes, and Technical Composite Systems Ltd (TCS) which develops and manufactures hi-tech composite components and associated tooling.
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Our Quality Standards
In 2009, ICS acknowledged that to increase our market share in the Aerospace and Defence markets we needed a robust and accredited quality standard and by mid-2010, ICS has been accredited with ISO 9001:2008 and AS 9100 Rev. D.
ICS installed its new CMM machine from QCT in 2017 with a working envelope of 925 x 1530 x 865mm.
The Group embraced a new challenge in 2018 with the bold decision to have our QMS system evaluated by two separate accreditations bodies, this was to coincide with the transition of AS9100 from Rev C to Rev D. ICS and TCS were audited by KIWA under AS9100 Rev D.
Our commercial manufacturing sector CSS was audited by URS for the compliance of ISO 9001 2015. As a group this gave us significant reassurance that our Quality Management System was robust and delivering the required output.
Having achieved our goal we know that our quality standards and materials traceability are second to none and these standards are helping us to win new customers in the aerospace and defence sectors.
Our Environmental Responsibilities
ICS takes its environmental responsibilities seriously but we have to be realistic in what we can achieve in a manufacturing industry.
We have made the following changes and commitments towards an environmentally sustainable future:
- Replaced all of its lighting with UKmanufactured LED’s.
- Installed 50KW of solar power generation.
- All machines are equipped with the latest inverter driven motors.
- Recycle all cardboard and plastics
- Responsible storage and disposal of oils and contaminated wastes
Engineering Industry Associations and Partners
Technical Composite Systems Ltd
Technical Composite Systems Ltd (TCS) offers a complete composite manufacturing solution for high quality composite components across a diverse range of industries. We specialise in supplying the international aerospace and defence community by combining engineering experience and material expertise with a customer focused culture.
Versatote
Versatote have been designing and manufacturing ‘standard’ plastic tote boxes since 2001. These stackable, nestable, heavy duty containers are designed with longevity in mind. We continuously strive to improve and modify the Versatote range to meet our customers’ requirements.
We also work closely with partner companies who design and manufacture warehouse picking and delivery systems to ensure our plastic tote boxes are ahead of the game in terms of changing specifications.
South Devon College
We have close links to South Devon College and in particular their Apprenticeship scheme.
We often take part in their careers fairs so that we can reach out to and inspire the next generation of engineers. Like us they are based in Paignton, Devon.
Torbay Development Agency
As an award winning provider of business and property services the TDA makes a real difference to the lives of people living and working in the South West delivering innovative and practical programmes in areas including job and business creation.
Meet the Customer Care Team
Ted Head
Group Chairman & Founder
+44 (0)1803 226 968
James Head
Managing Director
+44 (0)1803 226 967
Richard Wilson
Operations Director
+44 (0)1803 226 216
Accounts
Accounts Department
+44 (0)1803 226 969
Purchasing
Purchasing Department
+44 (0)1803 226 223
Transport
Transport Department
+44 (0)1803 226 219