DATUM COMPOSITES

Through the summer of 2002 Datum had secured more orders for the full service and we had seen projects through from development to production. Datum set up a permanent Factory locally to move the business forward. We also invested in the RTM closed mould process and won orders in this area. Again working from initial Concept to Production items from Phenolic Resins. Phenolics offer high levels of fire resistance and are used widely in the manufacture of public transport vehicles.

In July 2003 Datum moved the Composite Products arm into new premises on John Street, close to the Pattern & Model Making site. This year has seen the Composite Products arm grow into a stand alone division of the company and is looking forward to continued growth in the coming years.

September 2007 saw Datum make a 400K investment into the Composite Products division and move into a custom built factory on Longbridge Lane, Derby DE24 8UJ. This provided increased floor space, access and plant improvement thus further increasing the range of products we were able to manufacture.

The reason for the move was two-fold, not only allowing for continued expansion of the Composites division but to allow the Pattern & Model making side of the business to expand also. The `old` Composites factory has been transformed into a well equipped `traditional` pattern shop allowing for further development of the CAD / CAM facility at the Woods Yard site.

In November 2007 Datum were successful in winning a contract to produce Train Cab Front and Valance assemblies for East London Line and in early 2008 Datum was successful in winning the contract to supply Cab and Inter-end assemblies for SSL Projects. The SSL contract comprised of 46 Cab front assemblies and 138 Inter end assemblies. This order was the biggest won in Datum`s 12 year history and ran from Spring 2008 for completion in early 2009.