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“In our hands, anything is possible” – a claim which many orthopaedics components manufacturers may find difficult to live up to – is Thornton Precision Components' mantra. With a ‘can do’ approach to total system supply, a highly skilled work-force and the capacity to back it up, an ever increasing number of companies are turning to Thorntons to manufacture their complete orthopaedic components - whether they are for hip or knee. Providing a single point of contact for all forged, cast and machined components, Thornton Precision Components is a major player in the Global Orthopaedic Market. Acquired by the Mettis Group two years ago, having previously been part of the BI Group, Thornton is now the world’s largest manufacturer of artificial hip joints and a major supplier of cast femoral knee joints. Exporting approximately 70% of its products to markets in the US and Europe makes Thornton the major supplier of total hip and knee systems to the world's leading orthopaedic houses. Originally founded over 100 years ago to produce cutlery components, Thornton Precision Component's position in the orthopaedic components marketplace is now one of both strength and potential. Based on solid business principles – engineering excellence and investment – Thornton Precision is one of the world’s few companies in the orthopaedic sector who can literally take every project concept through to completion, to extremely exacting specifications. In just two years, the company has seen record growth in its casting capacity alone, with its second year seeing an impressive 200% increase in turnover on the first year and a forecast of an additional half a million increase in turnover for its third year. This growth is not incidental. A comprehensive £2m investment programme in the casting facility has established the unique 'Medicast' system which allows Thornton Precision to provide exclusive orthopaedic casting. Additionally, there has been investment in a dedicated machining facility having the capability to supply total finished hip and knee prostheses from cobalt chrome, titanium and stainless steel metals to polyethylene plastics. There has been further investment in the machine shop with two new 5-Axis milling machines with automatic probing inspection. There are two new lathes for femoral heads and an additional two lathes for the manufacture of acetabular and tibial inserts housed in a fully air conditioned facility. The investment programme in new technology is ongoing; and further comprehensive developments are planned over the next three years to ensure that Thornton's stay ahead of the field.
With dedicated capability to forge, cast and machine, in order to gain and maintain a leading competitive edge in the marketplace, Thornton chose to focus upon providing a specialised total system solution, something which their competitors simply did not provide to the orthopaedics market. The strategy paid off; Thornton Precision Components' custom developed facility, which enables the team to produce tailor-made solutions to customer's exacting specifications, sets them apart. A second, but no less significant factor in the company’s success lies with its people. The entire team, from shop floor to senior management, is engaged in delivering a quality service with quality products. There is a strong sense of responsibility which the entire production team share and with a real focus on producing quality orthopaedic components, there is an extremely high level of expertise. The Customer Service team, which has recently been increased with three new members of staff, provides a highly responsive and customer focused service. With multilingual staff speaking most European languages, European customers do not find language a barrier as they receive the same consistently high level of service as UK or American customers. The combination of capability and a dedicated work force is paying off; to keep up with demand, Thornton Precision Components are introducing a new continuous responsive manufacturing service. With a 24 hour manufacturing facility, the team can build on their reputation for fast turnaround with the aim of a two week turnaround from concept to new product. 
Turning their hands to a full manufacturing capabilityAll production takes place at the company’s Sheffield headquarters, with orthopaedic production covering forging, lost wax casting and machining. With precision forging, CNC machining, polishing and superfinishing capacity, implants can be supplied in any quantity, including prototypes. With the flexibility to work to high individual specifications, Thornton Precision Components’ wax injection technology ensures excellent dimensional stability and surface finish, whilst offering a flexible, quick and easily adaptable platform  for accepting any tooling.Combining Thornton's forging knowledge and exact process control, with leading technologies such as forging simulation and high speed machining of dies ensures a proven commitment to exceeding customer expectation and spearheading the forging industry. With a proven market lead in manufacturing hip components, Thorntons are increasing their capacity relating to knee components. One of their customers, in relation to casting and machining a complete prosthetic knee in separate components, is the German company, Peter Brehm. In this case, Thornton not only solved the company's problem from casting to completion, they invested in new machine tooling to meet the exacting specification. Thornton’s track record in relation to providing total system supply for hip components is equally impressive - see the profile of one of Thornton Precision Components’ customers, Smith and Nephew. Quality with economy – a rare combination Competitive pricing will always be an important factor for any customer. By providing a total system supply solution to both knee and hip systems, Thornton offers cost effective solutions. Whether it be for short production runs with capabilities such as net-shaped forging to reduce machine time, or simply finding the most economical solution, the overall cost of a product can be significantly reduced when customers approach a company who can forge or cast, machine and finish to whatever level is required.  Further economies lie in the fact that customers can work with a single contact at Thornton Precision Components, instead of needing to contact a range of suppliers to provide the finished product. The team at Thornton will take their order through all the production stages to delivery, thus reducing project management time. From the customer's point of view, all they need do is take the finished component, sterilise it and package it. Clean room packaging facilities are also in the pipeline as part of the three year ongoing investment programme.A responsible pair of hands - environmentally conscious With an eye to the future, in setting up its manufacturing capacity, Thornton Precision has taken its environmental responsibilities seriously. The casting facility has been developed to exceed EN14001 standards, meeting all foreseeable demands for years to come. For further information please contact: Thornton Precision Components. Beulah Road, Sheffield, S6 2AN, Tel: (0) 114 285 5881 Fax: (0) 114 233 6978 Email: info@tpcl.com - www.tpcl.com
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