A BOLTON-based book binding company has landed a £1 million deal to use its expertise making parts for the aircraft industry.

Bandatex is now set to boost its turnover by 500 per cent by utilising the same technology used to cut intricate patterns for book binding to cut narrow width tapes of composite materials to high tolerances.

That material can be moulded into light but strong products to replace metal items in aeroplanes.

The company, based at the Evans Business Centre, at Wingates, has been helped by the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), which in turn is backed by the Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub.

Bindatex began working with MAS in 2010 when founder Chris Lever was turning over less than £60,000 a year, buying in precision cutting and supplying paper, fabric and foil to book binders.

MAS helped Mr Lever secure a grant of £11,000 from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to conduct a market feasibility study of the high value, high tech composites market and the application of the Bindatex manufacturing process within the advanced aeroplane industry.

The success of the stud6y led to the firm winning its biggest deal ever to work with a global composite manufacture and a major European aircraft manufacturer.

It will involve making components for the groundbreaking ITER project, an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world’s largest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in the south of France.

“The decision to diversity and explore new ways of using our skills and equipment has completely transformed and future-proofed the business,” said Mr Lever.

“Working with MAS gave us the confidence to prove that our precision cutting processes were ideally suited to the creation of sophisticated composite materials and then ensured we made the right connections within the aerospace industry.”