Axiom CMM Case Study
In just four years, TJMS has grown from two friends working out of a summer house into a precision engineering company trusted by some of the biggest names in Formula 1 and international motorsport. The business has never run a marketing campaign. Its growth has come entirely through referral and reputation, servicing top-tier motorsport teams alongside customers in pharmaceutical, oil & gas, and energy generation.
TJMS was founded by Tom and Josh, who previously worked together on the New Product Implementation (NPI) team for a Coventry-based manufacturing company that went into administration. "Effectively, from the ashes of that, we thought we'd give it a go doing it ourselves," Tom explains. With complementary strengths in manufacturing and design, the pair started out working from Tom's summer house, middle-manning subcontract work through industry contacts before buying their first machine and supplying components for the World Rally Championship (WRC).
What followed was rapid, staged growth: from a borrowed corner of a friend's unit, to a first premises of their own, to their current facility, around four times larger than their previous site, with dedicated office space, an inspection lab, and room to grow both the shop floor and quality department. TJMS is already filling that space and looking toward its next move.
Around 65-70% of TJMS's work is now motorsport, balanced by production and bespoke work for pharmaceutical, oil & gas, and energy generation customers, a deliberate spread the founders say protects the business from the seasonal swings of racing calendars. As the company grew, and after acquiring a sister company (Tool and Equipment Engineers) that already ran an Aberlink Axiom CMM, TJMS needed to standardise its own quality inspection: sharing programs and continuity across two sites, and moving on from a manual CMM and manual shadow graph that could no longer keep pace with demand.
"“The 3D package for the Aberlink is very good. I feel like Aberlink hits a really good middle point between being easy and being capable. It's beyond user-friendly. On top of that, the training was flexible, and we were able to bring our own components and drawings, and the team tailored the training around that, which doesn't happen very often.”
- Tom & Josh, Co-Founders, TJMS"
Capacity was a major factor in the decision. Unlike their previous manual equipment, the Axiom could be pre-loaded rather than requiring constant manual attendance, and its combined vision-and-CMM capability meant TJMS could take on complex components requiring a vision check without needing to invest again later. "It's kind of like future-proofing". "You're trying to cover all bases of jobs that you don't need now, but you might need in the future."
That shift has changed how the quality department runs day to day. Jobs can now be pre-planned and pre-programmed on the Aberlink offline programming module well before a part is ready for inspection. "All the guy's doing when that part is ready is referencing it, boom, he can leave it and go do something else," the founders explain. "Rather than being series, we're now going parallel."
The relationship carries a personal dimension too. Aberlink designs, machines, assembles, and supports its CMMs entirely in-house at its Stroud, Gloucestershire headquarters, something that resonated with a company built entirely in the UK from a standing start. "I'm proud to be British, and proud of what this country does and the companies in it," Josh says. That's echoed in how TJMS talks about the support they've received: "You pick up the phone, and you don't get ignored, and if no one answers, you get a call back. These days everyone just ignores you once you've bought something, but you guys have just been there."
Looking ahead, TJMS's plans remain deliberately measured. Around 20% further growth over the next couple of years, spread across its two sites, alongside a newly installed five-axis machining centre. On the quality side, the expectation is a second Axiom within the next six to twelve months as production scales. "The dream is that the growth continues," the founders say. "We're giving Mantech Geometrics a call in another six to twelve months saying we need another one."
The best way to show you how quick and easy the Axiom is to use is to arrange a demonstration at your factory, measuring your parts. Please get in contact via the info request button if you would like a demonstration of the Axiom CMM.