When you board a plane, chances are it contains components made by DP Engineering (DP). When satellites navigate they’re likely using precision components made in their Cornwall workshop. For over 70 years, this precision engineering company has been quietly manufacturing the components that keep critical systems running – from landing gears and fuel systems to medical pumps and space electronics – all from their headquarters in Cornwall.
DP Engineering is a subcontract CNC precision engineering company working across aerospace, defence, oil and gas, medical, automotive, subsea, and space sectors. Operating under AS9100 aerospace accreditation, they’re what’s known as a ‘make-to-print’ service – taking a customer’s drawing and transforming it into a finished product from solid material.
But what sets them apart isn’t the machining – it’s everything that surrounds it. With a tight-knit team of 40, and customer relationships spanning more than 15 years, their services aren’t just transactions; they’re partnerships built on DP’s reliability, responsiveness, and deep understanding of customer needs.
For DP, the move into space sector work has been a natural evolution, since the accreditations and quality requirements aerospace demands transfer seamlessly to space applications. Working with tier one and prime aerospace clients who also have space operations means the same customer relationships naturally extend across both sectors, with consistent standards and requirements.
Over recent years, both aerospace and space customers have stepped up their requirements around quality documentation – PPAPs (Production Part Approval Process) and APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning). So DP has invested significantly in their quality systems to meet these evolving standards. It’s not just about manufacturing components to print anymore; it’s about providing comprehensive documentation with the right statistical data.
This capability recently earned them a major milestone: direct approval from Boeing, their first prime organisation partnership at this scale. While they’ve long worked with tier ones and primes, this Boeing approval has opened doors to opportunities with other sector primes.
Like many manufacturers, DP faces the ongoing challenge of finding skilled people. Since COVID, recruitment has become particularly difficult as other sectors offer competitive salaries that manufacturing historically struggled to match. Their response has been strategic investment in automation – not to replace people, but to change their roles and enable the business to grow despite labour market constraints.
Over the last 12 months, they’ve implemented completely custom-built scheduling software providing minute-by-minute visibility across every department, from accounts to dispatch. This technological transformation has been game-changing: they’ve moved from double-shift to single-shift operations while handling more work, simply through better management.
Of course, bringing in new talent is just as important for DP. They’re working directly with local colleges to shape apprenticeships and training programmes around actual industry needs – whether that’s delving deeper into automation, robotics or programming. DP says that being part of the Cornwall Space Cluster enables cohort-based training rather than isolated individual apprenticeships, which encourages peer support and broader skill development across the region.
For years, Cornwall’s distance from major industrial centers was seen as a disadvantage. Pre-COVID, convincing customers to visit was difficult. Now, with more work conducted online, it’s become a level playing field. Distance is no longer the barrier it once was.
In fact, location has become a major positive differentiator; major aerospace and defence primes now recognise that sourcing from Cornwall offers them higher social value scores than procurement from established industrial hubs. Their support of manufacturing in a region not traditionally seen as an industrial center demonstrates a genuine commitment to Cornwall’s regional development and economic diversity.
Being part of the Cornwall Space Cluster has given them access to a ‘bigger voice’. As a busy manufacturing business, they can’t attend every webinar or event. The cluster summarises what’s happening, provides feedback on industry developments, and most importantly, shouts about Cornwall’s manufacturing capabilities at the events they attend.
Getting involved with funding projects and other membership bodies has been really beneficial for raising DP’s international profile. This year, they were selected as one of just sixteen companies to fly out to Florida to visit Blue Origin. They met with the team to discuss their manufacturing processes and potential partnerships within the space supply chain. DP says it represents an opportunity to not only strengthen the national supply chain, but develop the UK’s place in the global supply chain too. Being selected – and getting noticed despite their location – has given the business some much needed validation.
DP Engineering shows what’s possible when technical excellence meets relationship-focused business practices. They’re manufacturing components that fly in aircraft and operate in space, training the next generation of Cornish engineers, achieving net zero goals, and earning recognition from global aerospace leaders – all while maintaining that personal touch that comes from working with a small, but highly skilled team.
DP Engineering is a member of the Cornwall Space Cluster, part of Cornwall’s growing advanced manufacturing ecosystem supporting the UK space sector. Learn more about Cornwall’s space capabilities and meet the cluster at Space Tech Expo Bremen.
