In three years the company has seen rapid expansion, since a management buy-out in 2004, supported by 3i and HSBC. Its turnover grew to over £9.6m last year (2004-5: £7.6m) and is likely to exceed that in the current year.
Pre-tax profit for 2005 was £1.969m, up from £1.783m the previous year. It has 105 employees.
EDM was founded in 1971 as a model-maker. In the era before computer-aided design, it specialised in design testing through the use of three-dimensional scale models. The company was acquired by the London-based C-beck Group in 1995, as it then meshed with that company's work in fittings for museums and hotels, but it developed towards more high-tech simulation work, and since the MBO has grown by developing products and markets in high-tech niche markets.
Today it is one of two world leaders in its field, and aiming to be number one. In the defence sector it has provided maintenance training equipment on the Eurofighter Typhoon programme, against pan-European competition, and has a support contract directly with NATO.
"We understand we are one of, if not the smallest company to hold a NATO contract direct," says commercial director Tony Bermingham.
EDM also designs and manufactures simulators for military vehicles, helicopters and aircraft.
Lockheed Martin
It has recently won a major contract with Lockheed Martin in the USA for ground training in cockpit evacuation and weapon-loading simulators for the joint strike fighter - against 140 other companies worldwide.
"I worked on this contract for over four years," says Tony. "We produced a solution that is low-risk and cost-effective." The project is expected to come on-stream next month.
In commercial aviation, EDM supplies airlines with cabin crew training equipment used to teach evacuation and safety procedures. It was the first company in the world to produce an Airbus A380 door trainer - supplied to Singapore Airlines - and now has contracts with carriers in the USA and India, including Air India and other major carriers in the sub-continent. In the US, it is in final discussions on a contract with Continental Airlines, for training equipment for the new Boeing 787 `Dreamliner'.
Says Tony Bermingham: "EDM is one of only five companies worldwide producing this type of equipment, and we will become the world leader within the next 12 months."
The company also makes training equipment for railway staff, including signalmen employed by Network Rail, and its museum and exhibit products are in use at EuroDisney, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, Spaceport on the Wirral and The Bughouse at Liverpool Museum.
The firm is led by chief executive Kevin Bird, who, like Mr Bermingham, is a chartered mechanical engineer, having worked with GEC at Trafford Park, Manchester, before joining EDM. Tony Bermingham was appointed when C-Beck took over, from a background with Hazel Grove-based diesel engineers Mirlees Blackstone.
Due to its expansion, EDM is about to move from Baxter Street in Hollinwood to new premises in Thorpe Road, Newton Heath - the former Sharp warehouse which it is refitting prior to occupation later this year.
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