OR3D CT bids to become first company in Wales to apply EN 4179 aerospace standard to industrial CT
30/10/2026
OR3D CT has announced that, with an accreditation grant awarded through the Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone’s SME Manufacturing Grant scheme, it will qualify its team to EN 4179, the European aerospace standard governing the certification of personnel working with non-destructive testing (NDT) methods.The investment enables OR3D CT to become the first company in Wales to apply EN 4179 to industrial computed tomography (CT) and the only independent industrial computed tomography services provider in the UK working to this standard, it is claimed. The company joins Rolls-Royce and the Royal Air Force as a small group of UK organisations qualifying CT personnel to EN 4179.
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| Councillor Nigel Williams, Wrexham County Borough Council, with James Earl, OR3D CT, in front of an industrial CT scanner at OR3D CT’s Chirk facility |
The Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone is a joint UK government and Welsh government advanced manufacturing programme, backed by up to £160 million over ten years and delivered locally by Wrexham County Borough Council, Flintshire County Council and Ambition North Wales. OR3D CT is an early recipient of the Zone’s SME Manufacturing Grant (Accreditation strand), administered by Wrexham County Borough Council’s Investment Zone Team.
The training programme is being delivered by the International School of Aerospace NDT (ISANDT), a training and examination body approved by the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT). Four OR3D CT employees will work towards Level 2 CT qualification, a significant undertaking that requires 80 hours of formal training and 800 hours of logged, industry-scrutinised experience per person.
On Thursday 30 July, OR3D CT welcomed Councillor Nigel Williams, Wrexham County Borough Council’s Lead Member for Economy, Business and Tourism, to the company’s facility at Brynkinalt Business Centre in Chirk. Councillor Williams met the team, saw industrial CT scanning in action and heard first-hand how the accreditation will support OR3D CT’s growth and the wider UK aerospace supply chain.
“The service provided is revolutionary and will be of benefit to many sectors, including aerospace and automotive.
“The grant funding through the Investment Zone will allow them to train their staff to become the first in Wales accredited to EN 4179 standard and the only independent company in the UK to be accredited to this standard,” said Councillor Williams.
“I would like to offer my congratulations to OR3D CT as the first company in Wales to be working towards this accreditation by investing in their team to qualify in this standard, not only becoming one of a small number in the UK, but the first in Wales. I am proud that they are based in Wrexham.
“This is a great example of how the Investment Zone grant funding can make real and long-term differences to small to medium-sized businesses and even give them the opportunity to be shoulder to shoulder with other leaders in their industry,” commented Councillor Mark Pritchard, leader of Wrexham Council.
“We are enormously grateful to Wrexham County Borough Council’s Investment Zone Team, and to everyone involved in the Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone, for backing our Accreditation grant application under the SME Manufacturing Grant scheme. Their support directly enables a Welsh small/medium-sized enterprise (SME) to reach a standard that has, until now, been held only by major primes and the armed forces in the UK. This is exactly the type of investment the Zone was set up to deliver: an early, tangible example of public investment translating into a UK-first capability being built right here in North Wales,” said James Earl, Managing Director, OR3D Ltd.
“Our customers work at the leading edge of manufacturing and they need to know that the people inspecting their parts are working to the same standard. EN 4179 is that standard for aerospace. As more additive and composite parts move into flight-critical applications, this qualification means we can support the UK aerospace supply chain with the confidence, traceability and repeatability the industry demands and the Accreditation grant from the Investment Zone is what has made it achievable at this pace and scale,” concluded Rob Wells, Service Manager, OR3D CT.
EN 4179 is widely adopted across aerospace and other advanced manufacturing industries where the highest standards of NDT competency are demanded. It has long applied to conventional methods such as eddy current, ultrasonic and dye penetrant testing. Its application to industrial CT is newer and reflects the growing role of CT in inspecting parts produced through metal additive manufacturing and composite processes. These components can be inherently difficult to inspect using traditional methods but are ideally suited to industrial CT, which can detect and quantify defects that other techniques miss.
The accreditation will allow OR3D CT to inspect parts and assemblies destined for aircraft, opening opportunities across primes, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers and the wider aerospace supply chain, with the economic benefit flowing back to Chirk, Wrexham and the wider North Wales advanced manufacturing cluster.
www.or3d.co.uk
