A promotional film produced for British Aerospace Royal Ordnance by Turners Visual Communications about their Birtley facility near Gateshead. The film showcases the work done on site in the design, development and construction of various types of metal forms including artillery shells, cartridge cases and kinetic energy shots. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance The Large Production Area inside the British Aerospace Royal Ordnance facility at Birtley where various machines and members...

A promotional film produced for British Aerospace Royal Ordnance by Turners Visual Communications about their Birtley facility near Gateshead. The film showcases the work done on site in the design, development and construction of various types of metal forms including artillery shells, cartridge cases and kinetic energy shots. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance The Large Production Area inside the British Aerospace Royal Ordnance facility at Birtley where various machines and members of staff making various types of ammunition and a stack of artillery shells during the production process. A man pushes a bomb along a conveyer changes to show an image or various types of bombs and shells being made at this facility, large and medium sized cartridge cases, a display of rocket motorheads and tubes, armour-piecing shots rotating on display. Back in the factory facility water or other lubricating liquid is being poured over a shell case turning on the lathe of the flung forming machine. A man opens a door of the side of a machine, takes out a shell casing and holds it up for the camera. The gates outside the main entrance of Royal Ordnance factory changes to an open plan office where designers sit at their computers creating new types of ammunition and ordnance. On the factory floor general views of employees use procession tools to create and calibrate various types of ammunition and shells produced by the company. In another part of the facility an ingot of hot metal move from foundry to machines which starts the process of turning it into shells. Completed shells are dipped in a protective liquid before being spray painted. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance: “Birtley – Where Performance is World Class” Back in the open plan office designers sit at computers using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to work on various new armament designs, other speak on the telephones with clients or colleagues. In the Batch Production Workshop men work a lathe to produce new type of 1000-pound bomb shells as well as co-ordinate measuring system to check on accuracy. Back in the office two men sit at a computer using the programme to create a Master Production Schedule while in an office a meeting is held with all staff regarding daily production. In the Large Production Areas of the main factory precision machines turn, bore thread, and grind various shell casings. In the Quality Assurance Department, a man measures a cylindrical piece of equipment using precision and calibration tools. Another tooling machine identified as a ‘flung foam machine’ work to define and turn a cylindrical tube, a lubricant is poured over the cylinder as it is worked through the machine. The process complete, a workman takes the piece from the machine showing it to the camera. In another part of the facility another machine presses down on pre-treated large steel disc to create a cup. In the Heat Treatment Facility, a headed shell case is moved by crane and placed into a vat of liquid for treatment. In the Metallurgic Department men sit at the controls of various laboratory machines testing sections the metallurgic veracity of metals being tested. Laid out on a table two brass products, in the factory large metal discs are lowered into a vat of liquid. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance: Shells Archive footage showing soldiers during the Falklands War and artillery pieces being fired. The production of a shell at the Birtley facility follows beginning with a small white-hot metal ingot comes along a conveyor and a man uses a pair of large pincers to move into the first of several machines that forge and machined the metal into the finished shell. A number of finished shells are stacked together before being lowed into a vat for phosphate coating and paint sprayed. Completed shells are packed ready for delivery. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance: Cartridge Cases A still image of a number of large calibre brass cartridge cases. The film goes through the various stages of production transforming a brass disc into cups or cylinders. The base is then indented before being trimmed to length. The case is headed and tapered before the primer hold is machined. The image seen previously is repeated. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance: Kinetic Energy Shot Archive footage of a British Challenger tank, possibly during the Gulf War. The tank fires changing to a slow-motion view of a kinetic energy explosion and the round or missile coming away from its casing during firing. On a test site another takes fires its main gun, the shot causing a nearby explosion. In the factory two men look various shot casings and penetrators laid out of a table. In a forging machine a six-bladed steel forging fin for said shot or missile. Sections are assembled to create an energy round. A number of finished shot rotating on a table. Title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance A montage showing shells, cartridge cases and energy shots being created in the factory. A man works on a design using a computer, in an office a woman sorts out magazines and leaflets on a shelf. A CD is loaded into a computer, a number of men work on the machines as part of a training session, a poster on the wall reads ‘Open Learning Centre’. A montage of shots seen previously in this film highlighting the company’s commitment to its personnel, how it embraces innovation and technology, how its build successful partnerships in government and local community and finally how it develops performance as individuals and in teams. The film ends on the gates outside the facility. End title: British Aerospace Royal Ordnance: “Birtley – Where Performance is World Class” End credit: Produced by Turners Visual Communications End credit: Acknowledgement. All the employees at Royal Ordnance Birtley...