Training boss warns about industry growth

A West Midlands training provider believes manufacturing’s recent growth could be hampered if the UK cannot get more people to take up vacant apprenticeship opportunities.

Gareth Jones, joint managing director at In-Comm Training, says his Aldridge-based academy has more than 100 positions – all attached to high value engineering jobs – that are available immediately, but there seems to be a reluctance to come forward and take advantage of them. He puts this down to engineering and manufacturing still suffering from negative perceptions in schools and a lack of understanding on the career opportunities an apprenticeship could offer.
“Companies are coming forward and saying they want to invest in apprentices; that challenge has been overcome to a certain degree,” explains Jones, who runs the business with his sister Bekki Phillips. “We now need to make sure that, as a country, we’ve got a pipeline of young people or more mature learners to fill them.”
For further information www.in-comm.co.uk

Tightening grip on UK market

Three years ago, Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) made a strategic decision to become the UK agent for the Big Kaiser brand of tooling. Since signing the agreement, sales of Big Kaiser product lines have more than trebled in the UK. In fact, the UK has rapidly become the fifth largest European market for Big Kaiser.

Discussing the founding of the relationship with ITC and how the partnership has flourished over the past three years, Giampaolo Roccatello, Big Kaiser head of sales for southern Europe, says: “When we wanted to target growth in the UK, we spoke with numerous companies at MACH 2014. It was very important that we found a partner that would complement, rather than conflict, with our brand. We spoke with ITC and found they were very focused, passionate and technically competent, and this fitted our philosophy perfectly. We had an ambition to reach sales of £1m in the UK by 2020; this target will be reached well before this date.”
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Oelheld grows UK presence

Oelheld UK, a manufacturer and supplier of metalworking fluids, water-soluble lubricants and filtration and extraction systems, has expanded its UK operation.

The Denbigh headquarters in North Wales has now doubled in size with the acquisition of a new warehouse. Purchasing the adjacent unit, the additional warehouse has doubled the company’s storage space from 6000 to 12,000 sq ft. This acquisition has been driven by continual growth in sales of metalworking fluids, filtration systems and EDM consumables.
For further information www.oelheld.co.uk

New research on exporting and subcontracting

Subcon (5-7 June, Birmingham NEC) has unveiled research showing the subcontracting impact of a 48% increase in UK engineering and manufacturing exports over the past 12 months.

The research also revealed: a further 35% of businesses had seen export levels remain the same; of those increasing exports, the most common increase is a healthy 5-10%; and for an elite 20% of businesses, exports grew by more than 20%.

The research also shows that two thirds of manufacturing and engineering businesses used subcontractors in the past year, with 38% planning to increase work with them in the next 12 months. This rise is driven by a lack of in-house capacity and a desire among manufacturers and engineering businesses to focus on core competencies. Of those businesses that do use subcontractors, over half (53%) outsource up to 20% of their requirements, while more than a third (36%) outsource £10,000-£100,000. A further quarter outsource £100,000 to £1m annually.
For further information www.subconshow.co.uk

Investment differentiates R&M from the rest

R&M Assembly, part of the R&M Electrical Group, has over 20 years’ experience in the assembly, modification and distribution of specialist power distribution and control systems for use in hazardous (explosive) environments.

The company supplies a diverse range of customers across the oil and gas, nuclear, rail and marine sectors, to list but a few. A major advantage of R&M Assembly is its ability to provide bespoke systems in short lead times. This brings its own challenges as the company must overcome production bottlenecks caused by some manufacturing processes. Investment in new machining capacity has not only overcome these bottlenecks, but enabled R&M Assembly to generate new business from existing and new customers.
“Our business model is a reactive one in which we have to respond quickly to demand from our suppliers and customers,” says R&M Assembly division manager Martin Goodall. “One of our main tasks, therefore, is to iron out peaks and troughs in production to deliver a managed service and, where possible, avoid any unexpected issues. The limited machining that we have to do is one of those areas, as on a major project we may have over 2000 holes to drill and tap, and we can only do that at a certain speed with our existing equipment. The option to outsource this work was considered, but the loss of control over deliveries and quality saw us look to expand our in-house capability.”
In order to justify the investment in new machining capacity, Goodall had to identify efficiencies through in-depth time and motion studies, and with limited machining experience he called on XYZ for assistance in the form of area sales manager Keith Ellis. The initial thought for Ellis was to double-up on an existing XYZ SMX 2500 bed mill as the control was familiar and easy to use. However, talking through the needs of R&M Assembly, it became clear that to achieve the necessary versatility and productivity, a machine with a tool changer and fourth-axis unit would bring greater benefits.
“If we had gone with another SMX we wouldn’t have required any training and so it would have made our life easier initially, but in conversation with Keith it became obvious that a step-up was required and the new XYZ 500 LR vertical machining centre would have a significant impact on how we do business,” explains Goodall.

R&M Assembly’s projections, based on a major customer project valued at £1m, suggested that the addition of the XYZ 500 LR would generate savings of up to six weeks in labour, or £64,000, based on which the machine would have a payback period of just 16 weeks.
“Our projections also indicated that the addition of the tool changer would allow much greater unmanned operation, freeing-up operator time every day by as much as 6.5 hours, during which they could be doing other tasks,” says Goodall.
These projected savings were enough to justify investment in the machine, however, they must then be delivered upon. By maximising the capability and capacity of the XYZ 500 LR, with its 13 kW, 8000 rpm spindle, 12-position tool carousel and 510 x 400 x 450 mm of axis travel, combined with the agility of the linear rail technology on all axes, an immediate positive impact on efficiency was seen. Typically, a batch of 200 electrical junction boxes would take 2-3 weeks to produce, with drilling and tapping multiple holes being the bottleneck. Now, by utilising the XYZ 500 LR, machining is completed in two days and the batch fully processed within a week. Machining efficiency has seen gains of up to tenfold by reinventing the processes to match the machine’s capabilities.
The benefits of investing in new machining capacity for the R&M Electrical Group go beyond simple cycle-time savings and efficiencies; the machine is being used as a sales tool to drive new business for the group and typical of this is its partnership with Hawke International, a manufacturer of cable glands and electrical enclosures.
“With investment in the XYZ machine, Hawke has recognised our commitment and is supporting us as an extension to their manufacturing capability, allowing us to gain EAC certification, which will differentiate us from our competitors – all from buying an XYZ machine tool,” says Goodall. “The investment in the machine, along with our relocation to new premises, has allowed us to review many processes and techniques. This is seen as a sign of confidence, especially for customers servicing the oil and gas sector, which is coming out of its downturn.”

The XYZ 500 LR is part of the recently introduced range of linear rail machining centres from XYZ Machine Tools. LR series machines make use of the latest developments in linear rail technology, while providing a cost-effective entry into the world of vertical machining centres, says the company. These machines provide a natural progression or complementary solution for customers moving from manual or XYZ ProtoTrak-controlled machines. The LR range is in addition to XYZ’s recently extend HD range of vertical machining centres, which continue to make use of the box slideway construction, offering greater capability and capacity when required.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com