LVD named a best-managed company

Sheet metal processing machinery specialist LVD has earned the Gold label as one of Belgium’s ‘Best Managed Companies’, retaining this recognition for a fifth consecutive year. Sponsored by Deloitte Private, Econopolis and KU Leuven, the award recognises outstanding privately-owned Belgian companies, and the achievements and leadership of their management teams. Applicants are evaluated and selected by a panel of independent judges who focus on assessing hallmarks of excellence in four key areas: long-term strategy, ability to execute, corporate culture and governance/financial performance.

For further information www.lvdgroup.com

High-speed turn-mill machining

The new DMG Mori NTX 500 turn-mill machine is the most compact model in the NTX series for the six-sided complete machining of
complex workpieces.

With the continuing trend towards increasingly complex components there is a need for extremely versatile manufacturing solutions. With the NTX turn-mill series, DMG Mori says it has a product range that enables the productive manufacturing of parts in demanding industries, particularly artificial bones and implants for the medical sector. Now, the machine tool manufacturer is presenting the NTX 500, its smallest model in the series with a working area for workpieces up to 120 mm diameter by 558 mm long.

As with its larger sister models, the heart of the NTX 500 is a high-speed ‘turn and mill’ CompactMaster spindle with a length of only 250 mm. Its speed of 42,000 rpm and swivel range of ±120° offer flexibility in five-axis simultaneous machining, even with small diameter precision tools. The Y axis moves by 150 mm.
The main and counter TurnMaster spindles offer speed up to 8000 rpm.

DMG Mori’s new NTX 500 features a lower turret with 16 tool positions, including a Y axis providing 60 mm of travel. This design allows parallel cutting to the turn and mill spindle in four-axis machining routines, reducing cycle times. The tool magazine can be loaded during machining and provides space for 38 tools. Optionally, 76 or 114 tool positions are available.

Automation solutions are available for the NTX 500, with an integrated bar feeder and an integrated robot (IMTR) for unmanned production over long periods. The former is for bar stock up to 40 mm diameter, while the integrated robot allows automatic workpiece unloading from the main and counter spindles.

For further information
www.dmgmori.com

AN ENGINEERING COMPANY WORTHY OF HIGH REGARD

Strategic and prudent investment in advanced Doosan machine tools is helping contract manufacturing specialist, Oxford Engineering Ltd (part of the Oxford Engineering Group), achieve significant organic growth, secure new business wins and deliver high-quality manufacturing solutions congruent with its aspirational and motivational vision statement.

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied the company with three new multi-tasking machines. The machines, all DNC-linked and equipped with the latest FANUC controls, comprise a DNM 6700 vertical machining centre, a 10/12” chuck SMX 2600S turn-mill machine, and a 21” chuck (large-capacity) Puma 5100MB lathe.

The machines were delivered and installed at the company’s well-resourced machine shop facility over a six-month period (October 2021 – April 2022) and have taken their place alongside the company’s (but not the group’s) first Doosan machine tool investment – a DNM 750L II vertical machining centre acquired in June 2019.

Says Karim Sekkat, CEO, Oxford Engineering Group: “Doosan machine tools, supplied and supported by Mills CNC, are technically excellent machines. They are flexible and reliable, deliver outstanding accuracy and repeatability, and help us keep our quality, delivery and cost promises to our customers.”

He adds: “We now have four Doosan machines installed at Oxford Engineering Ltd’s facility in Abingdon but, across the whole group, the number is considerably higher, with our two Hutton Engineering facilities, in Bicester and Abingdon, having a total of over 20 Doosan machines between them.”

However, it is not just the technical capacity and capabilities of Doosan machine tools that have made, and continue to make, them so attractive to Oxford Engineering: it is the service and support provided by Mills CNC that adds to their appeal.

“Doosan machines are reliable but, if and when, any issues arise that affect their performance or cause downtime, we know that Mills’ after-sales and support services will help keep any disruption to our and our customers’ production schedules to a minimum,” says Sekkat.

Oxford Engineering Ltd, is a vertically integrated contract manufacturing specialist that provides a range of high integrity services and solutions, which include technical consultancy, precision machining, welding, fabrication, assembly and testing, to a growing number of global customers operating in the medical, nuclear, semiconductor, aerospace, defence and scientific instrumentation sectors.

Like all other companies in the group (such as Hutton Precision Engineering and Oxford Engineering Estonia), Oxford Engineering Ltd is characterised by its data-driven approach, where the company acts and makes decisions based on facts and manufacturing KPIs, as opposed to ones based on guesses, anecdotal evidence or ‘gut’ reactions.

As such, this strategy, focused on the collection, processing and interpretation of real-time data (gained from a variety of sources that include the company’s shop floor equipment and MRP/ERP systems), enables senior managers to continuously monitor and benchmark performance against KPIs, identify issues and factors that affect/impact upon productivity, spot emerging trends and opportunities, and make strategic and timely interventions to ensure process optimisation.

“We operate in highly-regulated markets where there is an emphasis on continuous improvement, innovation, traceability, process reliability and cost reduction,” states Sekkat. “To ensure we are able to provide our customers with the best possible service and solutions, we adopt a holistic approach that covers all aspects of production, including supply chain management and logistics issues, lean manufacturing methods and imperatives.

“In this way we are able to build and customise our manufacturing operations and processes around individual customer requirements,” he continues. “As such, our customers have come to expect, and now rely on us, to have advanced manufacturing technologies and optimised processes in place to help them outperform their competitors and delight their customers.”

To ensure that this can occur, Oxford Engineering has implemented a company-wide continuous improvement programme and, as such, makes regular investment in its people, plant and equipment, as well as its processes and systems. For example, in addition to the recent investment made in the three new Doosan machine tools, the company has significantly strengthened its metrology/inspection credentials with the acquisition of a laser-driven Global S Chrome coordinate measuring machine (CMM).

“It’s all about being the best we can possibly be,” says Sekkat.

The three new Doosan machines acquired by Oxford Engineering comprise an advanced vertical machining centre with a 4th-axis unit, a multi-axis turn-mill machine featuring an integrated bar feeder and a large-capacity turning centre with large bore capabilities and driven tooling. Mills CNC says these machines provide Oxford Engineering with reliable cutting performance and flexibility and, irrespective of the materials machined or the part accuracies and/or surface finishes required, are more than up to the task.

The latest machine tool investments also highlight and encapsulate Oxford Engineering’s technology preferences and imperatives, namely to invest in FANUC-controlled Doosan multi-axis and multi-tasking machines with integrated automation.

Says Sekkat: “We know from our group experience that multi-tasking Doosan machines from Mills CNC supplied with integrated automation are proven performers and help us reduce job set up and part cycle times, avoid production bottlenecks, ensure improved asset utilisation and meet ever-stringent customer delivery deadlines.

“We work in partnership with customers to create strong, mutually-profitable and long-term strategic alliances,” he concludes. “Our investment in Doosan machines tools from Mills CNC is an important cornerstone in establishing and maintaining these relationships.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

Low-carbon hydrogen project for MTC

Engineers from the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry are playing a key role in a project to develop innovative low-carbon hydrogen storage and supply systems, helping the UK’s drive to net zero. The SHyLO project has won £4.3m in funding from BEIS under the Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio Low-Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 Competition. The MTC is partnering SHyLO project leader H2GO Power, a clean-tech SME founded in 2014 as a spin-out from Cambridge University. Other project partners are ARC Consulting, Autodesk, HSSMI and EMEC

For further information www.the-mtc.org

All-new TruMotion rotary table

RPI UK, a specialist in precision rotation and angular positioning, launched its TruMotion rotary table at the Control 2022 exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany earlier this month. According to the company, TruMotion verifies small or medium circular parts with an accuracy more commonly seen in the standards laboratory. Manufacturers in the high-precision and general machining industries will be able to check roundness to the required accuracy of any turned or ground parts.

TruMotion is operated manually and enables the inspection of circular components such as pinions, gears, gauges, bearings, aero-engine components and optical assemblies in a production environment. It will be used to measure small and medium sized round parts, with dimensions of up to 400 mm diameter by 220 mm high, weighing up to 50 kg. TruMotion has a radially adjustable articulated probe holder and an axial and radial bearing performance of less than 1 µm.

Peter Marchbank, managing director of RPI, says: “Precision engineering companies, from global producers to small machining workshops, will now be able to easily verify and inspect small and medium sized circular parts with the required accuracy.”

RPI grew out of acquisitions from Optical Measuring Tools, Airmatic, Horstmannn and Eimeldingen. The company is now one of the world’s largest designers and manufacturers of solution-driven, highly accurate inspection systems and services that measure circular geometry and angular positioning.

Using its 75+ years of rotary expertise, RPI supplies progressive engineering industries, including the aerospace, gas turbine and dimensional metrology sectors, with low-maintenance products that offer a service life measured in decades, not years.

For further information
www.rpiuk.com