Leeds-based subcontract machining firm Kirkstall Precision has enhanced its capability to serve the demanding medical sector with the installation of a Brother Speedio M200Xd1-5AX, a Japanese-built five-axis CNC machining centre supplied by sole UK and Ireland sales and service agent Whitehouse Machine Tools.

For the past seven years, the company has focused almost exclusively on producing components for the medical industry, while also manufacturing surgical instruments and implants for the veterinarian sector. The company is seeing a 15-20% year-on-year growth rate due to high demand.

The Brother was chosen for its accuracy, repeatability, versatility and compact footprint. Kirkstall’s managing director Adam Thornton says: “Accuracy in the medical sector is a given. Everything has to be completely correct, so we inspect and report all dimensional tolerances. Opting for a top quality machine tool like the Brother was a fairly obvious decision.” 

Approved to ISO 13485, a globally recognised quality management system standard for medical devices, Kirkstall produces mainly low-volume orthopaedic components from challenging materials, including stainless steel, hardened stainless, titanium and other tough alloys. Brother says the 30-taper Speedio is suitable for machining these materials continually. In addition, it is able to combine on a single platform five-axis prismatic machining using the 16,000 rpm spindle and turning with the rotary torque table, which was a further key attraction. 

“We’ve used 40-taper five-axis technology for some time, but the Brother is faster and takes up less space,” reports Thornton. “It’s ideal for the smaller, high-accuracy parts we produce and has typically delivered a 20% cycle time reduction compared with our larger production centres.”

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