Moving to ‘one-hit’ machining has delivered a Lancashire precision engineering specialist a £500,000 boost after securing a string of new orders.

Merc Aerospace, which employs 50 people at its facility in Barrowford, has seen turnover rise to £4.2m thanks to a sustained investment drive that has included the purchase of two CNC turn-mill machines from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).
The company has replaced five older models with two Nakamura WT150II machines as part of its commitment to lean manufacturing and reducing lead times for customers that include Airbus, AgustaWestland, BAE Systems and Bombardier.
“We are focused on offering our clients the lowest total cost of acquisition solution for their precision components,” explains Richard Meade, commercial director at Merc Aerospace. “This is where the two Nakamuras really come into their own and ensure we live up to our promise, delivering fantastic control, speed and repeatable quality. Our customers have been so impressed with these new capabilities that they’ve even placed new product orders, building on a £500,000 increase in annual sales for the past 12 months.”
The turret-mounted power tooling ensures components with complex milled features are coming off virtually burr-free and generally as part of a one-hit operation.
Says Meade: “Our ‘one-hit’ machining approach has really improved the company’s productivity and, in turn, made us more competitive when looking to secure new opportunities both at home and overseas. We’re not going to stand still though. The emphasis is on continuous improvement and we have already signed-off further investment, with delivery of a twin-spindle, triple-turret Nakamura NTY3-150 multi-axis lathe scheduled for later this month.”
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