Direct route to success with SMEC turning centre

When Direct Engineering & Site Services Ltd opened its doors in Sheepbridge, it was a small fabrication shop. Fast-forward 28 years and the Chesterfield-based company operates from a 3716 m²premises with five divisions that deliver diverse services to customers throughout the UK and Europe.

Direct Engineering specialises in the installation of material handling equipment, vacuum conveying and chiller pipework systems. Dugard has frequently supported the company via its range of machine tools, with the latest acquisition being a SMEC SL 3000LM turning centre.

Ray Woolley, managing director of Direct Engineering, says: “We started in 1997 as a fabrication company that initially machined on a smaller scale. As time progressed, we saw the need to expand our operations as our customers requested more machining services, so we invested in CNC machines.”

He continues: “We’re presently undertaking quite a diverse range of work for industries from marine, automotive and pharmaceutical to power and the water utilities. We machine everything from plastic, brass, and aluminium to stainless, duplex, composites and more.”

To accommodate this variety of materials, the versatility of the Dugard SMEC SL3000LM machine is paying dividends.

“Each material has its challenges regarding how it cuts, but Dugard helped us with a machine breakdown and quickly got us up and running,” says Woolley.“For that reason, we continued our relationship with Dugard. We’ve had a lot of good productive advice from Dugard on how to deal with this diverse range of materials.”

The latest SMEC SL 3000LM is not the first Dugard at the Derbyshire company. Direct Engineering has a range of machines from Dugard, including the SMEC PL2500, PL35 and PL45 turning centres.

“Dugard has provided sound advice on the best machine tool options for our needs,” concludes Woolley.

More information www.dugard.com

Valuable insights gained at Index open house

The Index open house 2025 event at the company’s new iXperience Centre in Deizisau concluded with great success last week. With visitors able to explore numerous Index and Traub machine innovations, the event also featured tailored automation solutions, expert presentations and discussions with technology specialists from various industries.Additional highlights included a demonstration of ‘high dynamic turning’ with indexing turret-mounted tools, along with an integrated information session on machining hydraulic components.

Index equipped its customer centre with a range of turn-mill centres, production turning machines, multi-spindle turning machines and universal turning machines. All models were fully loaded for live demonstrations and integrated with automation solutions.

Making its debut at the event was the new Traub TNK40 production turning machine (pictured), a fixed-head machine based on the Traub TNL32 compact sliding/fixed-head machine. Instead of a sliding head for Swiss-type turning, the TNK40 features a fixed head with 40 mm clearance. Thanks to low-vibration, simplified bar guiding (such as via a short loader), Index says the machine offers greater overall rigidity than a sliding-head machine, resulting in enhanced dynamics and improved part quality.

Also making its debut was the Traub TNL12 lean, a cost-effective entry-level sliding/fixed-head turning machine equipped with just one turret and a back working unit. Its live guide bushing is adjustable but not programmable, though optional expansions remain available.

For those seeking high productivity, short cycle times and minimal tooling times, another highlight wasthe compact Index MS24-8 multi-spindle CNC turning machine, featuring eight spindles and MBL bar-loading magazine. With its extensive features and software tools, the machine can be quickly re-tooled and is well-suited to machining new material standards, such as lead-free brass.

More information www.index-group.com

Longer runs dictate move to sliding-head lathes

SFC (Europe) manufactures, stocks and supplies safety-critical stud-bolts, bolts and nuts in ASTM and ASME grades for onshore, offshore and subsea applications. The Wolverhampton-based company has enjoyed impressive growth, from a turnover of £1m when it was formed in 2013 to £15m in 2024, boosted by notable investments in CNC turning machines.

Since 2019, operations director Mark Edmonds and his colleagues had been considering sliding-head bar turning owing to its suitability for producing large quantities of components, including unattended overnight. The Covid-19 pandemic delayed things somewhat but by mid-2022 SFC (Europe) was ready to make its first investment in new turning centres. It was, however, a pair of fixed-head lathes (Miyano BNA-42DHY twin-spindle, twin-turret, bar-fed models from Citizen Machinery) that arrived, as machinists at Wolverhamptonwere unfamiliar with operating sliding-head equipment and management wanted modern, productive lathes that would come on-stream quickly.

A couple of years later, SFC (Europe) was ready to revert to the idea of introducing sliding-head, bar-fed lathes. The Miyano machines had performed so reliably in terms of uptime and accuracy that Edmonds looked no further than Citizen for the supply of two Cincom L32-VIIILFV turn-mill centres. Delivered and commissioned in April 2024, the Cincom machines mainly fulfil orders for higher volumes of parts. As traceability is often important, the ability to engrave components in-cycle saves a separate operation and contributes to maximising production output.

“Everyone from our founder and chairman Allan Stennett to machine tool operators on the shop floor are committed to acquiring and using the best production equipment possible,” says Edmonds.“Continued purchase of machines like the Miyano and Cincom lathes will undoubtedly underpin our continued growth for years to come.”More information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Expansion at Lawton Tubes

Lawton Tubes, a manufacturer and supplier of copper tubing products, is investing £20m
into a new facility just a few metres from its current headquarters in Coventry. Within three
years, the expansion will see the creation of a 11,148 m², two-storey facility that will house
Lawton’s manufacturing, storage and office operations. The vision is to transform the entire
two-hectare site into a state-of-the-art distribution centre and new head office. The project
will be a significant step forward for the family-run business, which has an annual turnover
of £230m and a team of 140 staff across four sites in Coventry, Redditch and Poole.
More information www.lawtontubes.co.uk

Seco moves to sustainable packaging

As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability, cutting tool manufacturer Seco is
making a significant change to its product packaging. The company is transitioning to
environmentally friendly packaging made from 98-100% recycled materials, a move that will
result in an estimated reduction of 131 T of CO₂ emissions annually. Seco says the new
packaging, made of recycled polypropylene or polyethylene depending on the supplier,
maintains the same high standards of quality and functionality that customers expect while
contributing to a more sustainable future.
More information www.secotools.com