Another record year for Hurco

Sales growth of more than 22% in 2017 compared with the previous 12 months propelled Hurco Europe to another record year and a turnover of £23m. The company sold close to 300 Hurco machining centres and lathes into the UK and Ireland, 38% of which went to first-time users of the company’s machine tools. In addition, under a long-standing agency agreement, the company delivered six German-built Roeders machining centres into the same markets, all but one in five-axis configuration and two with advanced automation.

In parallel with the upturn in business, the number of employees at Hurco Europe has grown to 50, more than a third of whom are service engineers. The number of applications engineers has increased to six, reflecting the level of support that is being provided to the firm’s expanding customer base. One explanation for the company’s growth is a 40% increase in the number of five-axis machining centres sold.
For further information www.hurco.co.uk

Saudi Aramco signs deal with Schlumberger

Saudi Aramco has awarded Schlumberger two lump-sum contracts for drilling rigs and services for oil and gas wells. Under the contracts, Schlumberger Integrated Drilling Services (IDS) will provide drilling rigs and services for up to 146 gas wells and up to 128 oil wells over three years.

Saudi Aramco’s senior vice president – upstream, Mohammed Qahtani, says: “Saudi Aramco and Schlumberger are key partners who, under these contracts, will be able to bring innovative technologies to the field, and deploy them in our large-scale operations. We have a great history of success with Schlumberger throughout our 75 year partnership in Saudi Arabia, and have now set the scene for even greater achievements in the future.”
For further information www.saudiaramco.com

Air conditioning plant inaugurated

Mitsubishi Electric Corp has announced that the new 40,000 sq m factory of Mitsubishi Electric Turkey (Klima Sistemleri Üretim Anonim Şirketi), which develops and manufactures air conditioners for the Turkish market, commenced manufacturing on 12 December.

Annual production of 500,000 indoor and outdoor units is targeted by the fiscal year ending March 2021, by which time the plant hopes to employ around 400 people. Mitsubishi Electric’s air conditioning and refrigeration systems business in Europe is expanding steadily, with demand in Turkey expected to increase in line with the country’s economic and population growth.
For further information www.mitsubishielectric.com

IKCO begins Haima S5 mass production

The production line of the new Haima S5 has been officially inaugurated at Iran Khodro’s Khorasan (IKKCO) site during a ceremony attended by top managers from both IKCO and Haima. The move is in line with the company’s five-year strategy to introduce and produce a new vehicle every year. Recent launches include the 2.0-litre Haima S7, the Haima S7 with a 1.8-litre turbo engine, the new Suzuki Grand Vitara, and now the Haima S5.

The Haima S5 is the fruit of close co-operation between Haima and Italy’s LDA Design, and is an SUV said to offer high acceleration, a robust engine and good performance. Other companies like Bosch and Punch Industry are also involved. The IKKCO site in northeast Iran is dedicated to the production of SUVs.
For further information www.ikco.ir

Doosan machine makes sound investment

Mills CNC, the sole distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied a new Doosan VC630 5AX five-axis machining centre, equipped with a Heidenhain control, to hi-fi design and manufacturing specialist, Linn Products.
The machine has been installed at the company’s factory in Glasgow and is being used to produce a range of precision parts for Linn’s music systems. These components include machined-from-solid aluminium enclosures that comprise a lid and base for the company’s range-topping Klimax systems.

Prior to investing in the VC630 5AX, the machining of these enclosures was subcontracted, and while this situation was satisfactory it had its drawbacks and was always considered to be temporary. The arrangement was superseded by Linn’s desire to become more self-sufficient and vertically integrated, with the decision taken to commence machining the Klimax metalwork in-house.
Explains Fraser Crown, Linn Products’ operations architect: “The more of our manufacturing processes we can bring in-house, the better able we are to manage, control, optimise and ultimately improve them. Linn does not mass produce products; every product we manufacture is built to order. This can potentially cause scheduling and delivery fulfilment issues when relying on subcontractors who, quite naturally, prefer to handle larger and more predictable batch-type work.
“As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, it was a natural progression for us to look at bringing machining processes in-house, such as those employed to manufacture our enclosures,” he adds.
To enable Linn to manufacture all its Klimax metalwork in-house, the company needed to acquire additional machining capability. Linn is certainly no stranger to CNC machining and, some years earlier invested in a three-axis Doosan DNM650 vertical machining centre from Mills to manufacture a range of parts. Since being installed, the machine, according to Crown, “hasn’t missed a beat” and is working near peak production.
With regard to its next investment, three key questions initially confronted Linn: what type of machine tool would best produce the enclosures; which manufacturer would be able to supply the machine, and what support could they provide; and how quickly could Linn develop a reliable and repeatable machining process?

Linn’s ‘milled from solid’ enclosures feature in both the Klimax DS and Klimax DSM streamers, the Klimax amplifier, Klimax Exakt, and the Radikal power supply for the Klimax LP12 turntable. The enclosures are machined (internally and externally) from individual solid aluminium billets. Internally machined features include a number of separate and isolated chambers (divided by walls) where audio/electronic circuitry and power supply units are housed separately. The back of the enclosures contain a variation of machined holes for output and input connectors and ports.
All exterior faces of the enclosure are machined to a mirror-like finish, with the top and bottom being finished using a large diameter fly-cutter (cutting) tool that is able to face mill the entire surface in one pass to produce a uniform finish. “Surface finish imperfections, however small, are not acceptable as they would show up after the enclosures have been anodised,” states Crown.
To meet Linn’s manufacturing imperatives and quality standards, the company researched the market to identify the types of machining centres available.
“We wanted the machine to meet our immediate and future requirements, which is why we looked at large-capacity five-axis vertical and horizontal machining centres,” says Crown. “Although we do not machine parts in high volumes, flexibility, reduced set-up and cycle times, which are key advantages of five-axis machine tool technology, are important to us.
“We ultimately decided on a vertical machine with full five-axis simultaneous machining capability because it enables each side of the billet to be produced continuously without the need to remount the job,” he continues. “As a result, we negate any incremental dimensional inaccuracies and poor finish quality. We believe it will provide us with far more flexibility going forward. Furthermore, for certain machined features, most notably where the front panel display is located on the enclosure lid, we knew that using five-axis simultaneous machining capabilities would enable features to be machined reliably and accurately. In reality, the seamless five-axis movement which creates the ‘Klimax smile’ is dimensionally perfect, has a faultless finish and it is a joy to watch being machined.”

Linn already had a good relationship with Mills CNC following its investment in the Doosan DNM650 vertical machining centre five years ago. Discussing its latest requirements with Mills’ sales and technical staff, Linn decided to invest in a large-capacity VC630 5AX machine with Heidenhain CNC.
Owning a large-capacity machine means that Linn can produce a wide range of components – big and small. The decision to opt for the Heidenhain control (favoured by many mould tool and die makers) was taken for its ease of use and on-board functionality – especially its ability to help machine complex 3D surfaces and curved contours. The VC 630 5AX has a large working envelope (650 x 765 x 520 mm in XYZ), and a 32 kW/12,000 rpm direct-drive spindle.
Bringing any machining process in-house means there is an inevitable learning curve. Add to that the need to get to grips with the Heidenhain control (Linn’s Doosan DNM650 machine is equipped with a Fanuc control), and the curve becomes naturally steeper. However, the skill and experience of Linn’s operators and programmers, combined with technical and applications support (including training) provided by Mills CNC, has helped the company develop a secure and reliable machining process for its enclosures. Further refinement to fully optimise the process is ongoing and part and parcel of Linn’s continuous improvement ethos.
Concludes Crown: “The new machine is working well and we have found that having five-axis machining capability in-house makes us more productive and flexible. We are also able to respond, from a machining perspective, much more efficiently and effectively with regard to product design upgrades and modifications.”
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk