Global machine tool market set for growth

The machine tool manufacturing industry is facing a transformative decade, and as manufacturers’ needs become more digitally focused, machine tool builders must evolve their products to meet changing market requirements. According to global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, the worldwide machine tool market will grow by a CAGR of 4.3% from 2022 to 2032 and reach US$245.2bn in manufacturing value added.

“This growth is driven by new product design facilitating the need for new machine tools, old equipment reaching the end of its lifecycle and requiring replacement, and new machine tool solutions being provided and incentivising upgrades,” explains James Prestwood, industrial and manufacturing research analyst at ABI Research.
For further information www.bit.ly/3KaoVhL

New chair for EngineeringUK

EngineeringUK, a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to inspire the next generation of engineers, hasnamed Iain Conn as its new chair, taking over from Malcolm Brinded on 1 October 2023. Conn’s career includes 34 years’ executive experience in the energy sector at BP and Centrica, alongside non-executive roles at Rolls-Royce and BT. He was an external member of the Council of Imperial College, a trustee at Movement to Work, and was responsible for BP’s early role in Project Enthuse, which supports STEM teaching and learning across the UK, helping to improve young people’s engagement in STEM subjects.
For further information www.engineeringuk.com

Kennametal tool library available for Mastercam

CNC Software LLC, developer of Mastercam CADCAM software, has collaborated with cutting tool specialist Kennametal to provide customers with the ability to access tooling data for Kennametal brand drills and solid-carbide end mills directly in the Mastercam tool library.Mastercam developers worked closely with Kennametal to enable users to import data on tools that include GOdrill and Kenna Universal solid-carbide drills and a selection of HARVI and KOR end mills. The integration allows Mastercam customers to save significant time searching for desired tools and building tool assemblies.
For further information www.mastercam.com

Longevity of lathes prompts repeat purchases

It is often said that a subcontractor does not know what type of work will be coming through the door tomorrow, so needs versatile machine tools to produce a wide variety of components. With this thought in mind, the mainstay for production of a large proportion of turned parts at contract machinist Repro Engineering are CNC turning centres from Citizen Machinery, both Miyano fixed-head lathes and Cincom sliding-head models.

The first Miyano to arrive (in 1997) was a BND42S twin-spindle lathe with live tooling. It departed just three years ago after 23 years of service, having produced more than 2 million components, most in one hit and a large proportion in lights-out operation. The second Miyano, a BND51S, arrived in 1998 and was sold in mid-2022 after an even longer period on the shop floor.

Repro Engineering’s owner and managing director Richard Palmer says: “We have a policy of regularly reviewing our capacity and keeping plant up to date. In the case of the Miyanos, however, earlier exchange simply wasn’t necessary, as the machines continued to hold tolerance.”

The replacement for the BND51S was a more capable BNJ-51SY, which arrived in May 2022. Featuring two turrets and Y-axis movement of the main turret, the lathe facilitates complex machining operations at the main and sub spindles simultaneously. Nine Miyano machines have been purchased over the years.

Regarding Repro Engineering’s sliding-head capacity, the subcontractor operates three Cincom lathes capable of machining parts up to 32 mm diameter bar. Impressed with the quality and longevity of the Miyano machines, Palmer decided to approach Citizen for larger Swiss-type lathes capable of producing bigger diameter, often shaft-type components. He purchased a Cincom A32-VII in 2009, followed by a more highly specified M32-VIII with a B-axis in 2013, and another A32-VII two years later.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Turning up productivity with lathes from Dugard

Companies with the heritage of AW Engineering are very rare. Founded in 1908 by Alfred Wood, the subcontractor switched its workload to munitions and aircraft parts during World War II and, ever since, the company has remained under the stewardship of the same family.

In 2020, AW Engineering moved to a new 15,000sqft factory in West Molesey, since when the companyhas doubled its turnover under the leadership of Mark Felstead, the great, great grandson of company founder Alfred. Contributing to this growth is the investment in three machine tools and a robot from Dugard: two SMEC SL2000BSY twin-spindle, single-turret turning centres; a Hanwha HCR5 collaborative robot (cobot); and a Hanwha XD38 IIRNHY sliding-head turning centre.

“During the pandemic, suitable machine tool supply was sparse,” says Felstead.“We spoke with Dugard and, within two weeks of placing an order for a SMEC SL2000BSY, the machine was on our shop floor and running. With furlough and other restrictions during the pandemic, Dugard was the only company that could serve our needs. Set-ups and programming are at least 20% faster with the Siemens control and we can prepare jobs and programs with confidence using the conversational programming and simulation within the system.”

Less than six months after the installation of the first machine, AW Engineering placed an order for a second SMEC SL2000BSY. A single operator mans the two SMEC machines. However, some components in the family of parts are above the 65mm diameter bar feed threshold and require manual loading. Here, AW Engineering has purchased a Hanwha HCR5 cobot from Dugard.

“Our cobot cell is now up and running, which means that both SMEC machines can run unmanned 24/7,” concludes Felstead.
For further information www.dugard.com