Founded in 1992, P&T Precision Engineering has an established reputation as a subcontract manufacturer that specialises in the production of jigs, fixtures and machined components for the food, medical and pharmaceutical sector. Historically a manual machine shop, the County Kildare based company has made the transition from manual to CNC machining with the support of the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) Ireland.

Discussing the transition from manual machine shop to CNC facility, Darragh Walsh, managing director of P&T Precision Engineering, says: “We were a small family company with six employees and we decided to invest in CNC machines from ETG. We ended up buying quite a lot of new equipment. This helped us to grow in certain sectors and helped our customers to get more products in shorter lead times. In a short period, we have gone from six staff to 22, but we have also grown our number of machines – and we hope to grow that into the future as well.”

Jamie Fletchmore, managing director at ETG Ireland, adds: “P&T was an up and coming family-run business that was transitioning from manual machines into the CNC world. They approached us and we sat down and spoke about the first machining centre, introducing them to the Quaser MV184. From there, we migrated on every two years and they were buying more technology, which included the Nakamura AS200L turning centre. Two years later they purchased another Quaser MV184.”

The Quaser MV184 vertical machining centre from ETG is a model that provides X, Y and Z-axis travels of 1020 x 610 x 610 mm. This spacious work envelope covers a 1200 x 600 mm bed upon which users can load parts weighing up to 500 kg. The BT40 taper spindle machine provides a maximum spindle speed of 12,000 rpm, supported by a 30-position ATC.

“This type of machine is a big step up from where they were, machining parts on manual machines in multiple operations,” says Fletchmore. “With the Quaser MV184, P&T were able to take those manually machined parts from drawing and CAD model straight into the machine with a finished part coming off. As a result, they were able to get the parts through the shop floor much faster, and that also reduces the downtime involved with going from one operation to another as part of the manual process. Investing in our machines and technology has enabled P&T to move through different types of components and different kinds of materials, especially harder materials. This has allowed them to enter new markets.”

He continues: “It opened doors and opportunities that led the company to then look at the Nakamura AS200L turning centre. The AS200L introduced P&T to a new range of machine tools. They were making parts in multiple operations on a lathe, but by using the Nakamura AS200L turning centre they can finish those parts complete in one operation. P&T are now able to do all of the milling, drilling, tapping – and transfer parts to the second spindle – in one complete operation.”

The Nakamura AS200L twin-spindle turning centre from ETG is a 65 mm diameter bar capacity machine with an 8-inch chuck that offers a turning capacity up to 340 mm diameter with a maximum turning length of 570 mm – providing sufficient capacity for the requirements of P&T. With an 11/15 kW, 4500 rpm main spindle motor and a sub-spindle unit offering 5.5/7.5 kW and 6000 rpm, the Nakamura AS200L is suitable for the productive turning of all material types with its blend of power, torque and spindle speed. A driven tooling unit has a capacity for up to 15 tools with a maximum spindle speed of 6000 rpm and 3.7/5.5 kW spindle power.

“P&T is a very creative company and they do a lot of design work for their customers,” says Fletchmore. “They came to us with particular types of work and asked if they could do it on our machines. We sat down with them and supported and guided them through the different ways that we could approach jobs – in a way that was different to what they were doing in the past. That has enabled P&T to create much better components, much quicker, while retaining and improving upon the precision and the tolerances of parts.”

Says Walsh: “We went to ETG because they provide great support and service, as well as fantastic quality machines with great repeatability and durability. We have never had any issues with any machine that ETG hasn’t been able to fix within a couple of hours. The Nakamura AS200L turning centre has enabled us to machine components in a much faster time because there are fewer set-ups. So, instead of taking jobs from the lathe to the mill, we can now do it all in one shot. This has decreased our machining times, reduced our delivery times and means we can get more parts through the machine shop.”

ETG Ireland provided all of the training, as the Heidenhain CNC control was new to P&T. This included full operator training where ETG Ireland went in and set P&T parts up with the shop floor machinists and went through the full machining aspect. In short, ETG Ireland has taken P&T from manual machining to full CNC.

Looking to the future, Walsh concludes: “The future for P&T will hopefully see us expand to 2000 sq ft and grow our workforce to help increase capacity. This will certainly result in more machine tools from ETG Ireland.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

Strategic and prudent investment in advanced Doosan machine tools is helping contract manufacturing specialist, Oxford Engineering Ltd (part of the Oxford Engineering Group), achieve significant organic growth, secure new business wins and deliver high-quality manufacturing solutions congruent with its aspirational and motivational vision statement.

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied the company with three new multi-tasking machines. The machines, all DNC-linked and equipped with the latest FANUC controls, comprise a DNM 6700 vertical machining centre, a 10/12” chuck SMX 2600S turn-mill machine, and a 21” chuck (large-capacity) Puma 5100MB lathe.

The machines were delivered and installed at the company’s well-resourced machine shop facility over a six-month period (October 2021 – April 2022) and have taken their place alongside the company’s (but not the group’s) first Doosan machine tool investment – a DNM 750L II vertical machining centre acquired in June 2019.

Says Karim Sekkat, CEO, Oxford Engineering Group: “Doosan machine tools, supplied and supported by Mills CNC, are technically excellent machines. They are flexible and reliable, deliver outstanding accuracy and repeatability, and help us keep our quality, delivery and cost promises to our customers.”

He adds: “We now have four Doosan machines installed at Oxford Engineering Ltd’s facility in Abingdon but, across the whole group, the number is considerably higher, with our two Hutton Engineering facilities, in Bicester and Abingdon, having a total of over 20 Doosan machines between them.”

However, it is not just the technical capacity and capabilities of Doosan machine tools that have made, and continue to make, them so attractive to Oxford Engineering: it is the service and support provided by Mills CNC that adds to their appeal.

“Doosan machines are reliable but, if and when, any issues arise that affect their performance or cause downtime, we know that Mills’ after-sales and support services will help keep any disruption to our and our customers’ production schedules to a minimum,” says Sekkat.

Oxford Engineering Ltd, is a vertically integrated contract manufacturing specialist that provides a range of high integrity services and solutions, which include technical consultancy, precision machining, welding, fabrication, assembly and testing, to a growing number of global customers operating in the medical, nuclear, semiconductor, aerospace, defence and scientific instrumentation sectors.

Like all other companies in the group (such as Hutton Precision Engineering and Oxford Engineering Estonia), Oxford Engineering Ltd is characterised by its data-driven approach, where the company acts and makes decisions based on facts and manufacturing KPIs, as opposed to ones based on guesses, anecdotal evidence or ‘gut’ reactions.

As such, this strategy, focused on the collection, processing and interpretation of real-time data (gained from a variety of sources that include the company’s shop floor equipment and MRP/ERP systems), enables senior managers to continuously monitor and benchmark performance against KPIs, identify issues and factors that affect/impact upon productivity, spot emerging trends and opportunities, and make strategic and timely interventions to ensure process optimisation.

“We operate in highly-regulated markets where there is an emphasis on continuous improvement, innovation, traceability, process reliability and cost reduction,” states Sekkat. “To ensure we are able to provide our customers with the best possible service and solutions, we adopt a holistic approach that covers all aspects of production, including supply chain management and logistics issues, lean manufacturing methods and imperatives.

“In this way we are able to build and customise our manufacturing operations and processes around individual customer requirements,” he continues. “As such, our customers have come to expect, and now rely on us, to have advanced manufacturing technologies and optimised processes in place to help them outperform their competitors and delight their customers.”

To ensure that this can occur, Oxford Engineering has implemented a company-wide continuous improvement programme and, as such, makes regular investment in its people, plant and equipment, as well as its processes and systems. For example, in addition to the recent investment made in the three new Doosan machine tools, the company has significantly strengthened its metrology/inspection credentials with the acquisition of a laser-driven Global S Chrome coordinate measuring machine (CMM).

“It’s all about being the best we can possibly be,” says Sekkat.

The three new Doosan machines acquired by Oxford Engineering comprise an advanced vertical machining centre with a 4th-axis unit, a multi-axis turn-mill machine featuring an integrated bar feeder and a large-capacity turning centre with large bore capabilities and driven tooling. Mills CNC says these machines provide Oxford Engineering with reliable cutting performance and flexibility and, irrespective of the materials machined or the part accuracies and/or surface finishes required, are more than up to the task.

The latest machine tool investments also highlight and encapsulate Oxford Engineering’s technology preferences and imperatives, namely to invest in FANUC-controlled Doosan multi-axis and multi-tasking machines with integrated automation.

Says Sekkat: “We know from our group experience that multi-tasking Doosan machines from Mills CNC supplied with integrated automation are proven performers and help us reduce job set up and part cycle times, avoid production bottlenecks, ensure improved asset utilisation and meet ever-stringent customer delivery deadlines.

“We work in partnership with customers to create strong, mutually-profitable and long-term strategic alliances,” he concludes. “Our investment in Doosan machines tools from Mills CNC is an important cornerstone in establishing and maintaining these relationships.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

Bristol-based Nerc Precision Engineering (NPE) Ltd has been on a rapid growth trajectory since its inception in May 2018, marking the fourth anniversary of its founding with the recent installation of a DMG Mori CMX600V machining centre. Investing in prestige technology is a philosophy of this small business, as highlighted by its newly formed partnership with cutting fluid specialist ITW Rocol.

Commenting upon the growth of the business, managing director Konrad Nerc says: “When my wife and I started the business, we aimed to invest in the best technology to ensure that we could deliver the highest quality components and service with lead times and pricing that would be the industry benchmark. As a small and agile manufacturer with innovative technology investments that include five-axis machining, our philosophy and customer service is enabling us to evolve rapidly.”

In the past two years, the subcontract manufacturer has invested in a DMG Mori DMU50 five-axis and a CMX600V three-axis machining centre that are supported by zero-point clamping from Lang, cutting tools from Ceratizit, Hoffmann and Tungaloy and, of course, cutting fluid from ITW Rocol. Producing everything from one-offs and prototypes to batch production, the ISO9001-accredited subcontract manufacturer typically serves customers in the defence, offshore, automotive and general subcontract sectors, with the aerospace industry rapidly emerging as its most prominent market.

Like any fledgling business, finding the best quality products and services is a learning curve, and this has certainly been the case for the company located near Bristol airport when considering its cutting fluids.

“Our initial cutting fluid supplier was a well-known name in the industry, but the quality of the fluid was quite poor,” says Nerc. “The fluid consumption was high, the coolant left a lot of residue on our components, we suffered from tramp oil and foaming, and the staff suffered with skin irritation. We soon moved to a very high-end brand of cutting oil. This premium brand eliminated tramp oil, foaming and skin irritation for staff, while the consumption was also reduced and it improved tool life and surface finishes. However, we found the poor service unacceptable, especially considering the increased cost for a barrel of oil. We eventually moved to a third vendor with a brand equally well recognised as a premium product. Although the quality of fluid, performance and cost were relatively similar to the second supplier – once again, it was the service and support that was lacking.”

This trial and error process led Nerc to cast a hopeful query on LinkedIn for advice and support. It was here that ITW Rocol answered the call for help.

“ITW Rocol came to investigate our cutting fluid requirements,” says Nerc. “Following an initial consultation, we trialled three different Rocol fluids. Testing more than one product was due to the diversity of the materials we were cutting, the varying operations and machining parameters, and some of the products being new to market for Rocol. Rocol emptied and cleaned the sump of a machine, and we tried our first fluid, and the results were impressive. The quality of the fluid was excellent, and the support has been second to none.”

Since the trial commenced last year, Nerc has won a series of new customers and sizeable orders in the aerospace industry, with work in this sector now accounting for 95% of turnover. This has seen the materials machined narrow from stainless steel, steel, copper, brass and a multitude of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, to primarily aluminium and aerospace-grade alloys. With this evolution, ITW Rocol identified its TRI-Logic cutting fluid as the most suitable solution. TRI-Logic is a range of maximum-life, extreme-pressure cutting fluids which demonstrate inherent stability and cutting performance that improves surface finish and tool life while reducing foaming and odours. Furthermore, as a fluid formulated from a proprietary blend of specially selected additives that maximise sump life, TRI-Logic also offers high corrosion protection.

To undertake the trial, ITW Rocol supplied a 55-litre barrel of its TRI-Logic to Nerc. This barrel was utilised in the initial trial that required the emptying and cleaning of one machine sump to demonstrate the difference between Rocol and its fellow ‘premium-brand’ rivals. With the results rapidly becoming evident, the remainder of the barrel was used to continually ‘top-up’ the fluid of the remaining three machines to limit disruption to production while maximising results for Nerc.

From a results perspective, fluid life has improved drastically and oil consumption has reduced by over 50%. Logic would tell any engineer that a 50% consumption reduction would naturally reduce the fluid costs by 50%, yielding a huge saving. However, the ITW Rocol TRI-Logic EP has a retail cost 50% less than its rival premium brands. With a 50% reduction in the purchase price and a 50% fluid consumption reduction, the savings are even higher.

“The 50% cost reduction is something that every small business wants to take advantage of, but when the consumption also reduces by 50%, the cost of coolant stops being a concern,” says Nerc. “Our initial 55-litre barrel lasted from July to February and we’ve recently taken delivery of a 200-litre drum of TRI-Logic. Our initial projections were that Rocol’s TRI-Logic would provide a cutting fluid consumption reduction of 25%. However, with the new aerospace work, we’re running four machining centres up to 16 hours a day and we are busier than ever before. Running at optimal production rates, we’re recognising that our cutting fluid consumption is at least 50% less.”

The performance of the two previous premium brands far exceeded that of the first brand used by Nerc in terms of extended tool life, sump life, improved surface finishes, and reductions in foaming, tramp oil, oil residue on parts, and skin irritation. The ITW Rocol TRI-Logic has matched and even exceeded the performance of its rival brands in all areas.

The 200-litre barrel of ITW Rocol’s TRI-Logic cutting fluid has been supplied with an automatic fluid mixer that accurately mixes and dispenses the correct dilution of cutting fluid and water. With a built-in double-check valve and vacuum breaker that is WRAS approved, the system meets the most stringent of safety requirements for category 3 fluids and ISO EN 1717 regulations.

“For our business, specifying cutting fluid has been the hardest thing to get right and find an improvement,” states Nerc. “Unlike capital and ancillary equipment, the challenges with cutting fluid can be the most difficult aspect of the business to optimise. The challenge of trialling new coolants has several implications. For example, emptying and cleaning machines to trial fluids can be time-consuming with machine downtime – and then there is the concern that the new fluid may not improve your productivity, fluid life and tool life; or it may not be compatible with the materials machined. There’s also concern over tramp oil, foaming, residue on components, skin irritation, disposal and much more. Thankfully, Rocol resolved all of this, and the results have been fantastic.”

With service and support from all three of its previous cutting fluid vendors being an issue for the company, Nerc concludes: “The service and support from Rocol is second to none. They reviewed our business, listened to our concerns and then provided a solution that has exceeded everything else that went before. Most importantly, a Rocol engineer is always on call to check our machines and support us accordingly.”

For further information
www.rocol.com

Glasgow-based Castle Precision Engineering has been an advocate for the use of VERICUT CNC simulation software from CGTech on its shop floor for many years, protecting high-value customer components, as well as its own advanced machine tools. More recently, the company has embraced the efficiency and productivity gains offered by the Force software module.

While Castle supports a number of advanced sectors, such as medical devices and power generation, the majority – around 90% – of its circa £20m annual turnover comes from the aerospace and defence industries. To cater to the diverse needs of its customer base there are three focused sub-divisions that encompass what the business has to offer: Rotatives, Prismatics and Toolroom.

Roy Yuile, manufacturing engineering manager at Castle, explains: “Rotatives and Prismatics are the two core areas of our production business, and both require extremely high levels of precision and machining expertise. Over the years, we’ve carved out a niche for ourselves in manufacturing critical rotating parts for the aero engine market. The failure of these parts can bring an aeroplane out of the sky, so our OEM customers are not only trusting us with their reputations, but also with the safety of the pilots and passengers whose flights they power. We also manufacture a wide range of complex prismatic products to very exacting tolerances for applications such as defence optronics and hydraulic actuation systems for control surfaces and landing gear.”

The company typically machines prismatic parts from relatively straightforward materials, primarily aluminium alloys along with some steel and titanium. However, rotating aero engine components usually involve more exotic and difficult-to-machine materials, including titanium and nickel-based super alloys, where forgings valued up to $100,000 for a single workpiece are not uncommon.

With a population of around 60 CNC machine tools representing the very latest multi-axis manufacturing technology from DMG Mori, Makino, Doosan and Grob, the shop floor at Castle Precision is a lesson in housekeeping and efficient organisation for all to see. Protecting this advanced manufacturing capability is VERICUT CNC simulation software.

Roy Yuile says: “CAD is at the front end of our engineering workflow. We’ll either import a 3D model supplied by the customer or draw one up from a 2D definition, and break this down into the various stages of manufacture from material supply to finished part. These stage models and their accompanying fixtures or work-holding devices are transferred to CAM, where we’ll build tools, generate tool paths, post NC code and then port the whole job straight into VERICUT using their CAM interface.”

He continues: “VERICUT has been an established part of our workflow for well over a decade. Nothing goes out to a machine without first going through VERICUT. It’s an essential safely net, not just for the product but for our machines and our personnel. We’ll have some programs in our factory that have been around for 10 or 20 years, alongside jobs that are fresh out of CAM. VERICUT simulates any new or modified code before it goes out to a machine. We have a digital twin for almost every machine tool, and because VERICUT reads the same G-code as the machine controller, it’s completely CAM-agnostic and can simulate code from any source.”

Very often, VERICUT drives process improvements because the software offers the opportunity to prove edits in a virtual environment.

“We don’t edit at the machine console because of the risk involved,” says Yuile. “If you mess up you have no safety net. Instead, our engineers will bring the code back into VERICUT, make their edits and then hit simulate to check that the program is safe to release. Smashing pixels is a whole lot cheaper and safer than writing off a machine tool, so verifying code using a digital twin before we actually put anyone or anything at risk is an integral part of our workflow. This risk-based approach is absolutely crucial, not just in aerospace and defence, but for any high-value product and business.”

With VERICUT an established part of Castle’s business for the past 12 years, the software has proven its ability to protect the company, along with being a key improvement tool for its manufacturing processes.

Yuile states: “VERICUT Force is a step further along this curve. Moving beyond goalkeeper functionality, Force allows us to start optimising our processes, as well as proving that they are safe.”

Every manufacturing business faces the same three challenges from its customers: quality, delivery and cost.

“Generally, quality and delivery are a given, and cost is where we win or lose,” Yuile says. “The pressure within the aerospace industry on cost is enormous and, for us to be competitive against global competition, we have to be smarter, faster and more efficient. Physics-based optimisation software has been on our radar for a while, and we started looking at it seriously a couple of years ago.

“There are a few key players in that market and we evaluated them all,” he adds. “There’s a lot of clever maths behind it, but the basic idea of physics-based optimisation is to analyse a toolpath line by line, calculate the forces acting on the cutting tool at any given point in time and then adjust the feed rate in order to balance or control that force and chip load. This means there’s a lot of number crunching involved, but before you even get there you need to build an accurate digital model of the machining process. Since we already simulate every job in VERICUT, the major advantage of VERICUT Force is that building this model takes almost no additional effort – all Force needs is a bit more information on tool geometry and material characteristics, everything else is already there. The cycle time savings you can expect to get from this kind of optimisation are typically 10-20% and VERICUT offered an almost ‘plug and play’ solution for both milling and turning that was really attractive.”

Force has been in use at Castle for about a year, and Yuile is keen to highlight one of the often-overlooked benefits: consumables spend.

“Carbide cutting tools are a major expenditure for us,” he states. “When we’re costing a job, the two key variables are how long it’s going to take and how much we’re going to consume in carbide. Any reduction in cycle time that Force can deliver is good, but so is any improvement in tool life. Although cycle time is a monetary saving in the sense that you free up machine capacity that which you can sell to somebody else, consumables are a direct cash spend. If it takes £100 of carbide to make a particular part and we can reduce that to £80, we are literally not spending £20. That £20 stays in our bank account. Cycle time savings are soft money, they’re potential revenue, while consumables spend is hard money, it’s cash.”

Concludes Yuile: “We trust VERICUT, and that trust comes from experience. When manufacturing high-value components for critical applications, we need to have confidence that we’re using the very best tools for the job, and VERICUT delivers.”

For further information
www.cgtech.co.uk

For almost 50 years Southend-based Rega Research has, to the point of “obsession”, used engineering as the basis for the design and manufacture of its home audio systems. Employing engineering to produce the best music for its customers, while maintaining a high level of reliability and affordability and, wherever possible, a strong UK-supplier base, has led to innovative designs that are both aesthetically pleasing and produce the highest sound quality. This combination has created a loyal customer base, with the past two years seeing significant sales growth, which resulted in its latest investment in an XYZ 750 LR vertical machining centre.

Rega Research is owned by company founder Roy Gandy, who struggled to find an audio system that met his expectations. He was advised, possibly by a frustrated audio dealer, to “build his own” if he could not find what he wanted. The rest, as they say, is history.

Using engineering skills gained in the automotive sector Gandy reviewed what was available, and even the best turntables at the time were said to “offend his sensibilities”, so the quest to re-engineer and create new concepts in audio began. The company now designs and assembles a full range of home audio equipment, including turntables, amplifiers, phono stages, CD players, tonearms, cartridges and speakers. Production stands at over 5000 turntables every month made up of 3000 units a month of its entry-level P1 turntable, over 1000 a month of its mid-range P3 turntable and even 70 units a month of its range-topping P10 turntable, which retails at around £5000. Add these to its other products and production tops 10,000 units every month. The company assembles all products in-house, with components sourced mainly in the UK.

There is a subtle difference between music lovers and hi-fi enthusiasts and Rega’s products appeal to the former: “Our customers love music – many would go to concerts daily if possible – so we strive to deliver a level of quality that can replicate that experience for them,” says Ky Gandy, supplier co-ordinator at Rega Research.

The blend of high quality, design and value for money has seen Rega grow from 130 employees at the start of 2020, with a turnover of £13m, to a £20m turnover and 180 employees at the end of 2021.

“The lockdown arrived and, while the first few weeks impacted on operations, it also had a positive effect,” says Ky Gandy. “Sales boomed due in part to people being stuck at home, many with more disposable income.”

This significant growth added pressure to Rega’s tool room, which was populated with manual machines to produce assembly jigs and test rigs, as well as some prototype machining. A move to CNC had been on the cards for many years, but had been put off for several reasons, particularly lack of space. A re-organisation combined with increased workload finally allowed the purchase of an XYZ 750 LR vertical machining centre to go ahead. The machine will be used on a variety of materials from aluminium and high-pressure laminate through to MDF, so Rega opted for the 12,000 rpm model and, for added versatility, the 4th axis and 24-position arm-type tool-changer options. Notably, the XYZ 750 LR features linear rail technology.

“We had been looking at introducing CNC to our tool room for several years,” says Ky Gandy. “We did our research, as we do with all our suppliers, and while the machine was important, ongoing support and service was a priority. This resulted in a shortlist of one: XYZ Machine Tools. During our search we kept coming back to XYZ and, in the end, it became a straightforward choice due to the confidence we had in their ability to support us with technical and aftersales help.

“We also received glowing reviews from our existing component suppliers,” he adds. “Another factor that made the decision easier was that during the quotation process they didn’t try to upsell. We indicated an interest in their HD machines, but they did the right thing and sold us the machine we needed, not what we thought we wanted.”

The aftersales service was immediately put to the test for the delivery of the machine, which due to limited access had to be stripped back to its carcass and re-assembled in-situ, a process that took just four days from unloading to powering up and running.

Throughout the pandemic, focus was on delivering audio systems to meet demand, so product releases were put on hold. Now, with a degree of normality returning, new products are on the horizon with new turntables and amplifiers ready for launch this year.

As a result, Rega Research will see an increased workload for the XYZ 750 LR in terms of machining development parts, as well as the testing fixtures required. Having the machine will enable Rega to respond quickly to change, and meet increased demand for fixtures from its assembly department.

There are no plans for the XYZ 750 LR at Rega to be used for production work, but it is filling a need for reworking existing stock components that may need rectifying or adjusting. A recent example was a batch of plinths that were out of concentricity tolerance on two bores.

“The obvious solution was to return the entire batch to our supplier, but that isn’t the Rega way of doing things,” says Ky Gandy. “We respect our suppliers and accept that occasionally errors arise, so we took the decision to rectify the parts ourselves. We used the XYZ 750 LR to manufacture a fixture, which it was then able to use for reworking the parts to within microns, something that saved time and money thanks to the efficiency of the machine.”

For the past 50 years Rega Research has stuck to its belief that applying the best engineering processes not only creates value for money, but the highest sound quality.

“There’s an assumption that to be high-end, and made in the UK, it has to be expensive, but through application of engineering disciplines we’re able to deliver what our customers want: a product that generates high-quality music in a cost-effective and an aesthetically pleasing way,” concludes Ky Gandy. “This isn’t always easy, as developing parts to meet our founder’s guiding principles can sometimes take two years, and they may not be the easiest components to manufacture. One example is our one-piece tonearms, which require detailed tooling for die casting. However, the result gives high stiffness and reduces their weight down to 34 g, enhancing their performance. Working with our suppliers there is always an engineering solution to be found.”

For further information
www.xyzmachinetools.com