Smiths Harlow has built a reputation manufacturing a range of commercial aircraft components for customers such as Rolls-Royce, Bombardier, Safran, GKN and a number of tier one companies. Focusing on aero engine parts from 200 to 3000 mm diameter, plus prismatic parts of 1000 mm3 and above, the company runs an array of sturdy CNC machines capable of working with hard on exotic metals such as Inconel 718, Waspaloy, nickel alloy C263, and Haynes 188. Smiths Harlow also machines softer metals that include aluminium and magnesium.

Among the components currently going through the shop floor are titanium aero engine casings – the visible part at the front of the engine containing the fan blades – and high-pressure turbine casings. All programs for the company’s machine tools, which include lathes, vertical mills and machining centres, are developed in Edgecam, from Vero Software. The machines include a six-pallet Burkhardt & Weber machining centre, which cuts most of the titanium parts at Smiths Harlow, and a recently installed Dugard DBM 2150 five-axis bed mill, along with other models supplied by Cincinnatti, Kitamura, Toshiba, Mandelli, Deckel Maho, Kia, Mazak and Boehringer.
Engineering manager Tim Hambridge says the company uses Edgecam’s ‘Part Modeller’ function for design, getting the correct stock sizes, laying out any tooling lugs in the material, fixture design, clamps, and fixture drawing. “Then we move on to part programming in Edgecam, using Waveform roughing on both milling and turning.”
Smiths Harlow’s private equity investor (Agathos) is looking to grow the once family-owned firm. Former wartime Spitfire pilot Gerald Smith founded the company over 60 years ago, and director Ian Knightley says with recent investment by Agathos, machine tools and manufacturing systems are being upgraded.

A recent upgrade to Javelin 2017, also from the Vero Software stable, has been providing the infrastructure basis to become more “data-centric” with full real-time information feedback. This is a major element to promote growth at Smiths Harlow, either by acquisition or organically.
Upgrading the company’s Javelin production control software was the catalyst for the aerospace manufacturer to roll the system out across its business, enabling the provision of more data to control the organisation and meet the investor’s growth objectives. Moreover, rolling out the Javelin shop floor data capture system to many of the 70-strong workforce across the 60,000 sq ft factory was a vital part of development plans.
“We’d been using a 10-year-old version of Javelin’s predecessor, Jobshop, which contained many bespoke items,” says Knightley, “but we only really used it as a production control MRP system. We’re now taking advantage of Javelin’s capabilities to give us full control over the business, as it provides us with more comprehensive information that we need about all aspects of our processes.”
A component’s Javelin journey begins with sales order processing. Some come in by EDI, while others are entered manually.
“MRP is vital to us,” says Knightley. “Working almost exclusively on aerospace parts, we know at least a year in advance what the customer is looking for, and we need to be flowing that information through to our suppliers. For instance, some forgings that we purchase have a lead time of between 40 and 50 weeks. Therefore, the MRP function helps us give suppliers a good signal of our future requirements.”
Knightly says that purchase orders flow naturally out of MRP: “A central area previously produced all of our purchase orders, and everyone would go there to authorise them. Section managers now raise their own purchase orders in Javelin, which are also authorised within the software.”
Every job going through the machine shop carries a routing card, with all relevant documentation – such as drawings, operation sketches and self-inspection sheets – attached to it through Javelin’s document linking and viewing functionality.

“We can print those documents to ensure that the shop floor operator has the latest data and documents relating to the job they’re working on,” says Knightley.
Updating to Javelin 2016 R2, quickly followed by 2017 R1, has revolutionised Smiths Harlow’s scheduling. Previously, ‘work-to’ lists were printed weekly for each machine. Now, this information is available to managers around the business through Javelin. And with a number of shop floor data capture terminals throughout the workshop, each operator can readily see forthcoming jobs.
“Until recently, operators were working with paper timesheets, but now they’re logging on and off Javelin each day through SFDC, and processing each stage of their work.”
The materials control functionality is particularly important to the company, as Smiths Harlow needs to adhere to the aerospace industry’s strict traceability requirement.
“We use the serial number feature within Javelin, so we can now tie all items down to serial numbers as they go to the machine shop,” states Knightley.
Costing gives the company the ability to analyse every job by the actual hours against the planned hours for each operation. Now, Smiths Harlow can view a complete snapshot for each job – drill right down and see the materials allocated to it, and pull data out of the system on an ad-hoc or monthly basis for further analysis.
In conclusion, Knightley says that Javelin’s simple systems management meant the company could easily customise screens, creating hotkeys for functions that are used regularly. Having those keys on the Javelin desktop instead of having to go down the tree structure has accelerated the process considerably.
“Everything is now rolled up into the one system for everyone,” he says. “Javelin provides more real-time data about the business, which is easy to analyse, and enables customised and complex Crystal Reports to be produced. It gives us full control of the business.”
For further information
www.edgecam.com
www.javelin-mrp.com

When Gordon Robinson formed D&D Engineering over 30 years ago to design, develop and manufacture bespoke conveyor systems for the food processing industry, he had no ambition to machine parts in-house. His reliance on local subcontract manufacturing companies to provide the components needed worked perfectly well in the company’s formative years. This was to change when he was joined in the business by his son, and current managing director, Mark Robinson.
With Mark on-board, plans were developed to grow the business and, within seven years, D&D Engineering found itself too large for its original premises. As a result, the decision was taken to buy land and create a purpose-built factory.

“It was a risk when we mortgaged to buy our current premises, but with the business growing it was a calculated one which paid off quickly – the 25-year loan was repaid in 12 years,” says Mark Robinson.
The growth of the company had come not only from increased sales of conveyor systems, but from the decision to begin bringing machining in-house for its own production before being developed into a full subcontracting resource. And with Hull’s economy expected to benefit from its year as the City of Culture, and new manufacturing businesses setting up in the area, this growth looks set to continue.
D&D Engineering’s first machine tool investment was to bring in some turning capacity in the form of XYZ SLX ProTurn lathes with ProtoTrak control.
“We found the ProtoTrak control easy to use as a first step into CNC machining,” says Robinson. “Not only that, but the ethos of XYZ Machine Tools and the support and enthusiasm from everyone there reassured us that we were making the right decision.”
With this initial investment satisfying the turning requirement at the time, attention turned to milling and, the positive experience of the ProtoTrak control meant that choosing SMX bed mills was an easy decision.
“ProtoTrak is such a wonderful control for producing contours, pockets, holes and a host of other features on the parts for our conveyor systems, with programming being very straightforward,” says Robinson.
With experience of ProtoTrak turning and milling, and the business still growing – both for its own products and increasingly for customers from the wind power, oil and gas, petrochemical and food industries – D&D looked to develop its machining capability further. This next step saw two XYZ MiniMill 560 vertical machining centres installed with fourth-axis attachments.
The new capacity brought in larger batch sizes from customers, while the versatility of the Siemens control system, which Robinson describes as “perfect for our business”, made programming at the machine easy. Additional business generated by having the MiniMills meant that D&D Engineering could invest further, with XYZ 1020 vertical machining centres joining the capacity list, closely followed by turning centre capability in the form of an XYZ Compact Turn 52 and an XYZ 250 TC. Furthermore, larger diameter turning was catered for with the arrival of an XYZ XL 1100 lathe with 2 m between centres and 1100 mm swing.
With these machines in place, new opportunities arose for D&D Engineering, prompting the company to expand its support for the food and drinks industry, with one customer from this sector providing in the region of £20,000 of subcontract business every month. Due to the elevated level of work, machine reliability was vital for Robinson, and here he cannot fault the XYZ machines and the service support that he gets, if needed.
“Many of our machines are running 18 hours a day, so we ensure that they are regularly serviced, with the highest dependency machines being on XYZ service contracts, which provide excellent value,” he states. “On top of that, the service engineers always seem willing to spend time and discuss things with us, which reflects the high level of support we get from anyone we talk to at XYZ.”
Although both the ProtoTrak and Siemens control make programming at the control a relatively simple procedure thanks to their conversational languages, D&D Engineering has also invested in offline programming through XYZ Machine Tools and, once again, this is opening up new opportunities, especially in the injection moulding sector.
With this mould tool work came a further need for investment, this time in larger capacity vertical machining centre capability. The issue was addressed with the arrival of an XYZ 2010 HD VMC. Part of XYZ’s heavy-duty range of machines, the 2010 has 2000 mm of X-axis travel (1000 and 800 mm in Y and Z). Developed for large components, such as mould tools, the machine features hardened box slideways, with six slides alone on the Y axis. At D&D Engineering, the company utilises the 30-position toolchanger to maximise run-time, with the machine running unmanned overnight on long cycle time work, then switching to shorter runs during the day.
“The XYZ machines and XYZ itself has served us very well and I can’t recommend them highly enough,” concludes Robinson. “One knock-on effect of our investment in XYZ machines has been the requirement to develop our skills set. This led to us starting an apprentice scheme several years ago and we currently have five apprentices out of a workforce of 28; a fact that we are very proud of. More positive is that many of those we have trained have stayed with us and gone on to operate and program the XYZ machines.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Established over 60 years ago, the reputation of Ogle Models & Prototypes can be recognised from its customer list down the decades. Manufacturing special projects for Bentley, Virgin Atlantic, GSK, JLR and Lamborghini to name a few, some of the company’s early work includes the Y-wing starfighter and Luke Skywalker’s land cruiser from the original Star Wars film in 1976.

Ogle Models & Prototypes wins prestigious projects through its skill set that includes expert model-making and hand crafting, which is mixed with modern technology such as industrial 3D printing, vacuum casting and CNC machining. To keep abreast of technology, the Letchworth-based company recently purchased a Fanuc Robodrill D21LiA5. Since installation, the Robodrill has proved to be an exceptional addition to the business.
“We bought the Robodrill because we are always on a quest to make things faster and with better quality, and what we currently have is a lot of other three-axis machines,” explains managing director Len Martin says. “These are basic machines and we wanted to move our business on and produce much higher quality parts at greater speed. It’s a drive for everyone to be more competitive and make parts quicker.”

As a business, Ogle Models only manufactures prototypes and small quantities, as Martin confirms: “We don’t do production runs, it’s all one-off and small quantity work. Therefore, you could say production time is less relevant and that it’s all down to programming. The new machine runs faster and produces a better finish than some of our existing machines, but even if we did have a small batch of 20-off, the Fanuc is at least twice as fast as our other machines. Added to this, the quality and accuracy is a huge factor.”
Primarily, the company processes model board on all of its CNC machine tools. However, the Fanuc Robodrill has been tasked with machining everything from model board through to plastic, aluminium and steel.
Heralding the productivity credentials of the Fanuc D21LiA5, Martin says: “We undertook a project to make aluminium paddles for a car, as the customer preferred the feel and look of a polished aluminium finish compared to plastic. We started by machining the job from solid aluminium billets on one of our older machines, but halfway through we took delivery of the Robodrill. We then transferred the job to the new machine, and by doing this, produced the paddles twice as fast with a far superior surface finish.”
When selecting the Fanuc machine, Ogle Models wanted the largest version available with a 4th-axis configuration. “We wanted the biggest possible work area as we knew we would lose some natural space with the 4th axis. I guess ultimately we wanted all the hallmarks of an extremely fast machine, but with a large bed. The machine certainly hasn’t disappointed; it’s been a really impressive addition.”

Commenting upon the acquisition of the machine at Ogle, Ian Taylor, model engineer, adds: “When I joined the company, it was a machine that I really wanted to work with, and I recommended it purely because of the large work envelope and small footprint. In addition, the Robodrill is very easy to use. As a company that conducts most of its programming off-line, the CNC control is extremely simple. I’ve used a number of control units down the years, and the Fanuc is by far the most user friendly. We have to set up the job and the tool off-sets, and this is very straightforward as the controller takes you through the process, making everything clear and easy.”
The BT30 Robodrill has a BBT spindle nose interface that provides high speed, power and rigidity with its face and taper configuration.
“We need this combination of attributes, as one day we could be machining a very soft material like model board or plastic, and the next day it could be aluminium, brass or even steel. I need a very big variety of options and the Robodrill doesn’t disappoint, especially with the speed control feature that gives me complete control when it comes to operations such as drilling or tapping, for instance.
“We often do long programs and run our machines unmanned overnight,” he continues. “It’s quite frequent that I will have a 16-hour machining job that will be set at the end of the shift to run lights-out. With the 850 x 410 mm table, I also have the facility to set up multiple, as a lot of the work we do is quite small. This means we can have a batch of parts produced overnight.”
The 21 tool position machine has a maximum spindle speed of 24,000 rpm and Ogle utilises this speed capability frequently.
“We regularly use 0.25 or 0.5 mm diameter cutting tools, and a lot of our more detailed work requires tools with a 0.1 mm diameter,” says Taylor. “We run these small tools for fine-detail features, such as graphics or engraving. With regards to machining at these high speeds, we have to run the tools at equally high feed rates. We have to remember that even though the tool is cutting, it is also rubbing against the part at the same time, so if I run the tool too slow it will get hot. To this end, we run at very high feeds to get the swarf out of the flutes and away from the part as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Demonstrating these high speeds and feeds, Ogle recently manufactured a series of parts from polyurethane model board at 20,000 rpm with a feed of 8 m/min.
“This is as fast as we can run the Fanuc on detailed parts, as they have curved edges and intricate features, and means the machine has to decelerate and accelerate,” says Taylor. “In essence, the Fanuc Robodrill gives me everything I need from a machine; it’s extremely fast, reliable, powerful and precise. Furthermore, it has a large bed with a 4th axis capability, which means that we can machine a wide variety of parts at high speeds.”
For further information
www.fanuc.eu

Previously working as an engineer in the Formula One industry, it was the unsociable and unpredictable working routines that led Allan Carabine to set up his own machine shop in 2011. Working in motorsport taught the new business owner two valuable lessons: start with a five-axis machining centre and then implement leading CAM software to drive the machine.

For Milton Keynes-based MK Precision Engineering, this marked the arrival of a Hurco five-axis VM10U and HyperMill CAM software from Open Mind Technologies as the company’s very first acquisitions. Commenting upon this selection, which was to base the foundation of the company, Carabine says: “Everyone can do three-axis work, so when I started I wanted to start with a five-axis machine. The next thing I had to get was HyperMill CAM software.

“I’ve worked for Formula One teams as well as some of the most prestigious subcontractors in the motorsport supply chain; all used HyperMill as it is the only viable package for companies serious about five-axis machining,” he continues. “Open Mind confirmed the post-processors were compatible with the VM10U and from that point, the CNC controller became irrelevant as everything is modelled and programmed in HyperMill.”

The Buckinghamshire business started by machining steel mount components for a camera company; this soon evolved into five-axis Formula One work and six years later the small business has expanded to machining a complete range of rail, cryogenics and motorsport parts.

Although the business manufactures production runs for the defence industry, the average batch size ranges from 10 to 20 parts, machining materials from aluminium, stainless steel, plastic and nylon composites. Of course, to take on the additional work, MK Precision required more staff and machine tools. The acquisition trail brought the subsequent arrival of two three-axis Hurco VM30 machines, a larger five-axis VMX30U, a TM8i turning centre and a CMM for ensuring the conformity of Formula One components. However, 40% of the company’s work remains prototype business and this is where HyperMill really benefits the company.

“The programming time will be anything from 20 to 50% of the overall time spent on each part, something that obviously varies with the complexity of individual jobs,” says Carabine. “With prototype parts requiring up to four hours of machining, the programming time can be anything from 30 minutes to 3 hours. One of the main benefits of HyperMill is the modelling and collision checking of the parts. Additionally, the post-processors run error-free to give us the utmost confidence that we can load a part on to a machine and whatever program we load, we can run it without waiting nervously. This confidence is set in stone with a rework cycle that creates the toolpaths with comprehensive collision detection. Here, the cycle revisits all toolpaths prior to sending the program to the machine tool.”

The growing workload recently noted an additional seat of HyperMill arriving at MK Precision. According to the company, the first seat has delivered remarkably short programming times; a necessity for a machine shop manufacturing low quantity, highly complex parts. The second seat is now underpinning this strategy.

From a cost perspective, HyperMill has reduced tooling consumption by almost 80% and slashed cycle times by over 50%. These savings are credit to continually evolving strategies that are being developed by Open Mind. Some of the new strategies that are now being applied were unfamiliar to the company when it bought its first seat some six years ago. For instance, the statistics are partially credit to innovative trochoidal milling strategies, something that is also generating a noticeable reduction on spindle load at MK Precision.

Another strategy that is prolonging tool life and improving consistency and process reliability for unmanned machining is the five-axis optimised rest material machining strategy. The new cycle generates high-speed cutting toolpaths for rest material machining based on the preceding roughing operation. Shorter tools can be used with improved stability for machining excess material from cavities and hard to reach areas.

“This feature has given us more confidence when machining parts with cavities,” says Carabine. “Previously, we would order extra tools in preparation for tool breakages in cavities, but the five-axis optimised rest material strategy has given us confidence in the process, the cutting tool and the ability to run unmanned machining where necessary.”

With customers that frequently require engraved components for traceability, MK Precision is making use of the five-axis contour milling strategy.

“There are certainly projects that we would never have won without the five-axis contour milling strategy,” says Carabine. “It enables us to engrave parts on irregular and round parts. Easy to program, the strategy keeps the cutting tools perpendicular to the component face to generate simple and precise part marking. This has been a huge benefit when we have needed to engrave batches of parts with individual part numbers. Even when doing this, HyperMill has a sequential feature that automatically changes the part number on each component.”

MK Precision has a number of turned parts which often require second operation machining on one of the company’s five-axis Hurco machines.

“HyperMill accommodates all our turning requirements and the multi-axis shape-offset module has the ability to trim toolpaths automatically to in-process stock, thereby saving manual tool edit procedures,” explains Carabine. “This utility covers stock model generation where we can easily transfer the stock model to our three- or five-axis machines. As a result, we can streamline the transfer of parts from one machine to another while saving considerable programming times. It also reduces the machining times as it intuitively recognises what stock has already been removed.”

In addition to the HyperMill CAM package, MK Precision is making good use of HyperCAD-S.

Concludes Carabine: “Although HyperMill enables us to model and program parts extremely quickly, some customers, particularly in the rail industry, only supply physical 2D drawings and not common electronic formats such as STEP, IGES, DXF and STL files. Using HyperCAD-S, we can quickly generate component models from 2D drawings and these are rapidly expedited to create CAM programs. Additionally, we can accept electronic files from customers, drop them into HyperCAD-S, manipulate and edit the files where necessary and then generate part programs.

“Overall, Open Mind has delivered huge savings in programming times, shop-floor production, tool life and lead-times.”
For further information www.openmind-tech.com

Investment by ATS UK in a Sodick AG60L from Sodi-Tech EDM is on course for a short payback period of just 18 months. This is predominantly as a result of cycle times that have been cut by two-thirds in some instances, as well as reduced electrode requirements.

Advanced Tooling Systems UK Ltd was first incorporated in 2001, since when it has become a specialist in design, product development, prototyping and manufacturing for a number of demanding sectors. The company was formed by the amalgamation of two well-respected, Kent-based manufacturers: Millaber, based in Maidstone, and Folkestone Precision Engineering. Both companies, which remain at their respective facilities, served the automotive, white goods and medical industries for over 50 years before joining forces.

At Folkestone, ATS focuses on injection mould tools and precision engineering projects for a Europe-wide customer base. Core business of this ilk demands technologies such as EDM, and it is here that ATS UK recently sought to upgrade its die sink capabilities.

“We were witnessing an increase in demand for spark erosion work involving thin, deep ribs,” explains technical director Mark Terry. “For instance, we were recently awarded a repeat contract for a number of multi-impression two-shot wheel moulds. Traditionally, each impression required 45 hours of spark erosion and three electrodes. The target cost and lead-time for the package would not have allowed us to complete the project on-time and on-budget, so we began investigating new EDM technologies.”

Among three vendors invited to put forward a proposal was Sodi-Tech EDM, which recommended the Sodick AG60L CNC die-sink machine with optional 30-station tool changer.

“Sodi-Tech quoted some extremely impressive time savings on the wheel mould impressions and indicated that each impression could be completed in a third of the time using the Sodick AG60L,” says Terry. “In all honesty, we thought this was unlikely, so we offered up a core and an electrode and invited them to prove it. We went along to Sodi-Tech’s facility in Coventry to watch proceedings. Needless to say, they did it, and we placed the order for the machine on the way home. We knew that EDM technology had moved on, but not to that extent. It was an incredible eye-opener.”

Featuring linear motor drives and glass scale feedback on the X, Y and Z axes, the Sodick AG60L houses special circuits for electrode wear reduction, fine finishing and energy saving. Travels are 600 by 420 by 370 mm in X, Y and Z respectively.

Since the installation of the machine in March 2017, ATS UK confirms that EDM timings had been reduced by approximately 60%. Furthermore, less electrodes are required, thus delivering further savings.

“In reality, we experience almost zero electrode wear when using the AG60L, which is very impressive,” says Terry. “We found ourselves only swapping the electrode on this particular job simply because we’d made one, not because there was a real requirement.”
The graphite electrodes for the wheel tools were shaped like a wheel featuring a dozen spokes. Each spoke started at 1 mm at the root tapering with draft to 1.2 mm at the top and 62 mm in depth.

A further saving for ATS UK is the fact that two of its previous EDM machines have been replaced by the output of the Sodick AG60L. In fact, the Sodick machine has been paired with a 32-pallet automation device that allows the company to run lights-out overnight.

“The speed of the machine and its automation means we are on track for an 18-month ROI,” confirms Terry. “If we left our previous die-sink machine to run overnight it would finish at 4pm the next day – the Sodick finishes the same quantity of work by 4am. That’s a great result for ATS UK, which not only vindicates our investment decision but supports our business growth moving forwards. We are increasingly seeing mould tool work return from offshoring projects in China, particularly as the exchange rate means that tools from the Far East are now 20% more expensive than 12 months ago.”

This increase in work for UK mouldmakers means that ATS UK as a whole now employs 65 people and achieves turnover just shy of £8m, which is up an impressive 25% in the past five years alone.

“We have full CAD to production capability here, which is a major contributor to our growth, along with financial security that allows us to take on larger projects,” says Terry. “Clearly, investment in the latest manufacturing technologies, such as the Sodick AG60L, is another factor delivering genuine competitive advantage. For instance, some of our jobs demand tolerances as tight as 20 µm. The new machines provides us with the confidence to achieve this limit first time, whereas previously we would normally need two hits.”

Another significant benefit to the ISO9001-accredited company is the ease-of-use afforded by the Sodick control and its simple programming functionality.

“The biggest problem in our industry is finding fully-skilled toolmakers, who simply no longer exist,” says Terry. “As a result, we have been growing our own toolmakers by taking on two apprentices, every year, for the past eight years. Using our previous machine it would take up to six months to complete EDM training. However, with the Sodick machine we have already fully trained three employees in a fraction of that time.”
For further information www.sodi-techedm.co.uk