With business booming at Wetherby-based fabrication specialist Kellys Welding, the company wanted to replace its pre-owned CO₂ laser cutter with a new fibre laser. With a shortlist of ‘wants’ that included quality, speed, energy efficiency and a very competitive price, Kellys Welding spent nearly 12 months assessing the UK market. The company discovered that only an ACCURL fibre laser cutter from Axe & Status could meet its requirements and provide the impetus for further growth. Such has been the impact of the ACCURL Masterline 3105 that the monthly savings on electricity consumption alone pay for the finance on the machine. According to Kellys Welding, “it’s like having a laser cutter for free”.

Kellys Welding is a family-run business launched by owner Joe Kelly in 2017. In just seven years the company has grown from a one-man start-up to a 10-employee enterprise that is on track for a turnover of £1.3m in 2024.

The reasons behind this impressive growth are many, but ironically the company gained its first real break during the pandemic. Although welding jobs came to a halt, Kellys Welding was also selling raw material online, an activity that boomed.

“After the pandemic we had enough money to buy our first laser cutter, a pre-owned CO2 model,” says Kelly. “It was perfect at the time but we soon ran out of capacity due to our growing workload and the machine’s lack of speed. It also consumed a lot of electricity, so we started thinking about a replacement.”

By then, Kellys Welding had built up a robust customer base; sufficient to afford a brand new laser cutter. Around the same time, the company relocated to the unit next door, which at double the footprint would provide the perfect home for its new laser cutter. The question now, was which one to buy?

“We looked at lots of machines over a 12-month period,” states Kelly. “At first we only considered brands that were familiar to us, but soon realised they were way out of our price range. We started looking at other brands, including from Asia, but they were poor. We even went to see one in action. Although it was cheap and did the job, it seemed unsafe. It had a CE mark, but it only stood for ‘Chinese Export’.”

He continues: “Then we came across the ACCURL Masterline and knew it was the one for us. It’s had all of the right parts. A lot of machines from Asia come with parts we’ve never heard of. The ACCURL is different with its PRECITEC cutting head, for example. The machine also carries an official CE mark and features integrated Class IV safety systems. Axe & Status did some test cuts for us and we were very happy to proceed.”

Kellys Welding estimates that the ACCURL Masterline 3015 6kW fibre laser cutter from Axe Status is about eight times faster than the company’s previous CO2 laser cutter. Moreover, the ACCURL offers far more economic running costs.

“The ACCURL Masterline uses around five times less electricity than our CO2 machine, equating to a saving of around £4000 a month,” reveals Kelly. “These savings pay for the finance on the machine, so it’s like having a laser cutter for free!”

The company also reports that the ACCURL fibre laser uses far less gas and requires a lot less clean-up: parts come off the machine ready to weld. The CADCAM nesting software for the ACCURL brings further savings.

“We nested a job the other day for 5mm thick stainless steel. Whereas previously we would need three sheets, now it’s just two because the software can place parts closer together. At £500 a sheet, it’s a big saving.”

Kellys Welding laser cuts mild steel from 1 to 20mm thick, stainless steel from 1-12mm and aluminium up to 6mm. The company processes everything from 1-offs and small batches up to thousands. Investing in the ACCURL fibre laser is not only good news for Kellys Welding, but also for its customers.

“Keeping our CO2 laser would have created such a backlog with our workload today,” explains Kelly. “Our customers need a quick response and if we weren’t in position to meet their requirements they would quickly go elsewhere.”

Kellys Welding has a strong and growing pool of local customers in sectors that span construction, automotive and retail, with many now trusting the company as its main supplier. The business has seen its turnover double every year for the past five, based on an ethos of short lead times, competitive prices and top-quality products.

“As a small company we usually have the flexibility to price match and win orders. In contrast, many of our competitors have expensive monthly machine payments to meet. We looked at a European machine with the same specification as the ACCURL and it was over £500,000. The ACCURL was less than a third of that, with a three-year warranty for parts and labour.”

ACCURL Masterline fibre laser cutters offer high dynamics, achieving a positioning speed of up to 180m/min and acceleration of 3 g.Thanks to high-quality components, such as an IPG laser fibre source, PRECITEC ProCutter laser head and Rexroth servo drive, ACCURL laser cutters can operate continuously seven days a week, 365 days a year supported by automatic nozzle cleaning and graphite anti-burn technology. The machine is Industry 4.0 ready. 

Kellys Welding is pleased to report that the ACCURL Masterline has proved totally reliable since its arrival, with the company enjoying high-level support from both Axe & Status and ACCURL.

“During commissioning we had the engineer from ACCURL optimise the parameters for every single material we cut here,” says Kelly. “Since then, Axe & Status set up a What’s App group. If we ever had a query we simply post a message and get a reply around two minutes later. The group is even linked with the ACCURL factory, which will be useful if we ever need their input in the future.”

For further information www.axestatus.com

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of machine tools by DN Solutions and Zayer in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied subcontract specialist Markyate Precision Machining (MPM) with a new vertical turning lathe.The machine, a DN Solutions 32-inch chuck Puma VT 900, was installed at the company’s 9000 sq ft facility in St Albans, Hertfordshire in July 2023. MPM is currently putting the Puma VT 900through its paces by machining a range of large, complex components primarily for the oil and gas sector.

Made from hard and difficult-to-machine materials that include stainless steel, MPM machines these parts in small batches to tight geometric tolerances and exacting surface finish requirements.The investment in the VT 900 was made primarily to enable MPM to bring this type of large oil and gas work back in-house. In particular, the decision helps illustrate and underscore the company’s future ambition to focus on high-precision machining of medium-to-large components for a range of industries.

Says Dean, MPM’s operations director:“The VT 900 is a rigidly-designed and built box guideway vertical turning lathe with a 900mm maximum turning diameter and an 850mm maximum turning length/height.The machine’s large working envelope and its 45kW/1800rpm/4443Nmspindle make it ideal for the heavy-duty turning operations and the machining of large components, which we see as a high growth area for the business moving forwards.”

Continues Bygate: “The VT 900 delivers power, speed, precision and machining flexibility. Furthermore, we receive Mills CNC’s aftersales support services – such as machine tool servicing, operator and programmer training, and replacement parts – which we can’t fault. This was a key factor in our decision-making process.”

To help improve MPM’s productivity and process efficiencies, Mills CNC supplied the machine with through-spindle-coolant capability (70bar), a manual tool setter, an automatic door facility and a Filtermist extraction unit.

The VT 900 might be the latest machine tool MPM has acquired from Mills CNC, but the relationship between both companies stretches back seven years to 2017, when the company invested in its first Doosan machines: a large-capacity Puma 400 lathe, a box guideway Puma GT 2600 lathe and a DNM 4500 three-axis vertical machining centre.Since then, more investments have followed, frequently and regularly.

To upgrade and help strengthen its small turned part processing operation, MPM invested in two Lynx 2100B lathes with bar feeders in 2020 and, a year later, to help meet a significant increase in demand from an existing customer, seven more (Doosan) machines arrived.This latest haul included two new DVF 5000 simultaneous five-axis machining centresthat have helped MPM achieve improved process efficiencies by reducing the number of machining operations (from two down to one) on particular high-precision components.Once machined, surface treated and painted, these parts are assembled to create high-strength, anti-corrosion undersea housings and enclosures.

“Demand from our international submarine customer really took off in 2020/21,” says Bygate. “Prior to then we were making and supplying 18 completed assemblies a week, but this increased dramatically in 2021, requiring us to supply 54 completed assemblies a week. This 200% increase was a tall order, and it soon became clear that to meet our customer’s new expectations we needed to increase our in-house machining capacity and capabilities, fast.”

MPM approached Mills to discuss how best to go about this task, which resulted in the company placing orders for seven new machines that, in addition to the two aforementioned DVF 5000 machining centres, also included three new lathes – a Puma 4100, Puma GT 3100 and Lynx 2100B (with bar feeder), and two new DNM 4500 machining centres.

“Doosan machines are reliable and deliver excellent cutting performance,” says Bygate.“They help us achieve and maintain quality, and ensure that we can hit the often stringent delivery schedules of our customers.Furthermore, owing to the stocking policy of Mills CNC, machines are often readily available. This is a particular strength that Mills has over many other machine tool suppliers, and is another reason why they are our first port of call.”

MPM is a family-owned business that was first established in the 1950s.The company has a rich pedigree and a reputation based on innovation, engineering excellence, continuous improvement and customer service.Currently employing 24 members of staff (19 in production-based operations), the company regularly invests in its people, plant and equipment, and in its processes and systems.

The company runs a successful apprenticeship programme in conjunction with Milton Keynes College which has helped MPM considerably reduce its age profile and address potential skills shortage issues that could affect growth and performance in the future.

MPM has, in recent years, also introduced in a sophisticated MRP/ERP system to improve operational and process efficiencies. To improve component inspection, the company has invested in a portable Keyence benchtop CMM.

MPM operates across a number of sectors that include aerospace, defence, medical, marine, oil and gas, and machine building.In addition to machining high-quality components, the company also designs and manufactures advanced tooling systems and solutions for customers, as well as for its own use.

Along with CNC machining, MPM specialisms include turnkey projects, technical consultancy (including design for manufacture services), assemblies and sub-assemblies, and materials science.

Concludes Bygate:“We’re not your typical machine shop and can provide customers with a range of high-quality and integrated manufacturing services and specialisms.From prototyping and one-offs, through to small-to-medium batch processing, MPM has the knowledge, experience and technology in place to help customers make things better.Our investments in machine tools from Doosan and, more recently, DN Solutions, and the strong relationship we have built with Mills CNC, have made us more efficient, productive and competitive.”

For further information www.millscnc.co.uk