SUBCONTRACTING NEWS

Midtherm lasers set for growth after £1.2m investment

A specialist subcontract laser cutting and forming specialist is reaping the operational and environmental benefits of a £1.2m machine investment. Midtherm Laser, which employs 45 people at its factory in Dudley, has increased its capacity and speed of processing thanks to the installation of a new Bystronic Bystar Fiber 12kW laser with part automation.

One of the largest purchases in its 23-year history introduces the next level of power in fibre laser cutting. It will help the company deliver high cutting dynamics and thin to thick cutting capabilities to a customer base that spans aerospace, automotive and decorative work, to food processing, agricultural and conveyors.

The machine has also made a massive difference to the firm’s environmental performance, with the Bystronic model replacing two older CO2 machines and delivering a 50% energy saving, the equivalent of powering 2100 average homes every month.

“Our expertise in laser cutting and metal forming is respected throughout our sector and has led to us increasing sales by a further 6% last year, a great achievement considering the volatility of the market,” explains Mark Hannon, director of Midtherm Laser.“The 12 kW Bystar Fiber is a class-leading machine that can cut from 0.5 to 30mm in mild steel, aluminium and a host of other materials. It gives us more capacity to target new opportunities and, importantly, means three quarters of our machines are now fibre technology instead of gas.”

He adds: “With this in mind, and when you consider we’ve also invested in LED lighting, sensor switches, and electric vehicles and charging for our staff on the road, it’s not difficult to see how we have managed to cut our energy usage in half since 2018.”
For further information www.midthermlaser.co.uk

SM Thompson invests further in laser technology

Steel plate processor SM Thompson has invested in a new 22kW fibre laser cutting machine that will boost efficiency and drive the firm’s ambitions forward.The Teesside-based business has invested in a state-of-the-art laser cutting machine that will not only support more environmentally friendly ways of working but enable larger client orders and faster process.

Managing director Harvey Thompson says: “Our continued investment in new machinery enables us to offer a range of services to our customers. By enhancing the range and capabilities of our machinery, we can respond readily to market changes.It’s always been our ethos to invest in the latest technology to keep us at the top of the game. This machine continues that strategy.”

Beyond its high cut quality, the laser can offer etching suitable for bend lines and profile identification, which supports larger orders and identifying parts quickly, saving valuable time and money. The high-end fibre laser provides precise technology and a stable cutting process up to the highest laser power.

Harvey adds: “When we purchased a 12kW machine a little over a year ago, I was so impressed by its precision and efficiency that I knew straight away this was the future of large quantity orders. Six months later, our order was in for our new 22kW laser.”

As a steel plate specialist, the SM Thompson team cuts steel from 1 to 350mm thick using a range of laser, plasma and flame cutting machinery. The company also presses, rolls and chamfers material in a variety of shapes and sizes, working with mild and stainless steel, as well as aluminium, brass, copper and titanium.
For further informationwww.smthompson.co.uk

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

30 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT, STRATEGIC INVESTMNET AND HARD WORK LEADS TO UNRIVALLED SUCCESS

Precision subcontract specialist, G-Mach Engineering, a company committed to continuous improvement and providing customers with best-in-class, high-quality machining services, continues its long-standing relationship with Mills CNC by investing in another high-performance machine.

Mills CNC, which is the exclusive distributor of DN Solutions (formerly Doosan) and Zayer machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied G-Mach Engineering, which celebrates its 30-year anniversary in June this year, with a new Doosan, FANUC-controlled, multi-tasking turning centre. The compact, 8” chuck/65mm bar capacity long-bed Lynx 2100LMB lathe with integrated driven tooling, arrived at the company’s 10,000sq ft production facility in Melton Mowbray in late 2022.

As a point of note, the new Lynx lathe is the latest addition to G-Mach’s impressive in-house machining resource which currently comprises 22 CNC machines in total (eight machining centres and 14 lathes), 17 of which are Doosan machines supplied by Mills CNC.

Since being installed, the new Lynx lathe has been put through its paces machining high-precision, complex components for the company’s growing range of customers operating in the motorsport, medical and aerospace sectors, to name but a few.These components, often with short cycle times (typically around 3 minutes), are made from a range of materials that include 316 stainless steel, titanium 4 and 5, Hastelloy, Inconel, aluminium and steel. The machining of parts takes place in relatively small batches (up to 2000-off), to tightgeometric tolerances of around 0.01 mmand stringent surface finishes down to Ra 0.8µm.

The 6000rpm driven tooling capability on the Lynx 2100LMB enables G-Mach to turn, mill, drill and tap small parts to completion in one set-up, improving the company’s productivity and process efficiencies, and enabling it to improve throughput and reduce production bottlenecks and pinch points.

G-Mach is a keen advocate and proponent of multi-tasking machine tools and, way back in 2000 when the company first started its relationship with Mills CNC, invested in its first multi-tasking machine: a Puma 230MSB sub-spindle lathe with driven tooling.

Says Graham Miller, G-Mach’s owner and director: “We’re an innovative and progressive company and, to differentiate ourselves in the market and maintain our competitive edge, we’ve always invested in advanced machine tools.A majority of these have been Doosan machines supplied by Mills CNC.”

He continues: “In the past four years alone, we’ve invested in five new Doosan machines.
Doosan machines are accurate, reliable and deliver excellent cutting performance. They are backed by Mills CNC’s aftersales service and support which, we believe, is the best in the business.”

A cursory view of G-Mach’s history reveals that the company invests in at least one new machine tool every year. This commitment to continuous improvement and growth extends far beyond new machine tool acquisitions.The company is constantly expanding, re-developing and improving its facility and, in 2022 prior to the arrival of the new Lynx 2100LMB and with the help of Mills CNC, G-Mach re-organised its machining operations to create separate and discrete turning and milling ‘sections’ within its facility.The re-organisation necessitated the quick, seamless and simultaneous movement of 17 machines.

“The re-organisation, achieved with help from Mills CNC, has helped us improve workflow and achieve significant machining efficiencies,” states Miller.

Other improvements implemented by the company to help cope with growing demand for its services, include the recruitment of four additional members of staff over the past three years.The company’s current head count stands at 20.

Even during the pandemic, when many companies were postponing or scaling back their investment plans, G-Mach was on the front foot and, in March 2020, successfully acquired a small plastic-part subcontract machining specialist as a going concern.

Says Miller:“The acquisition has helped us to diversify our operations further and, during the height of the pandemic, provided an additional revenue stream that offset a temporary decline in business from existing customers.Today, our plastics business accounts for 10% of our total turnover and, since 2020, as a direct result of our acquisition and investment strategies, turnover is up by 50%.”

Such impressive results, achieved through organic growth and by successfully entering new markets and sectors, is testament to G-Mach’s vision and values, and can be traced right back to 1993 when the company was first established.Then, operating as a one-man band from small, rented premises, and armed with a used NC lathe, a couple of manual machines and assorted tooling, G-Mach, led by Miller, began trading.

“Even in the early days, the focus was on delivering high-quality, added value and competitively-priced machining services, and on providing transparency and unrivalled customer service,” he says. “These same values and principles, which have stood us in good stead, remain cornerstones of the business today and will be for the foreseeable future.”

As far as the future is concerned, G-Mach, as one might expect, is not resting on its laurels.
To improve its machining capacity and capabilities the company will continue to upgrade its existing machine tool resources, trading in older models for advanced multi-tasking machines where appropriate.

G-Mach is also currently exploring the use and application of collaborative robot (cobot) technology to improve its productivity and part processing efficiencies.These potential investments, plus further redevelopment of its Melton Mowbray facility, will provide the company with a solid platform to achieve significant growth in the future.

With such an illustrious past and impressive track record, no one would bet against it happening sooner rather than later.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk