Founded in 2000 as a subcontract machine shop, Little B Engineering manufactures everything from prototypes and small batches to production runs for a diverse range of sectors. When the company recently needed to add capacity, the Banbury-based precision manufacturer opted for the Quaser MV234 machining centre, the company’s third machine from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

The nine employee business has a broad range of machine tools for servicing customers in industries that extend from Formula One and automotive, to construction and luxury goods. When the company won a new contract back in 2015 and it needed a new three-axis vertical machining centre, Little B Engineering opted for the compact Quaser MV154P, starting its relationship with the ETG.

Managing director Michael Banks says: “I wanted a new machine with a Heidenhain CNC, and all machines in our price range at that time had Heidenhain CNC units retrofitted, not factory fitted standard control systems. Another point we found was that lots of machine tool vendors offered machines at a great entry price point, but every feature was an optional extra at significant cost. The base model Quaser MV154P from ETG had everything we needed at a standard cost, and it has been a phenomenal machine.”

A year later the company needed a turning centre and, with the service from ETG proving far beyond that of alternate machine tool vendors, Little B opted for a Nakamura AS200L twin-spindle turning centre from ETG.

“The Nakamura AS200L has a twin-spindle, single-tool turret with Y axis and we use it for everything from small quantities of complex parts through to batches of 5000 and beyond, where it will run unmanned all weekend,” explains Banks. “It is, without doubt, the best and most flexible turning centre a subcontract manufacturer could buy.”

With the company progressing to large aluminium extrusion components and steel mould tool projects with new customers, the Oxfordshire business needed a large-bed machine.

“The Quaser MV234 gives our business plenty of flexibility, so if we want to machine something particularly large we can, but if we want to make smaller parts that is also feasible,” states Banks. “We’ve put up to 10 vices on the machine and, by using different fixtures, we’ve clamped up to 40 parts on the bed and let the machine run unmanned over the weekend. This gives us complete flexibility and the facility for both large parts and small part batch production. This is something that we need as a subcontractor.”

Discussing how the Quaser MV234 machining centre has supported growth at the company, he adds: “Firstly, buying this machine has given us extra capacity, which we needed. Secondly, it’s given us the facility to machine large aluminium extrusion components, which is a sector that is very vibrant in the UK at the moment.”

The Quaser MV234 machining centre was the machine of choice with its 2.25 m by 800 mm bed that can facilitate components beyond 2 m in length. In addition, the machine offers X, Y and Z-axis travel of 2040 by 800 by 661 mm, a table load capacity of 2000 kg and a BT40 spindle taper with 48 tool positions as standard.

As a company that has previously invested in Quaser machines from ETG, Banks says: “We’ve stuck with the Quaser brand because the machines are perfect all-rounders. The MV234 can do anything. It’s not a super-high-speed machine that can only cut aluminium, it’s a fast and powerful machine that can handle any material and provide us with impressively short cycle times.”

He continues: “We have it running both days and lights-out unmanned. When we have large, complex 3D milling work, we leave the machine to run through the night. It has a really nice feature when it automatically shuts down after it’s completed the machining of a part. The machine is generally running from 07:00 to 22:00 every day. We’ve made everything from small 19 mm diameter button components through to 2 m parts over 2 tonnes in weight. For a subcontracting company that machines a wide variety of parts in different batch sizes, the Quaser brand is bang on. The machines are fast enough to do very quick turnaround and flexible work, but are also robust in their build quality to cater for heavier and more demanding components.”

As standard, the robust Quaser MV234 package incorporates a host of high-specification features such as: an oil chiller; 4th axis preparation; BBT spindle attachment; remote pulse generator; coolant system with wash gun and 20 bar through spindle coolant; air blast; external chip conveyors; 20 m/min rapid feed rates; and positional and repeatability accuracy of 0.008 and 0.004 mm respectively.

“All of these features are standard on the Quaser, while it also has some quirky unique features like the internal swarf screw,” says Banks. “This rotates in the opposite direction to other machines, compressing the swarf and draining the coolant before the chips exit the machine, making it a much cleaner machine than any other brand we have.

“From a performance perspective, the MV234 allows us to run lights out, which is what we need,” he adds. “For example, we recently ran a batch of 10 parts on the machine in a single set-up and each component had a machining time of over 5 hours, which meant we could load the job to run all weekend unmanned. Additionally, the faster feeds and speeds and a more powerful control has seen us take some jobs from a 6 hour cycle time to just 30 minutes.”

Now having three machines from ETG, Banks explains why ETG is the machine tool partner of choice: “As a business, they look after us well and the support is great. No other company has supported us like ETG. When we bought our Nakamura-Tome AS-200L turning centre, they delivered and installed the machine within a week of us placing the order. On the new Quaser MV234, we wanted to wait 6 to 7 months before installation and ETG kept the machine available, so we could bring it in when it suited our business. As soon as we were ready to install the machine, we gave ETG the ‘go’ on a Friday and it was installed on Saturday and fully commissioned in another 3-4 days.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com

The pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way everyone works, but for Open Mind Technologies, undergoing an extensive online tendering and prove-out process against its competitors was an exciting new challenge. RE Thompson has ambitious plans for its manufacturing facility and implementing the correct CAM system was seen as a critical decision requiring due diligence for the subcontract manufacturer.

Founded in 1948, RE Thompson has manufactured aerospace components for more than 60 years, diversifying into the electronics, medical, hydrogen and electric vehicle (EV) sectors in its more recent history. To undertake this diversification, the company has invested over £7m in the past 10 years, an investment that includes: a second 20,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in 2015; fibre connectivity and decarbonising infrastructure; DMG Mori five-axis machining centres; and, most recently, an Okuma Multus from NCMT and a CMM from Hexagon.

The next step for the Hampshire-based company is to increase its throughput and workflows through automation. Unlike most subcontract manufacturers, RE Thompson already has impressive factory floor automation with a remarkable 512 pallets on just nine machining centres. The bottleneck for RE Thompson has been the process flow away from the factory floor – primarily CAM programming. For RE Thompson, its existing CADCAM system was ‘old hat’, and the technology was not available for modern machining strategies such as the lens and barrel tools that it requires for machining blisks and impellers for the aerospace industry.

Commenting upon the existing system, company owner Michael Thompson says: “The system was falling down on meeting our requirements and some of its strategies are at least 10 years old, and every time a new version is launched, there’s nothing significantly new with it. We first put the old system in our factory around three decades ago and over the years it has failed to keep up with technology to the point that the developers don’t even create their post processors. If you had all day, I could provide a complete list of reasons why we needed to move away.

“The system put a lot of limitations on our business with regards to our MPI [Marginal Propensity to Invest],” continues Thompson. “From now to October, certain things will be transforming within our business, and this includes MPI, lead times and turnaround times. We have a lot of knowledge and skill in the company, but we had an old CADCAM system that has been holding us back. What we’re doing now is building a new system from the ground up, we have installed a new fibre network infrastructure and installed ultra-efficient air compressors with full redundancy. Allowing better use of what we have.”

With regard to selecting Open Mind, Thompson reveals: “We looked at five or six systems, but we wanted the flexibility to create really good tool paths. It was a very short review of these systems, as we quickly narrowed it down to two packages. HyperMILL has a very good reputation in the UK; lots of prestigious companies and subcontractors use it and there is local support. However, local support is now increasingly irrelevant, as the pandemic and our feasibility study through to adoption have shown. We’ve been implementing the system with Open Mind over Microsoft Teams and have yet to meet them in person. We sometimes have people in six or eight different locations working from home, so in being able to implement HyperMILL everyone involved has been fantastic.”

He adds: “When we narrowed our process down to two vendors, we found that HyperMILL had advanced tool path strategies and the overall support was outstanding. We spoke with Ken Baldwin and Jon Shortt in the UK but also with the Open Mind Team in Germany, who detailed innovations in the pipeline that would help us with our ambitious plans that we are working towards for October.”

Before alluding to the next tranche of features in the pipeline with HyperMILL Thompson emphasises the existing features that helped the company make its decision: “The flexibility of HyperMILL is second to none and they have really honed-in on three- and five-axis strategies, as well as turning. With its reputation in high-end five-axis machining, we were very surprised by how good the turning package is.”

Looking at particular components manufactured by RE Thompson, HyperMILL will help the company with very small parts when it wants to make multiples through to very large semi-conductor chambers. Indeed, there is one part in the MPI stage that will save RE Thompson a staggering four days by using HyperMILL. The company will achieve this saving through automating datum settings.

“When you have a lot of datums and ports on a job, we have to set those all individually and, on our previous system, you really had to markdown in detail what had been set up,” says Thompson. “With HyperMILL, it just does it for you. This saving is just in setting the jobs, it doesn’t even account for the possible savings in overall programming and the machining cycles. When it comes to machining cycles and retracts, HyperMILL will naturally follow the shortest tool path.”

On the factory floor, the company produces everything from 1-off and small batches to runs of hundreds of parts. Turning naturally has higher production volumes, but some milling jobs can be up to 500-off a year of very complex parts for some clients. The company processes parts with utmost efficiency due to the company’s investment in 512 pallets that are either integrated via machine tool suppliers like DMG Mori or through automation specialist Fastems. This strategy has enabled the business to run lights out 24/7 since 2008.

Looking at this evolving mix of work, Thompson says: “Other than retracts, our tool paths are pretty good, and we minimise air cutting and maximise machine utilisation where possible. Where HyperMILL will make a difference is during the time from order receipt to first-off production. We expect lead times to reduce hugely, which means our productivity will at least double. At present, we have four manufacturing engineers programming, but we have another three setters that will be trained to program, and we have another three positions advertised at the moment. To facilitate this, we’ll be investing in 10 seats of HyperMILL, but I expect this to double and eventually increase four-fold.”

Head of sales Matthew Shaw adds: “The addition of HyperMILL will be great for the sales team, as we’ll have more capacity to sell. We can also adopt a much better approach to the market. HyperMILL will give us greater speed to market, a faster-quoting process and, with improved throughput, our lead times will improve significantly. Furthermore, with improved processes and machining strategies available to us through HyperMILL, we can emphasise the value this brings to our business and most importantly, our customers.”

With regards to being more competitive with this diverse workload, Thompson says: “Sometimes we weren’t competitive when machining propeller blades or impellers as we couldn’t use barrel tools, so our sales team had trouble selling that facility. With HyperMILL we’ll be able to utilise all of those tools and strategies.

“The tool library is also very impressive,” he adds. “Having the facility to build a tool library with comprehensive data on speeds, feeds, materials, and machining parameters excites our team, and Open Mind has even more features in the pipeline.
For further information www.openmind-tech.com