When Medley Precision won a contract to produce fire suppression assembly systems, the Mansfield-based subcontract manufacturer was initially producing the parts on a single spindle turning centre. However, as the required quantities quickly escalated, the company sought a better solution, turning for help to the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) and the Nakamura-Tome brand.

Like many subcontract manufacturers, Medley has a plant list of high-end machine tools that epitomises the quality demanded by its equally prestigious customers in the offshore, power generation, rail, medical, aerospace and defence sectors. With the aluminium fire mist nozzle systems consisting of a family of four components, the initial requirement was for 200 parts (x4) per month – a volume sustainable for the existing turning centre. However, the volume rapidly exploded from a total of 800 parts to 6000 (1500-off x4) and a solution was needed urgently.

Medley Precision’sproduction manager Stuart Solomon recalls: “The volume rapidly expanded and we looked at a sliding-head lathe, but one of the parts in the assembly was over 50mm diameter – beyond the realm of a slider. We then looked at a range of other manufacturers, but it was the pedigree, quality and the price-to-performance ratio of the Nakamura-Tome brand that sold it to us.”

The AS9100-certified Nottinghamshirecompany purchased a twin-spindle, twin-turret Nakamura-Tome WT15II turning centre at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to cruise through the 6000 part per month order.

“For us, having the facility for one-hit, ‘lights-out’ machining via a barfed turning centre was crucial to our investment decision,” says Solomon.“Moving from a chucking single-spindle lathe to the Nakamura WT150II was a complete revelation. On the four parts, we more than halved the cycle times. The cycle time for the aluminium nozzle body was cut from 14 minutes to 6, while the time for the other three parts were cut from 8, 6 and 4 minutes, to 4, 3 and 2 minutes respectively. But this wasn’t just about cycle time improvements, we wanted to create a stable and efficient process.”

The results were immediately evident. Medley went from one operator permanently located on the single-spindle lathe to one operator on two machines. The quality and consistency of the parts improved vastly, as did the surface finishes. Notably, the same Nakamura stability that improved surface finishes and consistency also prolonged tool life significantly with operational costs falling sharply.

“With the cycle time savings, we could also introduce a deburring cycle for each part and still be more than 50% faster than before,” explains Solomon.“The deburring cycle eliminated the need for the parts to be put through a post-machining rumbler. Our operator would put 200 parts per hour into the rumbler for deburring while running a single-spindle machine full-time. Not only have we eradicated this additional process, but our consumable costs and the energy efficiency of running one machine instead of two is evident.”

With the first Nakamura-Tome WT150II proving such a success for Medley, the company once again turned to ETG when the order books in the turned parts department continued to bulge.

Says Solomon: “With the first Nakamura dedicated to 24 hour, five days a week production of the fire-suppression system, we were noticing our remaining single and twin-spindle turning centres were increasingly close to hitting full capacity – we needed another Nakamura.”

The manufacturer was witnessing a surge in rail work with an increasing demand for fuel systems and associated parts for trains in batches of 100+, as well as an increase in high-value oil and gas exploration parts such as flow regulators and pins in varying quantities from 20 to 150+ parts. Medley specified the Nakamura WY150F, a turning centre with a larger footprint and work area than the WT150II – a footprint that accommodates Y-axis cutting on both the upper and lower turrets.

“The Nakamura WY150F is a slightly larger machine than the WT150II, but it offers additional capabilities,” says Solomon.“The machine was only commissioned recently and we are already seeing the benefits. We swapped the single-spindle machine out and replaced it with the WY150F, as the single-spindle machine no longer meets our profile for a turned parts machine. Although we can acknowledge that the single-spindle turning centre is no match for a twin-spindle Nakamura in productivity terms, we are realising the true value of the Nakamura WY150F, as we are now transferring parts from our other twin-spindle turning centre.”

He continues: “We’ve just moved a part from our other twin-spindle machine to the Nakamura WY150F, cutting the cycle time from 15 minutes to less than 8 on a brass component for the rail industry. This cycle time saving is achievable by hitting both sides of the part at the same time, by using the upper tooling turret on the main spindle and simultaneously hitting the back end of the part in the sub-spindle with the lower tooling turret. By identifying this saving, we will be gradually moving more of our volume components to the new Nakamura and transferring our lower batch quantity work to the single-turret turning centre. Another factor that is making the Nakamura perform so well is the impressive technology and software within the control panel, as well as the Hainbuch work-holding system.”

With the first Nakamura WT150II turning centre dedicated to producing a family of fire-suppression components and the second Nakamura WY150F rapidly churning its way through capacity for Medley, the reduced lead times and improved component quality is bringing more work to the subcontract manufacturer.
For further information www.engtechgroup.com

As part of the R&G Fluid Power Group of companies, Millennium Engineering is a specialist manufacturer of critical components to the automotive, oil and gas, food and drink, and machine manufacturing sectors. Working out of a 9000sqft facility in Preston, the company machines a diverse range of materials; it is here that cutting tools from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) make the difference.

Serving a diverse range of customers, the Lancashire manufacturer machines everything from steel, stainless steel, aluminium and brass, through to exotic materials such as titanium, Inconel, duplex and a host of other materials that make every day an interesting challenge for the shop floor. Maximising its productivity with the application of heavy-duty Doosan CNC sub-spindle turning centres, three and four-axis Hurco machining centres, and high-end CADCAM software, the company has an intent to focus on maximising productivity levels while maintaining impeccable quality levels and productivity rates. It is here that cutting tools from ITC complete the loop of high-end technology to maximise throughput.

Recalling how the ISO9001-certified company started its journey with ITC, Mat Jackson from Millenium Engineering says: “We were previously using a high-profile tool manufacturer to supply the majority of our cutters, but unfortunately the service and support was sub-standard. We employed a new machinist who previously run his own machine shop and he strongly recommended that we adopt cutting tools from ITC. About four or five years ago we invited ITC in to discuss our requirements. Gary Murrey, an ITC application engineer came along to introduce and prove-out some steel turning inserts. The difference was night and day! With our previous inserts, we were rough machining 10 parts per insert edge, whereas with the Widia CNMG-RH chip-breaking inserts from ITC, we immediately doubled our tool life to 20 parts per insert edge.”

What impressed Millennium Engineering above all else, was the commitment of the ITC representative to ensure delivery of the optimal results. With six high-specification CNC turning centres featuring live tooling on the shop floor and two CNC machining centres, the initial emphasis was primarily on turning activities.

The company also manufactures scroll tails with twin threads for composite hose couplings. With component batches varying from 10 to 300-off per month in sizes from ½-inch to 16-inch diameter, the parts required considerable turning with cycle times extending beyond 20 minutes. Thanks to expert support from ITC, the steel scroll tails saw a cycle time reduction from 20 minutes to just 5, a 75% improvement.

With an immediate impact and such dramatic improvements to tool life and subsequently cycle times, ITC engineers also began looking in greater depth at other applications throughout the business. This resulted in reviewing brake kits made from 6082 aluminium that the company manufactures for motorsport teams and competition cars. With the brake kits consisting of multiple aluminium components such as bells and brackets, the ITC engineers identified an issue with poor cycle times on turned parts.

“We were going through three orfour aluminium turning inserts a week,” recalls Jackson.“This was a combination of using the incorrect inserts and not having the technical support from our previous tooling supplier. ITC reviewed the process and implemented Widia turning inserts; we now use these inserts for both rough- and finish-turning operations. As for the tool life, we’ve gone from using a box of 10 inserts every two weeks to an unbelievable tool life improvement. We bought a box of 10 Widia inserts from ITC back in September 2021 andwe we’re still working our way through it a year later.”

Looking at the milling challenges the company faces, Jackson says: “With such phenomenal success in the turning department, we soon turned our attention to milling applications as we knew by this point that ITC was a brand we could trust.”

Inviting ITC’s Jason Clark to review the milling processes, an immediate opportunity presented itself with 316 stainless steel pulleys and gears produced for fish farms in Scotland.

“We machine 20 to 40+ gears twice a year for the fisheries and we were using two roughing tools, a semi-finisher and a smaller form tool for completing the gear forms,” explains Jackson.“Jason looked at this process and immediately identified a new selection of tool dimensions that would eradicate one of the three tools for stock removal.”

He continues: “We reduced the process from four tools to three by using a larger and more robust form tool and higher quality end mills for the roughing process. The result was a cycle time reduction from 1 hour to just 20 minutes. On the majority of jobs that Gary and Jason from ITC have reviewed, we’ve reduced cycle times by anything from 15 to 60%, improved tool life beyond 50-60% and reduced our tooling costs by a minimum of 15%. We have also reduced our inventory requirements, streamlined our throughput and improved our quality and consistency with fewer tool changeovers.”

A major factor in enhancing the quality, consistency and even precision parameters of the components at Millenium Engineering is the adoption of Big Kaiser hydraulic toolholders.

“We had always used collet chucks for our toolholding and found there would be a deviation in dimensions from one end of a part to another, typically caused by the tool slipping in its holder. Additionally, we couldn’t take particularly large depths of cut. Jason from ITC suggested the Big Kaiser back-ends and the difference has been staggering.”

He adds: “There’s been a massive change in our tool life, rigidity and even our cutting parameters – we have complete confidence in the Big Kaiser system. We are increasing all our depths of cut by 10 to 20% and our productivity is improving as a result. The tool-holding platform is more rigid and robust, which is giving us improved tool life, surface finish, productivity and confidence in our processes. As an example, we machine a regular set of brackets that would have an overall machining time of 8 hours a day for a pair. With the Big Kaiser back ends we have this cycle time down to less than four hours.

“ITC has been extremely supportive of our business and we know that they will respond with urgency if we ever have a query,” he concludes.“More importantly, ITC engineers look at each application as an intriguing challenge as they want to help us improve our processes, and productivity, and reduce our tooling costs. We cannot speak highly enough of the ITC team; their knowledge and support have been second to none.”
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk