Nestled on the outskirts of Dundee, Quest Precision Engineering has been on a trajectory of continuous growth since Gordon Deuchars joined the business three years ago. Operating out of a 20,000 sq ft facility and serving customers in a diverse range of sectors, the subcontract manufacturer has recently bought not one, but two Nakamura-Tome turning centres from Engineering Technology Group’s (ETG) Scottish distribution partner RAM Engineering & Tooling.

Serving customers in the oil and gas, electronics, automotive, and aerospace industries, ISO9001-certified Quest Precision is well versed in machining everything from simple to the most complex of components, from materials as diverse as steel, stainless, plastics, aluminium, Inconel and monel. It is this requirement for the one-hit machining of complex parts from challenging materials that led to the installation of the first Nakamura-Tome turning centre in December 2019, a twin-spindle twin turret WT150II. The impact of the Nakamura-Tome WT150II resulted in a second machine being ordered and installed four months later.

Prior to the installation of the first Nakamura-Tome WT150II, Quest was machining autonomous valves for the oil and gas industry in five operations on four machine tools. Unfortunately, production of the complex 2-inch diameter Inconel 718 valves was time-consuming and not cost-effective enough for Quest to compete with an existing Chinese supplier, leaving the 22 employee company with small-batch work and R&D projects. To win more of the business from the existing overseas supplier, Quest needed to increase productivity and reduce costs; the answer was the Nakamura-Tome WT150II.

Recalling the situation, Quest Precision’s managing director Gordon Deuchars says: “There are 25-30 different valves in the family of parts and, for us to secure more orders, we had to increase throughput and reduce costs. I enquired to a post that Ross Milne from RAM Engineering & Tooling posted on LinkedIn about the WT150II and, within four weeks, we were provided machine specifications, viewed the machine, made our purchasing decision, had a turnkey solution developed for the valves and had the machine installed and running as part of a complete turnkey solution.”

Depending upon the variant, the valves typically have a cycle time from 2 to 4 hours with the majority of valves processed in 3 hours on four machine tools with an additional 25% set-up time across the numerous machines. With valve batches running from prototypes through to production runs of 1000, machining such volumes on the existing machine tools was unfeasible. The installation of the twin-turret twin-spindle Nakamura-Tome WT150II immediately remedied the situation.

Manufacturing the valves in one hit on the WT150II reduced cycle times by 50% to 1.5 hours, while releasing capacity and labour requirements across the shop floor. The impact was so immediate that Quest went out and bought a second WT150II.

“The WT150II made such a difference to our production and set-ups that we ordered a second machine within weeks,” explains Deuchars. “The first machine arrived in December 2019 and the second was installed by March 2020. Instead of using multiple machines and up to five staff on the valves, we now have one operator running the two Nakamuras. With one staff member running the machines by day and another at night, the two WT150II machines have increased our productivity by 500%, making us cost-competitive with China. Furthermore, the machines have reduced our tooling costs considerably due to the set-up and rigidity.”

The result of investing in the two Nakamura machines has been a significant uptick in business from this particular offshore customer.

“We have invested in five machine tools throughout Covid and the Nakamura machines have made a huge impact on our business,” says Deuchars. “Although business levels are not yet at pre-Covid levels, the investment has positioned our business well for the future.

“With regard to our offshore customer, the challenge they had with component supply from China was proximity,” he continues. “If our customer wanted to undertake any R&D work, amend or inspect any parts, proximity was an issue. Now, this customer can jump in a car and visit our facility to discuss projects, look at our production methods and equipment, and investigate opportunities to enhance and develop their product lines with a local supplier.

“Since investing in the Nakamura machines, we have won more business from this customer and the Nakamuras are 95% dedicated to producing the Inconel valves. However, Covid has impacted business and we would expect the required production volumes to incrementally increase into 2022. At this point, we will be making decisions around whether we want to buy more WT150II machines.”

As a vastly experienced engineer and business owner, Deuchars has purchased more than 250 machine tools during his career – so why the Nakamuras?

“I’ve bought machines of most brands and types down the years, but never Nakamuras. However, the reputation of these machines preceded them. In this instance, we knew we needed a twin-turret, twin-spindle machine to achieve efficient one-hit machining. When we looked at the WT150II, the build quality and innovation in the machine was as apparent as the reputation of the brand. What we also needed was an immediate solution without suffering from the lead-time issues of so many machine tool vendors at present. Ross at RAM Engineering fulfilled all of our needs.

“With the valves being a complex family of parts, we needed a turnkey solution and RAM Engineering delivered this, fast,” he states. “We were taken through the specification add-ons we would require to produce the family of valves and this was trialled and proven before delivery, but most impressive of all was having a turnkey solution delivered in less than four weeks. This was only achievable through first-class service and communication, which we certainly received with the support of ETG’s application engineer Steve Howes, who worked in synergy with Quest and RAM. The first machine has now been running around the clock for almost two years and we haven’t had any trouble with it. Both machines have been workhorses that deliver for our business every day.”

Having the insight to invest during the pandemic, Quest Precision has ambitious plans for the future.

Says Deuchars: “We currently employ 22 staff and, within the next two years, we want to take our staff level up to 40 and invest upward of £1.7m in the business. By investing in high-end technology like the Nakamura-Tome WT150II machines, we will grow our market share of the subcontracting industry in Scotland – and we are confident that we can help UK manufacturers to re-shore more work.”

“The WT150II machines have improved and streamlined productivity, reduced costs and enabled us to better allocate our staff,” he concludes. “Additionally, the machines have released almost 15% of capacity from the rest of our facility. We will build upon this over the next couple of years and Nakamura machines will certainly be central to our investment plans.”

For further information
www.engtechgroup.co.uk

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied Peterborough-based PJ Innovations Ltd, a leading bakery equipment manufacturing specialist, with three new vertical machining centres and a new multi-tasking lathe.

The four machines, now installed at the company’s 7500 sq ft facility in Market Deeping, comprise a large-capacity DNM 750 II machining centre, a Puma GT 3100LM lathe equipped with a C axis and driven tooling capabilities (both delivered to the company in March 2019 as part of a turnkey solution) and two DNM 6700 machining centres that were acquired in October 2020 and June 2021 respectively.

The four machines provide PJ Innovations with state-of-the-art machining capabilities and are the centrepiece of the machine shop facility that was established in 2019 with the primary purpose of enabling the company to machine a range of specific parts for its heavy-duty Dough Divider Rounder machines.

Explains Peter Jackson, PJ Innovations’ owner and managing director: “PJ Innovations was established in 2014. In the early days we focused our efforts and resources on the design and assembly of our Dough Divider Rounder machines; as a consequence, we outsourced all of our machining requirements to a number of precision engineering specialists.”

While this arrangement proved satisfactory in the short term, it did create some issues, primarily concerning quality, lead-time fulfilment and costs.

“As demand for our Dough Divider Rounders increased, not just throughout the UK but in Europe and the US, we made the strategic business decision to exercise more control over all our manufacturing processes,” says Jackson. “To ensure the ready availability of high-quality machined components for new Divider Rounder machines, and to satisfy the demands for running a responsive and ‘best-in-class’ customer spares and replacement parts operation, we decided to lessen our reliance on outsourcing and create our own in-house machine shop to meet future machining demands and requirements.”

However, as there are hundreds of machined parts in every Dough Divider Rounder, the company first identified and prioritised specific parts to machine. These parts had a number of things in common: similar size dimensions; high accuracy and exacting surface finish requirements; complex profiles and features; long set up and cycle times; and high value.

Identifying the range of parts to machine in-house was one thing. Acquiring the appropriate machine tool technologies and creating the production processes to machine them was quite another.

Remembers Nick Lormor, PJ Innovations’ general manager: “It was a steep learning curve because not only did we have to identify, and then invest in, the right machine tools, we also needed to design and develop robust and reliable processes to get the most from the machines and manufacture precision components efficiently and cost-competitively. It became evident, quite quickly, that we needed a turnkey solution and that we also needed to identify a proven partner who could help us design and implement one.”

To look at the latest and most advanced machine tool technologies on the market and help identify a suitable turnkey partner, the company attended the MACH 2018 exhibition in Birmingham. It was here that the relationship with Mills CNC began.

Says Lormor: “We approached a number of companies at the event. Not all provided turnkey/process improvement solutions but, from those that did, we preferred the proactive approach adopted by Mills CNC. We also liked the look of Doosan machine tools and, as such, we arranged to meet after MACH to discuss our requirements in more detail and to scope out the project.”

In 2019, a large-capacity, Fanuc-controlled Doosan DNM 750 II vertical machining centre equipped with a 8000 rpm high-torque BT40 spindle and a Nikken 260 rotary table with a TAT support unit was installed in PJ Innovations’ machine shop facility. Also arriving was a 12”-chuck Doosan Puma GT 3100LM multi-tasking lathe equipped with a 2800 rpm spindle, a C axis, driven tooling capability and a hydraulic steady rest.

Both machines were delivered as part of a turnkey solution designed and developed by Mills CNC’s pre-sales application engineers over a number of months in conjunction with production staff from PJ Innovations.

“We use the two Doosans to machine performance-critical core parts of our Divider Rounder machines – namely base plates [part of the top box assembly] on the DNM 750 II, and long shaft/cylindrical part segments [part of the rotating head assembly] on the Puma GT 3100LM,” explains Lormor.

The base plates and segments can vary in size and specification, according to customer requirements, but all are made from cast iron or 316 stainless steel and involve high metal removal rates achieved though high-accuracy roughing operations. These precision parts are machined to tight to tolerances, typically to a couple of thousandths of an inch.

Says Lormor: “Key elements and features in the machining processes, developed with Mills CNC, involved innovative work holding and the use of non-conventional tooling such as bespoke angled-head cutters. Mills’ knowledge and expertise has been invaluable in helping design a robust, reliable and repeatable machining process for these parts.”

The success of the first turnkey project saw the company increase its headcount and invest in two more Doosan machines in 2020 and 2021 respectively. These two new machines, both Fanuc-controlled DNM 6700 vertical machining centres with 12,000 rpm spindles and 30 position ATCs, are being used to machine different Dough Divider Rounder parts, such as hoppers.

Says Jackson: “Creating the machine shop has been a successful venture and we are looking to increase its capacity and capabilities still further in the future so that we can machine more parts in house. Watch this space.”

PJ Innovations has created an impressive, high-productivity machine shop from a standing start. To enable it to quickly exploit the new machine tool technologies, the company took advantage of the training courses provided by the CNC Training Academy – Mills CNC’s independently operated training division.

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

With an impressive machine shop that equals many of the motorsport teams it supplies, Blackmore Precision Engineering has invested in a selection of advanced manufacturing equipment to produce complex, tight-tolerance components. Helping the company achieve its promised lead times is Vericut CNC simulation and optimisation software from CGTech.

Kidlington-based Blackmore Precision’s 12,000 sq ft facility is equipped with a range of five-axis CNC machining centres: three Matsuura MAM 72 machines (each with 32 pallet stations), four DMG Mori DMU 50 modes (some of which feature automated pallet changing) and a DMU 70 for larger parts. The company’s immaculate machine shop has grown and developed rapidly since Brendan Blackmore started the business back in 2005.

“Back then,” recalls company director Jeremy Gray, “Brendan was based in a small unit where he used a machining centre and CADCAM software to successfully produce parts on a quick turnaround for Formula One teams and other motorsports customers. Due to high demand, additional staff and machine tools followed, with a move to a larger unit before relocating to our existing site in 2010.”

Bringing his general management experience to the company Gray joined Brendan Blackmore, who still owns the business, in 2008.

“Initially it was all about turning parts around very quickly; we were accustomed to having drawings arrive on a Friday and having to supply parts on the Monday,” says Gray. “We still do this today, but in addition, we go through the rigorous inspection criteria that is required in every industry sector.”

Since the business made the decision to invest in Vericut simulation and optimisation software from CGTech in early 2021, it has further improved the efficient turnaround of customer parts.

“We had looked at Vericut in the past – however, when two new team members joined, both of whom had prior experience with the software, we were persuaded that was the way forward,” explains Gray. “From a business perspective, investing in Vericut has been very impressive right from the start. Having the whole CGTech team, from sales to training, help get everything in place very quickly, has been exceptional. Thanks should also be given to technical support for getting all our machines modelled and set up in the software.”

Lead CNC programmer Jan Plovucha was a catalyst for the application of Vericut at Blackmore Precision Engineering. For CADCAM, the company uses Open Mind’s HyperMill software, which has a direct interface with Vericut to import all of the necessary detail, including the Lang high-pressure clamping system and zero-point plates used across the shop floor. The goal is to use the experience of the programmers to ‘hit’ the component in one.

Says Plovucha: “We can rely on Vericut, so our prove-out time has dropped dramatically. This is vital as we’re running small batches of components with complex geometries, and we do not keep parts on file. Each job is treated as a new job, so every part gets the Vericut treatment each time because it may not be run on the same machine or by the same machinist.”

In fact, Vericut substantiated its value in the very first week as one job planned for a DMU 50 machine was identified as exceeding the limits of the machine tool.

“Previously, the machine would have been set up with the tools and run until it encountered this issue,” says Plovucha. “Then it would need to be broken down and reset on a different machine, losing time and possibly accuracy as we try to match the datum points.”

He continues: “We use the Autodiff module to check the parts for excess stock material and eliminate gouging where the CAM program may want to go through the part stock material. Vericut is so good we don’t think about some of these problems anymore, and the technical support and training provided is first class.”

At around 25% of the company’s annual turnover, motorsport is still an important market, but the business has broadened its customer base and diversified over the years. Many businesses supplying the various Formula One teams in the UK and beyond understand the cyclic nature of the industry, which has fantastic opportunities during the ‘car build’ that lasts for about 5 or 6 months. However, for the company to remain busy throughout the year requires demand from other industries.

“We targeted work that matched our capabilities, and now supply Rolls-Royce Aerospace, Jaguar, Bentley and many tier-one automotive companies,” says Gray. “We also do a lot of scientific and instrumentation work; here in Oxfordshire there are many start-up companies that spin out of the university.”

Metallic materials cut by Blackmore include aluminium, titanium and Inconel, as well as mild and stainless steels, while engineering and glass-filled plastics are also precision machined. Cycle times vary between 30 minutes for a simpler aluminium part to around 30 hours for a complex casing cut from titanium.

Volumes are never excessive, although the automotive batches at up to 100 parts are much higher than those demanded by motorsport customers.

“We may have suspension parts for Jaguar and they could be batches of around 70, but they also do a lot of special builds and vintage cars, and that can be as low as batches of 10 or so,” explains Gray. “The work is certainly very interesting, and the rising demand of EV will bring lots of challenges, but it’s a big market going forward with lots of opportunities.”

He concludes: “We’re hungry to get bigger and carry on varying the customer base to a level we can still handle and give the service that people require. To do this we try to organise things really well, so everything is always available, like the consignment tools we hold here in a vending system. If you only have a few days to complete an order, you don’t want to spend an hour looking for a tool – so that’s all part of what we do here. Vericut has been an important link that allows us to deliver quickly when required, and always reliably. The software certainly has added benefits that we didn’t consider beforehand.”

For further information
www.cgtech.co.uk

With almost 20 years in business and thousands of successful projects undertaken, Cutting Edge Designs specialises in routing, trade signage, acrylic fabrication, panelling, wood and laser cutting, printing, 3D carving, finishing, assembly, and CAD design. Since its inception, the Newry-based company has been working closely with the cutting tool experts at Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) to complete an extraordinary number of high-profile projects.

Founded by David Hogg, Cutting Edge Designs was set up in a small room at the back of his family’s furniture business with a single CNC routing machine. Now, the company can take credit for designing, machining and delivering unique projects for some of the most recognised brands in the world. When the first Tekcel routing machine arrived more than 15 years ago, the company turned to ITC, not only for its cutting tools, but also the company’s technical support and service.

Commenting upon the Northern Ireland company’s journey, Hogg recalls: “Prior to starting the business, I worked at a sign-making factory that was using ITC cutting tools, so I was already aware of the range of products and services available. When Cutting Edge Designs started up, we immediately turned to ITC for their expertise and extensive product ranges. The supplier of our routing machines provided alternate cutting tools when we began and, like other cutting tools that we have tried down the years, none have matched the performance of ITC.”

The company machines a vast array of materials that range from wood, veneer, MDF, plastics, metals, rubber, composite and much more. For every project and every material, Sally Hunt from ITC has been on-hand with technical support.

“During the early years of our business, Sally was fantastic at providing technical support with regard to what tools we should use on specific materials, as well as the speeds and feeds required to optimise machining performance and eliminate vibration,” says Hogg. “Over the years, our ever-increasing expertise relies less upon this technical input. While it’s always important to have technical expertise from our cutting tool supplier, nowadays the key factor is service and supply. From this perspective, ITC always has cutting tools in stock, supplied with next-day delivery. This service is absolutely first class, and it is why ITC are the best cutting tool supplier in the industry.”

Regarding some of the projects and brands the company has worked with, the list includes names like Ferrari, Guinness, M&S, Liverpool Football Club, Subway and KFC, through to famous artists and sculptors, as well as TV and movie companies. Two prestigious projects the company has worked on include the Game of Thrones television series and the Burning Temple for artist David Best – all machined with ITC cutting tools. In Derry, there has been an annual tradition for more than 40 years of burning bonfires – and in the process, protestants, catholics and the IRA would leave both their weapons and grievances outside, enter with respect and greet each other – ready to move on.

Working with show organisers Artichoke and David Best, Cutting Edge Designs was commissioned to cut 16 designs, each in a large quantity with over 1500 parts being cut from many of the 8 x 4 ft sheets of birch wood. Employing all three of its routing machines to the project and a variation of ITC cutting tools, Cutting Edge Designs estimates more than 400,000 cuts took place in the project’s three-month timeframe.

Unlike the Burning Temple that, like its name suggests, was burnt to the ground, the small business also worked with HBO Studios and Tourism Ireland in the creation of beech wood doors for the sixth series of Game of Thrones. Again, ITC was integral to the project. Produced from trees downed by Storm Gertrude in a location known as the Dark Hedges, Cutting Edge Designs produced 10 doors with each one incorporating designs, iconic symbols and references from the episodes. Receiving the artwork and 3D models, the subcontractor converted the files into CAM models and applied ITC single-flute routing tools and its Tekcel router to the task.

“We decided on using an ITC 12 mm diameter ball-nose tool for our initial rough cutting,” explains Hogg. “This removed the excess material, making it easier and more efficient for the smaller tools to do the finer details. A 90° wood-cut angle was also implemented to prevent lifting or splitting of the wood along the grain. The rough-cut cycle took about 6 hours per door. Following this, we utilised ITC’s 3 mm diameter ball-nose cutter to achieve all the important finer details, machining with a step-over rate of 0.2 to 0.3 mm. This fine detail work took an average of 50 hours per door to complete. When each door was finish-machined, it was sanded and professionally stained by one of Game of Thrones’ set painters.

For the majority of the machining, Cutting Edge Designs applied ITC’s 180 Series of solid-carbide tools, as their ability to prolong tool life, perform at higher speeds and feeds, and reduce cycle times is a huge benefit. For finish-machining, the company applied ITC’s 180-1181-10-A-XL single-flute cutting tool, a 3 mm diameter tool that is said to demonstrate exceptional tool life and rigidity. These attributes are credit to its reinforced 6 mm diameter shank, 10 mm length of cut and 30° helix geometry produced from an ultra-wear resistant micro-grain carbide.

Concluding on the relationship with ITC, Hogg says: “The ITC tools perform exceptionally well: we use everything from routers and engraving tools through to ball-nose cutters, drills, compression spirals and special tools. The range is extremely diverse, the quality is unbeatable, and the service is a cut above anything from any other tooling company. Regardless of the material we are cutting, ITC has a tool and a solution for our business.”

For further information
www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has supplied precision subcontract specialist – NuMachine Ltd – with two new five-axis machining centres. The machines, a VCF 850LSR and a DVF 6500, are now in place at the company’s 10,000 sq ft facility in Hereford, where they are producing small-batch cast aluminium automotive components required by sister company, Coventry-based Sarginsons Industries.

Explains NuMachines’ managing director, Brandon Davies: “Although we’re an independent precision subcontract engineering company in our own right, some 30-40% of our business, year-on-year, derives from Sarginsons. The strong and mutually beneficial relationship between both companies has enabled us to build up significant in-house knowledge and expertise in machining lightweight components for those sectors served by Sarginsons, the automotive industry being particularly prevalent.

“As a company with a reputation for taking on difficult jobs we were approached by Sarginsons in 2020 to see if we could help them with a specific machining contract – one where their existing supplier was finding it difficult to meet the customer’s stringent quality and lead time requirements,” he continues. “Having looked at the parts in detail, it was clear that we would need new five-axis machining capacity to produce the parts in the quantities required.”

NuMachine is no stranger to Doosan machine tools or Mills CNC. As such, the company had, even before its most recent five-axis machining centre investments, four Doosan machine tools at its disposal – the most recent being a Puma 3100Y lathe and a large-capacity DNM 750 II vertical machining centre – both acquired in 2020.

Says Davies: “Doosan machine tools deliver great performance; they’re reliable and competitively-priced. The fact that they are supplied and backed by Mills CNC is a key determining factor as we believe that Mills’ aftersales services and its applications and technical support, are among the best in the Industry.”

He adds: “The strength of the Doosan-Mills CNC partnership was the main reason we approached them with our requirement for two new five-axis machining centres.”

Since being installed, the VCF 850LSR has been used to machine long, thin and asymmetrically-shaped B-pillars, while the DVF 6500 machines performance-critical front suspension mountings. The B-pillars and suspension mountings parts have complex profiles; they are machined to tight geometric tolerances and exacting surface finishes, and feature a number of intricate details such as thin walls, multiple cavities and blind holes.

To ensure that the parts’ structural integrities are maintained during machining, and to make job set-up and cycle times as productive and efficient as possible, both machines were supplied to NuMachine with innovative and highly-customised work-holding solutions that, prior to the machines’ delivery, had been designed, developed and proven out by Mills CNC at its campus facility in Leamington.

Says Davies: “Although the machines were installed at our facility in May 2021 – the project, in reality, began some months earlier and involved us working closely with Mills and a number of the company’s technical partners to design ‘best-in-class’ turnkey fixtures for both machines.”

The work holding designed for machining the left and right B-pillars clamps each part securely in place, enabling high-precision machining operations to occur without deformation. Each part, which is long, thin and curved, is held in place by two rotary tables and a trunnion plate. The part is rotated (indexed) 90° and locked to allow the machining of each of its four sides. Only one set up is required for all machining operations, and the same fixture can machine both the left and right B-pillars. An innovative feature of the work-holding solution is the ability to machine features through apertures and spaces designed in the trunnion plate.

“To ensure we could meet our customer’s lead times and to help keep costs down we needed one work-holding solution for machining both left and right parts, and to machine the parts in one hit,” explains Davies. “It was a tall order but Mills delivered the goods.”

It was a similar situation with the DVF 6500 and the machining of the left and right front suspension mountings.
“Specific issues that Mills had to take into account with the suspension mountings were the machining of blind and angled holes, and the use of 300 mm long tools,” he says. “The solution designed by Mills and its partners involves the use of three separate fixtures – one fixture each for completing first operations on the left and right suspension mountings, and the third [shared] fixture for undertaking second operations on both mountings. There are fixture changeovers required to machine these parts but, with practice, we have got these down to a fine art.”

Doosan’s VCF 850LSR is a large-capacity, travelling column-type five-axis machining centre with a tilting B-axis head. The head can rotate 110° on either side of vertical, enabling the VCF 850LSR to machine large and complex parts in a single set up. The machine also has a large working envelope: 3000 x 850 x 800 mm (X/Y/Z).

The machine supplied to NuMachine was equipped with the latest Heidenhain TNC 640 control, a 22 kW/ 12,000 rpm high-torque spindle, a 60-tool servo-driven ATC, linear scales on its X, Y and Z axes for high positional accuracy, and a touch spindle probe and 3D tool probe package.

Doosan’s DVF 6500 is a five-axis simultaneous machining centre equipped with an oil-cooled and directly-driven BT40 spindle, a 650 mm diameter direct-drive rotary tilting table with a 1000 kg maximum table load, a servo-driven ATC, roller LM guideways and integrated thermal compensation.

The machine supplied to NuMachine was also equipped with the Heidenhain TNC 640 control, as well as a 12,000 rpm spindle and a touch spindle probe and 3D tool probe package.

“The capacity and capabilities of both machines were exactly what we required for machining the automotive castings,” states Davies.

The arrival of the two new machines in May 2021 necessitated the craning in of both machines through the roof.
“The roof needed to be lifted and almost all our other machines needed to be moved or repositioned in order to site the two new Doosans,” says Davies. “Thankfully, this was all accomplished with minimal disruption thanks to Mills’ operations and logistics team.”

He concludes: “We’re a company committed to continuous improvement and the recent investment in the two Doosan five-axis machines is further evidence of this. By constantly investing in our people, equipment and processes, we’re determined to be the best we can possibly be.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk