As an engineering solutions company, A&M EDM is always striving to enhance its operations and capabilities to maximise its service to clients in the aerospace, motorsport, automotive, marine, medical, rail, defence and general subcontract sectors. To achieve this, the company has invested in technology that extends from three, four and five-axis machining centres, EDM wire and spark erosion, and laser welding, through to a temperature-controlled metrology department. When A&M EDM was not getting the best from its machines and cutting tools, the company worked with MSC Industrial Supply to instigate a change of cutting fluid supply. The result was a relationship with the cutting fluid experts at Rocol.

Playing a proud role in the Ventilator Challenge and having more than 57 CNC machines on the shop floor, as well as a host of accreditations and accolades, the Smethwick-based manufacturer utilises MSC to deliver best practice engineering support. Frequent onsite visits proactively identify ways to help A&M EDM optimise its processes. When it came to improving the performance of its metalworking fluids while maintaining high-quality machining, MSC identified Rocol as the perfect partner to collaborate with A&M EDM.

Like many subcontract manufacturers, A&M EDM machines a variety of materials that include stainless steel, mild steel, aluminium, Inconel, titanium and exotics with a variety of production demands from bespoke one-offs and short runs through to longer run batches.

This variety of materials poses a challenge for any cutting fluid supplier, but Rocol recommended its Ultracut Evo 255 metalworking coolant, an extreme pressure (EP) soluble oil-water mix cutting fluid. Rocol and MSC suggested this product as it is not only versatile and suitable for a wide variety of machining applications and materials, but would deliver a significant saving in the volume of coolant required.

When asked why the company changed cutting fluid supplier to Rocol, Gary Surman from A&M EDM says: “We had three fundamental issues. Firstly, we had operators who were complaining about irritated skin. There was also a smell in the workshop, while thirdly our tool life seemed to be diminishing relatively quickly.”

Adds Surman: “We are delighted that MSC and Rocol have come in and analysed our coolant consumption and recommended a solution that will reduce this to half the amount we were using previously. They invested time in understanding our objectives, and demonstrated a commitment and determination to help us achieve them. We look forward to an ongoing relationship where MSC and Rocol will continue to assess and benchmark our machines regularly, helping us to achieve further efficiency and productivity gains.”

Rocol analysed A&M EDM’s coolant consumption, accounting for the materials and applications while taking samples from active machining operations. The tests at Rocol’s laboratory delivered a comprehensive report on the current fluid product, with details such as the wear ratio, dilution and consumption. From the analysis it was possible to conclude that coolant usage was much higher than it should be, and that A&M EDM needed a versatile, high-performance cutting fluid that would deliver consistent usage and quality results on a range of different materials.

Commenting on the Ultracut Evo 255 Surman says: “Once we got the product into the machines, we had no further concerns about skin irritation, the smell had dissipated and tool life improved.”

Machine operator Callum Bowen re-iterates the point on odour, stating: “The Rocol coolant has made a difference. When I get home from work, I no longer smell; it doesn’t stick to my clothes, unlike the previous product we were using. Additionally, the fluid is very good when cutting different types of material, and it does not fog-up the glass screen on the machine doors, so we can see what’s going on.”

The Rocol Ultracut Evo range of operator-friendly, water-soluble cutting fluids is inherently resistant to degradation and contains no biocides or skin sensitisers. These attributes demonstrate low foaming qualities and reject tramp oil to provide excellent cutting performance and residual corrosion protection.

“Our operators have had no noticeable effect on their hands, whereas before they were getting skin irritation,” says Surman. “Even looking inside the machines, they are much cleaner than they were previously, and we can only put that down to the old coolant congealing and sticking to the walls and surfaces of the machine.”

The analysis showed that with Rocol Ultracut Evo 255, dilution levels improved from 19:1 to 40:1, reducing A&M EDM’s consumption from 41,000 litres to just 20,048 litres per annum. The reduced consumption rate outweighed the increased cost per unit, resulting in a cost saving of £16,900 per year.

“We used to buy around 10 IBCs every year and we are now down to five,” says Surman. “However, it’s not just the cost of coolant we are measuring here. There has also been a significant drop in the costs of our cutters, which we can only put down to the cutting fluid and EP additives that are allowing the tools to last longer. We’ve had a 40% reduction in our tooling spend where roughing operations were being carried out.”

Referring to the waste management of cutting fluid, Surman says: “When the suds kept going-off, we had to dispose of it under our ISO14001 environmental standard. Now, we are no longer disposing of 10 to 15,000 litres a year due to coolant that has perished.”
Naturally, Surman is pleased with the service provided by MSC and Rocol: “Initially, when we were doing the changeover, Rocol engineers were here every day. They were monitoring and checking vigorously. Now, with the coolant fully implemented, they visit once a month. They come round and do all the checks, the reports and the laboratory testing. If we have a problem, Rocol is only a phone call away and they will pop-in on the same afternoon or the following day.”

With a vast machine shop, Surman comments on the implementation throughout the facility: “We had our maintenance engineer fit an IBC and pipe it into every machine, so we have one source with hoses connected to every machining resource. We now have no spillages on the shop floor and we’re no longer trying to carry tanks around.

“The ease of changeover from the previous cutting fluid to Rocol was simple,” he continues. “Rocol did all of the laboratory work in the background. They came in, investigated our work and found a product that was compatible with the materials and jobs we were machining, so we were able to mix. We didn’t need to empty the sumps, we just added it to what was already there, and over time we are now fully Evo 255 compliant.”

For further information
www.rocol.com

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied Coventry-based precision machining specialist, MNB Precision, with a large-capacity Doosan SMX 3100 multi-tasking machine and a Doosan DNM 6700 vertical machining centre. Installed at MNB’s 36,000 sq ft facility in May 2021, the machines’ arrival forms part of a larger technology investment package that, over the next seven months, will see MNB take ownership of four more Doosan machines (two lathes, a vertical machining centre and a mill-turn machine). By the end of the year, MNB will have 20 Doosan machines at its disposal, representing a sizeable proportion of the company’s 55 total machine tool resource.

Says commercial director Elliot Benton: “We are committed to continuous improvement and, as such, are no strangers to making strategic and prudent investments in advanced manufacturing and machining technologies. The sectors where we operate are ultra-competitive and the investments we make are intended to help us improve quality, productivity and operational efficiencies.”

Doosan’s SMX 3100 is a high-productivity multi-tasking machine equipped with a 12” chuck, a 30 kW/4000 rpm spindle, a B-axis milling spindle, a 40-tool magazine, a servo-driven tailstock, linear scales and the latest FANUC 31iB5 control. As part of the investment, Mills supplied the machine with an SLU-X4 steady rest, which in conjunction with the tailstock, enables the reliable and high-accuracy machining of long workpieces.

The SMX 3100 is the first Doosan turn-mill machine acquired by MNB, but the company is no stranger to the technology itself.

“Turn-mill technology enables us to machine complex, high-precision parts in one hit,” says Benton. “The technology can make jobs previously considered unprofitable, a more attractive proposition and helps significantly reduce job set-up and part cycle times. The investment in the SMX 3100 comes specifically from the need to machine high-precision oil and gas plug-type components. Manufactured from low-alloy steel, the parts are required in large volumes for a customer in Norway.

“The SMX 3100 is a powerful, flexible and accurate turn-mill machine,” states Benton. “The price and performance of the machine, its reputation in the market and the fact that it’s backed by Mills CNC’s aftersales service and support, made the investment decision a relatively straightforward one to make.”

Doosan’s DNM 6700 is a large-capacity vertical machining centre equipped with a 12,000 rpm directly-coupled spindle, a 30-position ATC, roller LM guideways, thermal compensation systems, and the latest Fanuc 0iMP control with the advanced iHMI touchscreen. To increase productivity and ensure machining flexibility, Mills supplied the DNM 6700 with an integrated four-/five-axis rotary table.

Says Benton: “We invested in a Doosan DNM 5700 vertical machining centre in 2017 and can vouch for the machine’s accuracy, speed and reliability. Our latest DNM 6700 provides us with a larger travels [1300 x 670 x 625 mm] and a bigger work table [1500 x 670 mm]. The DNM 6700 increases the machining capacity of i8 Ltd, a new, precision engineering subsidiary we created and absorbed into MNB in 2019 following the purchase of the assets of Integr8, a local engineering subcontractor. The machine was acquired to machine complex parts for a water treatment customer.”

MNB Precision and Mills CNC have a partnership that dates back to 2012 when the former invested in its first Doosan machine, a large-capacity Puma 800XL lathe. Since then MNB has regularly invested in Doosan lathes and machining centres from Mills.

“Doosan machine tools deliver best-in-class performance,” says Benton. “They are reliable and competitively priced.”

Established over 40 years ago MNB Precision, a family-owned business, is a provider of manufacturing and precision engineering services to a growing number of OEM and tier-one companies operating primarily, but not exclusively, in the oil and gas sector. Other industry sectors served by MNB Precision include power generation, rail, defence, nuclear and automotive.

The company manufactures a range of different-sized components, from handheld parts up to others that measure 11 m in length and 1 m in diameter, weighing up to 8 tonnes.

In addition to CNC turning and milling, MNB provides other in-house machining services that include jig boring, grinding and EDM. The company has impressive testing and inspection capabilities located in a temperature controlled environment and, to further differentiate itself in the market, offers customers a range of secondary services that include shot peening, NDT, magnetic particle inspection and liquid dye penetration. In the near future, MNB is considering further augmenting its services by opening up separate materials and surface treatment divisions.

Serving the oil and gas sector for four decades has meant that the company has experienced and survived a number of industry downturns. In response to the sector’s perennial volatility and to enable the company to have more control over its own destiny, MNB’s current leadership team has, over recent years, implemented a number of innovative and interrelated business strategies.

The company’s strategies are working. Sales turnover, prior to the pandemic, increased from £3.3m in 2016/17 to £20m in 2019/20. Such outstanding sales success has not gone unnoticed, with the company earning a number of recent and well-deserved accolades and awards. For instance, in 2020, MNB appeared 30th in the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table of UK companies with the fastest-growing sales.

MNB’s recently introduced business strategies, across all of its operations, have been transformative. These include the adoption of a ‘servitisation’ business model, proactive and aggressive sales, and diversification.

In summary, MNB Precision is clearly a manufacturing company that thinks outside, and inside, the box.

Recent and future investment in advanced machine tool technologies combined with its servitisation business approach has helped, and will help, the company compete and win more work in the oil and gas sector which, independent forecasters have predicted will bounce back strongly in the second half of 2021.

MNB’s more proactive and targeted sales strategies are driving demand for its services, and the creation of a manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia will put the company in the box seat in one of its primary markets. Furthermore, MNB’s move into other sectors and the recent creation of i8 Ltd, are further evidence of its forward-looking and focused business approach.

All three strategies rely on MNB having access to class-leading, high-performance machine tools, which is why the company continues to invest in Doosan machines from Mills CNC.

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

At the Barnstaple subcontract machining facility of Witon Engineering, the turn-milling of relatively complex components from 16 mm diameter bar previously took place on 32 mm capacity sliding-head lathes, rather than smaller capacity models, to take advantage of the extra CNC axes and tools available on the larger machines. The company has now transferred this type of work to a more nimble, 25 mm bar capacity Citizen Cincom D25-VIIILFV sliding-head turning centre, installed in January 2021. The first two jobs have shown cycle time reductions of 20% or more.

Since the mid-90s, Witon Engineering has bought 17 bar-fed lathes from Citizen Machinery, of which one was a 42 mm bar capacity Miyano fixed-head machine, the others being various Cincom sliding-head models for turning up to 32 mm stock. There are currently 11 Citizen machines on the shop floor, following the replacement of earlier models over the years. Lathes from this supplier therefore account for approaching half of the 25 of bar autos in the factory, comprising 13 sliding-head models, eight single-spindle fixed-head turning centres and four CNC multi-spindle automatics.

The first component transferred to the D25 was an EN1A steel shaft for a lawnmower. Previously, the machining of this part took place on an L32-VII, of which there are three on site. As 180,000 have to be produced to fulfil the current contract, the 20% cycle time reduction leads to a significant production cost saving.

Another component benefiting from machining on the D25 is a 304 stainless steel fuel inlet fitting for an automotive customer. It used to be turn-milled on a pair of Cincom M32s in a cycle time of 72 seconds, but this has been cut to 53 seconds, representing a 26% saving. With 55,000-off needed, the economy gained is significant.

Ian Clapp, workshop manager at the Barnstaple factory, says: “We operate a couple of 20 mm capacity, dual-platen sliders of another make and knew this configuration offered quick cycle times. However, we saw what our long-standing sliding-head lathe supplier Citizen was offering in the D25, a machine with larger bar capacity plus the ability to carry out work up to 32 mm diameter without the guide bush for more economical material usage when producing shorter components. The model also has the benefit of a programmable B axis, so we decided to go for this option.”

Notably, the gang tool platens are in front of and behind the spindle centreline, with Z-axis motion provided on the rear carrier to allow balanced turning, milling or drilling, or simultaneous rough and finish turning. The B axis on the front post, carrying up to four driven tools on either side to service either the main or counter spindle, swivels by up to 135°. A further feature of the lathe is the potential to control three axis groups simultaneously via the Mitsubishi 800 CNC system (so three tools can be in cut at the same time).

Another benefit of this 12-axis CNC turn-mill centre is that it incorporates Citizen’s programmable LFV (low frequency vibration) chip-breaking technology in the control. LFV automatically breaks into smaller pieces the long, stringy swarf produced when machining materials such as copper, plastics and high alloy steels. Bird-nesting around the tool and component – and the consequent damage – is therefore avoided. Although LFV cycles have not been included in programs run so far on the D25 at Barnstaple, it is nevertheless there to use when appropriate jobs come along.

Witon Engineering underwent a change of management at the end of 2016 when second-generation owner and managing director Ian Sheldon retired. The firm is now run by Ian’s son-in-law Tom Courtney, who is general manager, alongside Sheldon’s daughters, Hayley Neate and Gemma Courtney, who are both directors. Operations still predominantly centre on precision turned parts production using CNC lathes, the cam multi-spindle auto shop having closed in 2018. Two three-axis, vertical-spindle machining centres are also in use.

Large batch runs are the norm: Witon Engineering produces one electrical connector part at a rate of 100,000 per month, and even one of the machining centres is currently completing a contract for 500,000-off prismatic components.

Says Neate: “We are keeping Witon Engineering basically on the same trajectory, with the accent on turning and long periods of unattended running during the day through to the end of a twilight shift finishing at 00:30 every weekday.

“The onset of the pandemic reduced business early on, especially as work for the automotive sector, traditionally a large proportion of our business, was badly affected,” she continues. “However, we have gained extra contracts in other sectors to compensate, such as parts for lubrication systems and household goods. When the automotive work returns, our production throughput will be at a record high and we will carry on investing in top quality plant like Citizen lathes to meet demand.”

For further information
www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied Stourbridge-based HCM Engineering, a precision toolmaker and die-casting process technology specialist, with a new large-capacity three-axis vertical machining centre.

The machine – a Mynx 9500/50 – is a box-guideway three-axis machining centre for heavy-duty operations, including interrupted cutting and long machining runs.

“It is,” according to Mike Hanson, HCM’s operations managing director, “a versatile machine: a real all-rounder.”
HCM’s new Mynx 9500/50 was installed in February 2021 at the company’s 12,000 sq ft facility, where it is being used to machine complex, high-precision die-cast mould tools for a number of leading OEM and tier-one customers – predominantly, but not exclusively, from the automotive sector.

The die-cast mould tools machined on the new Mynx 9500/50 are complex and characterised by intricate and high-precision features such as thin walls, ribs, tapers and cavities, and increasingly by their large size. Specific mould-tool elements machined on the Mynx include 3D ‘component’ forms and features, 2D plates, mould inserts, cores and slides. The elements are made from hardened tool steels and machined to tight geometric tolerances (0.025 mm), high surface finishes and exacting quality standards.

Established in 1969, HCM Engineering is an independent, privately-owned precision toolmaking company that has over 50 years’ experience and expertise in the moulding and die-casting business.

The company provides customers with complete ‘concept to completion’ tooling solutions, offering design consultancy and design for manufacturing services, through to the production and supply of high-pressure, low-pressure and gravity die cast mould tools. As part of its services the company also provides machined or 3D-printed prototypes for test builds.
HCM is committed to continuous improvement and achieving best practice and, as such, regularly invests in its people, plant and equipment to improve performance and competitiveness. Part and parcel of the company’s improvement programme is its willingness and readiness to invest in the latest advanced manufacturing technologies.

Says Mike: “We regularly monitor and review our performance. If, and when, we see any area for improvement, we act quickly and decisively to rectify the situation.”

The company’s progressive, and some may say ‘bullish’, ethos and approach is evidenced by its move, back in 2003, to create HCM India (a 50:50 joint venture enterprise) from scratch.

Says Simon Hanson, HCM’s commercial managing director: “To help combat tooling contracts from migrating to China and the Far East, we set up a new company in India. The joint venture has been, and is, a huge success: it has helped us remain competitive and has been instrumental in us securing new business.’ with: The joint venture has been, and is, a huge success: it has helped us to remain competitive and been instrumental in securing new business. HCM India has provided us with significant flexibility. We can design and manufacture hybrid mould tools, using both our UK and Indian facilities.”
The company’s ability to keep ‘one eye on the future’ is also evidenced by its successful five-year apprenticeship programme run in partnership with local FE colleges and training providers.

HCM’s investment in the Mynx 9500/50 was made for a number of reasons. Firstly, to increase the company’s machining capacity and capabilities: specifically its ability to produce large die cast mould tools increasingly required by, and used in, the automotive sector. HCM also wanted to improve the company’s productivity and efficiency by enabling it to adopt lights-out, unattended machining operations and, as a consequence, improve cost competitiveness and lead time fulfilment.

Automotive manufacturers under pressure to make vehicles lighter, more energy efficient and ‘cleaner’ are increasingly looking to make more parts from lightweight aluminium, zinc and/or magnesium alloys manufactured via the die-casting process.

“Customers’ tooling requirements are constantly changing,” says Mike. “Over the past 10 years the trend within the automotive sector is towards larger and more complex mould tools. It’s a trend, certainly with the rapid growth of electric vehicles, which looks set to continue well into the future.

“This is good news for toolmakers, as long as they have the requisite machining capabilities available to manufacture large-sized dies,” he continues. “To stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive, we identified that we needed to increase and improve our machining (milling) resources – specifically relating to the size and weight of parts (tooling) we could machine. Although we have a number of 2 and 3 m bed machines at our facility, we realised that it would be a strategically sound move to invest in another machine to enable us to succeed in a constantly-changing and ultra-demanding market. With the trend towards large mould tool production we decided to invest in the Mynx machine.”

Doosan’s Mynx 9500/50 is a large-capacity machine with a work envelope of 2500 x 950 x 850 mm that can accommodate workpieces up to 3500 kg in weight. The machine’s 2500 x 950 mm work table is being used by HCM to produce large workpieces, as well as multiple smaller jobs. These parts can be machined in a single set up and, such is the reliability of the Mynx 9500/50, unattended overnight and at the weekends.

Says Mike: “To help us increase our productivity and operational efficiencies, and to ensure we were able to meet customers’ often stringent delivery deadlines, we needed the machine to run lights-out.”

The machine features a BT50 built-in spindle (22 kW/10,000 rpm/452 Nm) with Big Plus dual-contact face and taper configuration.

“The Mynx’s rigid design and build, combined with its advanced spindle technology, enables us to ramp up feeds and speeds and to take aggressive depths of cut, all of which help reduce cycle times,” says Mike. “Its technical prowess, in addition to its 40-position servo-driven ATC with 2.5 second tool changeover time, gives us the ability and confidence to run the machine unattended.”

HCM is no stranger to Doosan machine tools or Mills CNC having invested in two DNM 650 Mk II vertical machining centres in 2014.

“Mills CNC knows our business and we have a good relationship with them: the previously acquired Doosan machines have performed well over the years,” states Simon. “In mid-October 2020, Mills made contact to inform us that they would soon have a large-capacity Doosan machine arriving in stock in the very near future. “The size and technical specification of the machine appeared to match our requirements perfectly and, when we found out its price and that it could be delivered, installed and be up and running in early 2021, we were, to put it mildly, very interested,” he adds. “Following further discussions with Mills we placed the order and the Mynx was installed in February. From order to delivery took just 10 weeks.”

Concludes Mike: “The productivity benefits we are experiencing from the Mynx investment are dramatic and significant. Just when machining 2D plates we estimate that we are now 800% faster.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

Founded in 1995, Point CNC has provided a high quality and flexible CNC machining service to customers in the medical, aerospace, surveillance and automotive sectors since it opened its doors for business. The evolution of the company down the years has seen the manufacturer invest in high-end machine tools from YMT and CAM software from Open Mind Technologies.

Based in Sevenoaks, Point CNC produces components and sub-assemblies for high-precision surveillance and ANPR camera systems in use by police forces, security agencies and rescue services, as well as high-technology parts for the motorsport and specialist road-car sectors.
With the ever-increasing complexity of components, Point CNC has invested in hyperMILL from Open Mind, a CAM solution for five-axis machining. The ISO9001-accredited subcontract manufacturer has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years, consolidating several facilities by bringing them into one large factory that houses all of the company’s 20 CNC machine tools.

“We are implementing more automation to maximise our output and undertaking more automotive, audio and MoD work at present,” says Joseph Goldsmith, CADCAM programmer at Point CNC.

Referring to the implementation of CAM software from Open Mind Technologies, Goldsmith states: “When I first came here, we were using different software and I had come from a hyperMILL background. The software we had was nowhere near as good as hyperMILL, so I put my case forward to the directors of the business, highlighting that our current growth rate and the turnaround requirements from customers meant we needed to be adopting hyperMILL.”

With a well-made case and business leadership that is always striving to enhance its capabilities, service and performance, the company invested in the hyperMILL CAM system.
“The facility to use things such as the tool library in hyperMILL and to teach our apprentices all the cutting speeds and feeds in a simplified format to build their confidence, has been invaluable,” says Goldsmith. “hyperMILL helps to give the apprentices a good grounding in every-day processes. Additionally, skilled engineers do not have to watch the apprentices all the time, giving our younger employees the responsibility and confidence to evolve.”

Alluding to some of the savings that hyperMILL has generated, Goldsmith says: “Another advantage with the tool library is that it will calculate and optimise all of our speeds and feeds. Once the information has been entered, the speeds and feeds calculated by hyperMILL determine how hard we can be hitting the workpieces. It really has accelerated our programming. By reprogramming existing components in hyperMILL we’ve shaved a lot of time from our processes.”

He adds: “Essentially, we can input tool data from the cutting-tool manufacturer into hyperMILL and it will crunch the numbers and push the machining strategy to its limits. Every time I program hyperMILL I generally think we won’t get away with running at such extremely high speeds and feeds, but we do. It works without fail. On one of the first jobs where I really pushed hyperMILL, it was probably running 20% faster than I would have liked. In fact, it was running so fast there was steam coming off the chips and evaporating out of the machine. It really is helping these machines achieve what they are made to do.”

Referring to how hyperMILL helps to conserve tool life, Goldsmith says: “There are a lot of different factors in play here. For example, the benefits depend upon the type of tooling and what materials you are cutting, but hyperMILL goes a long way to helping with things like that. It creates greater tool engagement, which improves material removal rates, cycle times and tool life.

“Since coming to this company and helping migrate to hyperMILL, cycle times have improved by at least 20% and programming times have improved even further,” continues Goldsmith. “I can program jobs significantly faster as the previous software didn’t have all the facilities and tools I needed to do the job. This is especially the case with 3D work; the previous CAM system just wasn’t capable of doing what we needed.”

From a collision avoidance and security perspective, Goldsmith states: “One of the beautiful things about hyperMILL is that when we are putting all of our models together, we can build up a library of all our machine tools, fixtures, vices, chucks and cutting tools. We can put all of this information into the system and it will give us a 100% accurate picture of what is going to happen before we push the button. This allows us to avoid collisions and highlight things we might have missed.”

With three seats of hyperMILL and a significant investment in CNC machining and turning centres, Goldsmith alludes to the capabilities of hyperMILL with regards to the company’s turning activities, saying: “hyperMILL has had a major impact on our turning operations. Basically, it’s now allowing other people to undertake programming tasks. Before, all the programming for turning was done on CNC consoles on the shop floor. This is very time consuming and, during programming, the machines are not running or making any money. Now that we have hyperMILL we can program all of the turning in the office while the machine is running. After offline programming we just pop the program into the machine, run it through to make sure it works and we’re good to go. This has drastically reduced non-cutting times in the CNC turning department by virtually eliminating on-machine programming.”

Asked if the software is as important as hardware when investing, Goldsmith concludes: “I believe that software is an equally important investment as the hardware. hyperMILL demonstrates this with its significant savings, which are being created both in the programming office and on the shop floor.”

For further information
www.openmind-tech.com