A sheet-metal specialist is providing the perfect example of how a small company can build a successful digital ecosystem, bringing its factory in line with the Industry 4.0 philosophy of smart production. Laser subcontractor AFDL operates with between five and eight employees at any one time, and has installed the WorkPlan MES job management solution, which connects seamlessly with its Radan sheet-metal CADCAM system. Both products are from the Hexagon portfolio, geared towards supporting data-driven smart factories.

Installing the WorkPlan job management and quotation with Radquote module has allowed AFDL (Atelier Forezien de Découpage Laser) to become completely autonomous, from quotation through to invoicing, by providing a full overview of orders received, outstanding and delivered, and of the company’s turnover.
Site Manager Stéphane Noailly says: “Previously, we didn’t have production management software, and invoicing was managed by our parent group, Decofor, involving double entry of all our delivery notes.
“We needed to invest in this type of software because of strong growth, and more employees,” says Noailly. “It was becoming too complicated to manage the company’s activities with Excel files. We opted for WorkPlan as it comes from the same stable as Radan, which we’ve used as our sheet-metal production software for over 10 years.”
Focusing on both thick and thin laser cutting, from 0.2 to 25 mm, across a range of steels, stainless steel and aluminium, AFDL has also developed its activities in bending and welding, producing stainless steel tables for the furniture industry, and working for pharmacies and the public sector.

The company has grown recently, and now produces up to 50 orders a day, comprising individual unit parts, through to large series. Prior to installing WorkPlan, Noailly managed everything from order entry to manufacturing, but since the installation and deployment of the software he has been able to free up time to develop the company’s activity.
Combining the WorkPlan and Radquote interface with the automated system for time analysis, production cost estimation, and quotation generation for sheet-metal parts and assemblies, means AFDL has become more responsive, accurate and fair in terms of price, compared to its competitors, says Noailly, which has allowed the company to successfully manage an increase in demand.
AFDAL was created at the end of 2013 with Decofor being its only customer, yet today half of its customers are external.

“I use WorkPlan to generate precise quotations in connection with Radquote, and either duplicate or modify them for similar new orders; quickly transform them into orders; view all orders at any time; or give autonomy to the workshop to generate delivery notes by simply entering the order number, which also avoids missing invoices.
“Recurring orders from Decofor are now managed with just a few clicks,” he continues. “The file is sent in CSV format, and WorkPlan transforms it into a command – no more re-entries or errors. It’s a real time saver, as production can commence immediately.”

AFDL inherited a CNC machine tool which had originally been purchased at auction by Decofor with Radan already installed, and Noailly decided he wanted to continue using the software. Production is now carried out 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with Radan currently powering two Trumatic 3050 laser-cutting machines and an Amada HFT press brake. There are plans to replace one of the laser machines with a Trumatic 3030 automated fibre laser profiling centre, which will enable the company to move into copper and brass cutting for the electrical sector.
According to Noailly, Radan makes the production process as simple and efficient as possible.
“Customers provide us with files in a variety of formats, including: a DXF 2D plan, which we can use immediately; a 3D STEP file which we open in Radan 3D to unfold before working on it in 2D; PDF files which we have to completely redesign; or directly with parts to reproduce them identically. As soon as the file is validated it’s imported into Radan 2D or 3D to be nested and put into production.
“The drawing features built into our Radan 2D module mean we can efficiently design a 2D part,” explains Noailly. “The software also gives us a quick and simple method to repair or simplify geometries from other systems.”
With around 20 regular products to redesign, or files to use, production is divided 50/50 – firstly, a series of parts, comprising more than 50 pieces; and secondly, individual units.
“Thanks to Radan we can produce up to 30 pieces on the same day that the order is placed, which means we can readily adapt to our customers’ urgent demands when they require something immediately,” says Noailly.
“We are only a small company, but the integrated solution of WorkPlan and Radan has brought our factory in line with the Industry 4.0 philosophy of smart production adopted by companies many times our size.”
For further information www.workplan.com www.radan.com

One of the UK’s largest pump manufacturers shipping more than 200,000 units per year, Charles Austen Pumps, has invested in its first sliding-headstock bar automatic, a Cincom L20-X from Citizen Machinery UK. The machine was installed at the company’s Byfleet factory in June 2019 and has taken over the turn-milling of parts up to 25 mm diameter, the vast majority of which are brass. A few aluminium, stainless steel and plastic components are also produced.

Established nearly 75 years ago by Charles Austen, the company is credited with inventing the diaphragm pump, which in the 1950s helped John Enders develop the polio vaccine. The firm’s products later assisted the development of Concorde and the Apollo 15 mission to put a rover on the Moon. A wide range of pump types is now manufactured and the firm has been so successful that growth over the past six years has been 30% per annum, driven by strong home sales and a buoyant export market.
Naturally that has put a strain on all areas of the operation, not least the machine shop. While prismatic metal cutting, including the milling and drilling of parts for pumps, as well as injection mould manufacture, is largely carried out in-house, the two fixed-head, 57 mm bar capacity CNC lathes on site struggled to cope with the production volumes of rotational parts. The result was that lately as much as two-thirds of the turning requirement was subcontracted out at a cost of more than £100,000 per year.

Machine shop manager at the Byfleet facility Matt Wright says: “More than 80% of our turned components are between 16 and 19 mm in diameter, so we needed a lathe of relatively small bar capacity to start bringing work back to our factory. Our bigger lathes are not so efficient when machining these smaller workpieces due to their longer tool movements and slower axis travels.
“We considered fixed-head as well as sliding-head technology, as our parts are generally short compared with their diameter,” he continues. “We concluded that sliding-head turn-milling would be more productive because the tools are mounted on gang posts rather than turrets, so are quicker into the cuts as they have less distance to move. Also, because we do not need to use the guide bush, the bar remnants are shorter, saving money on material. Should we ever need it, we also have the flexibility of quickly installing the guide bush for true Swiss-type turning of shaft-type workpieces over 2.5D.”
He advises that the company initially reviewed most of the sliding-head lathe providers and that the choice of Citizen was primarily down its reputation for quality machines and for providing good applications support, training and after-sales service which, since the L20-X was installed, he describes as “brilliant”.
A selection of turn-milled components for the OEM’s pumps was taken to the machine supplier’s Bushey technical centre, where engineers recommended the best machine for producing the parts. This was deemed to be the twin spindle L20-X turning centre in optional, oversize configuration capable of machining bar up to 25 mm in diameter. An Iemca barfeed for 3 m stock was also supplied, as well as a workpiece conveyor.
Standard features of the machine include up to 44 cutters, including rotary stations on the gang, opposing and back tool posts, with Y-axis movement of the first two tool carriers. The LFV version of the machine with its patented, two-axis CNC chip-breaking software in the control’s operating system was not needed, as free-cutting brass is mainly machined at Byfleet.
Batch sizes produced on the Cincom vary greatly from ones and twos for the R&D department, up to 10,000-off. The first job on the machine was a brass cam that ran continuously for 96 hours, from Monday morning to Thursday evening. Machined in one 105-second cycle to tolerances down to +10/-5 µm, including in-cycle engraving for traceability, the part previously needed two operations taking three times longer, plus additional handling for manual chamfering and stamping. Wright says that machine attendance was minimal during the day and non-existent overnight. When he arrived at the factory the next morning and measured the parts, all were not only within the 15 µm tolerance band, but right in the middle of it.

Another brass component, this time a 19 mm diameter disc-type part just 0.6 mm thick, saw its two operations in 2.5 minutes reduced to one 50-second cycle – another three-fold saving – plus the elimination of handling. A third example, a double eccentric with an offset hole and an offset spigot with a 5 µm limit, is now produced in under three minutes instead of five, including engraving which previously had to be done manually. Surface finish on all parts coming off the L20-X is noticeably better.
An element of the service provided by Citizen Machinery prior to delivery of the lathe was the provision of programs for machining two components. Since then, the Cincom machine operators, including Wright’s son Ryan, have been using the supplier’s Alkart CNC Wizard programming software. According to Citizen, the software is easy to learn and a simple process to cut, modify and paste elements from the original programs and add new blocks for other features using the wizard’s G-code and M-code library.
Wright concludes: “We are already bringing turned parts manufacture back in-house and that will accelerate in the coming months. We have hundreds of component variations lined up to put on the L20-X. By Easter 2020, we should be turn-milling them all in our factory. With the amount we have been spending lately on subcontracting services, I calculate that the Citizen Cincom slider will pay for itself in a little less than two years.”
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Ferrabyrne is a specialist moulding company predominantly producing bonded rubber for metal technology and suspension systems used in the rail industry and commercial vehicles. The Littlehampton-based business manufactures as much as possible in-house, including the design and production of mould tools. Recent growth in demand from its rail customers, driven by refurbishment of existing roiling stock to extend its service life and new projects, meant that the company’s tool room had to meet unprecedented production challenges. This saw a need for improved and increased machining capacity.

“The rail market is very active at present, which has led to unprecedented demand for our products,” explains Mike Wood, Ferrabyrne’s project director. “Customers such as Hitachi, Siemens, Bombardier, CAF and Stadler are very active in the UK and Europe. The development of new rolling stock has led to an increased number of new vehicles that our customers are bringing to market, and it is a privilege to working with them. We have invested heavily in rapid prototyping to ease pressure at the design stage, but our tool room was faced with major production challenges. We would typically produce one mould tool every 2 to 3 weeks, but at present we have a waiting list of over 40 mould tools, with a similar number of assembly tools. Additional tool room machining capacity was clearly a priority, hence the need for investment.”
As products have developed in size and complexity, demands on the mould tools have also increased, and the need for a machine capable of meeting these challenges has led Ferrabyrne to XYZ Machine Tools and its XYZ 2010 vertical machining centre.
Part of XYZ’s HD (heavy-duty) range, the 2010 VMC is a box-slideway based machine built on solid Meehanite castings, with the machine weighing in at 20,000 kg. One feature that attracted Ferrabyrne to this machine was its 1,000 mm of Y-axis travel, which is supported on six hardened box ways.

“As our work was increasing in size, we were finding that we were having to shuffle work around on our existing machines in order to fully manufacture them,” says Phil Nell, Ferrabyrne’s tooling design engineer. “So, having the large Y axis was an important part in our decision making and, although we did our research, the XYZ was the only machine of this type that could give us that. Our requirements also included a need to quickly set-up jobs for one-off and low-volume production, and the XYZ gives us that ability, in combination with our WorkNC and Autodesk software, which help create complex tool paths quickly for download to the Siemens control.”
Prior to placing the order for the XYZ 2010 HD VMC, the team from Ferrabyrne visited an XYZ showroom for a demonstration and, while there, attention was drawn to the ProtoTRAK lathe, in particular the new ProTURN RLX 425 with a 1.25 m bed length. This machine features the latest RX ProtoTRAK control.
“I used ProtoTRAK when it was first introduced, and we have an XYZ SLV turret mill in the tool room with one of the older EMX controls, so I was interested to see the new control and I have to say it’s brilliant,” says Nell.
The impact that the new control had on Nell and his colleagues saw them go away and produce a justification for the purchase of the RLX 425 that included the elimination of an existing CNC lathe.
“The benefits of the RLX 425 have fully justified our commitment to purchase it,” says Nell. “We did have some resistance from people who were used to the old machine, but the simplicity and ease-of-use of the ProtoTRAK control quickly won them over. Our efficiency producing low-volume parts has improved, as we can load DXF files for more complex jobs to the control, but still program many jobs at the machine and quickly be in production. However, the thing that mostly won us over was the TRAKing facility, whereby we can verify programs before pressing cycle start. This gives a lot of confidence to the operators; it is a perfect machine for our tool room work.”

XYZ’s ProTURN RLX 425 sits in the middle of the company’s ProTURN lathe range and is available with either a 1.25 or 2 m distance between centres. Performance is enhanced by a 7.5 kW spindle with three speed ranges covering 25 to 2500 rpm. In addition to the TRAKing facility, the ProtoTRAK control delivers constant surface speed, a touchscreen interface with the now familiar ‘pinch to zoom’ and ‘twist to rotate graphics’, a tool library, and on-screen speed and feed override. These features are among many enhancements that lead to smoother workflow and greater productivity, yet retain the familiar ease-of-use to which ProtoTRAK users have become accustomed, making the step up from older versions straightforward.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

The transition to being a member of a global group has seen Apex Cutting Tools expand its reach into the aerospace market, but with automotive tier one suppliers, as well as GM and Chrysler nearby, the automotive industry remains a core focus. The growth of the company located near Niagara Falls now sees it undertake the processing of over 1000 re-grinds a week for a single customer. With an output of more than 10,000 carbide and PCD tools a month, the company also manufactures hundreds of steel tool bodies with indexable inserts in the same timeframe.

Apex Cutting Tools produces more than 2000 new PCD and solid carbide tools each month, with more than 8000 tools on a repeat cycle of re-grind, re-coat and re-supply to clients. This total output has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Notably, each and every tool is a special, which makes production at Apex Cutting Tools far removed from the volume production market. The company operates two shifts, and if machines can be loaded with a batch of tools for overnight production at the end of the second shift, they will be. This strategy sees machines like the Vollmer Vgrind 160 running up to 24 hours a day.
CNC Grinding Department supervisor at Apex Cutting Tools, Stephan Rodrigue, says: “The breakdown of our production is relatively equal between PCD and indexable tools, with solid carbide being the majority of production. Our volumes are generally in the range of 5 to 50 tools, with some runs occasionally reaching a few hundred. We have one customer that comes in on a Friday with a 1000 tools that have to be re-ground by the following Monday.”
The company has a series of manually loaded CNC tool grinders, which are now reaching the end of their service life, something likely to be expedited by poor machine support and the arrival of automated machines like the Vollmer Vgrind 160.
Referring to the acquisition of the Vollmer Vgrind 160 just over two years ago, Rodrigue says: “The company invested heavily in DMG Mori and Mazak machine tools for producing tool bodies, Zoller Genius tool measuring machines and a range of CNC tool and cutter grinders. We were invited to look at the Vollmer Vgrind 160 machine but, as it was going to be our first Vollmer, we were somewhat apprehensive. Our opinion changed as soon as we looked closer. Now it’s here we’re thoroughly impressed and already looking at a Vollmer erosion machine.”

One of the key features that drew Apex Cutting Tools to the Vollmer Vgrind 160 was the CNC control platform, as Rodrigue explains: “The Vollmer has the Numroto Plus CNC software platform, which is a different control system to our older tool grinding machines. Numroto is now on most of our new machine acquisitions and the Numroto Plus platform is a must for us going forward. This is because it allows any program to be swapped between any of our new machines, regardless of brand.”
The thousands of solid carbide tools are produced or re-ground on four automated CNC grinding machines and three ageing manually loaded machines.
“As we produce tools with shank diameters from 3 up to 20 mm in 1 mm increments on the Vollmer, they were kind enough to give us the drawings to produce our own collection of auto-load pallets in our own machine shop,” says Rodrigue. “As standard, the HP160 pallet magazine can hold 272 tools with 3 mm shanks, while for larger tools with 20 mm shanks, we can hold 54 tools. We also have a special collet in the spindle for doing tool shanks up to 25 mm and the machine has a steady rest to support the production of drills over 200 mm long. The HP160 with its two-pallet system works fantastically well, and the tool capacity gives us long periods of automated production.”
Of critical importance to the prolonged periods of unmanned running is the auto-change six-wheel pack that is stored at the rear of the machine. Automatically, the wheels are measured in-cycle with a probe, dressed and/or changed depending upon the geometry of each tool. So, regardless of whether the HP160 is loaded with carbide blanks or tools for re-grinding, the Vgrind will undertake complete fluting, geometry generation or re-grinding to the exact program specifications.
Comparing tool production cycle times to alternate machines in operation at Apex Cutting Tools, Rodrigue says: “This is a tough question as all our machines have different capacities and power levels, but in most cases the Vollmer gives us cycle time gains over our other machines. This is largely due to the vertically aligned spindle configuration on the Vgrind. For example, we will rough grind the flutes on the lower spindle and then do the finishing cycle on the top spindle, which instantly removes the constant wheel changes that are common on our other machines.
“The finishing wheel will undertake micron precision grinding with outstanding surface finishes whereas the rough grinding can really rip the material off,” he continues. “We are doing a 24 mm diameter tool at present with a 12 mm core diameter and the Vgrind will grind the flutes in a single pass. Compared with most of our other machines, this stock removal is well above their rates. The Vgrind is at least 30% faster at roughing than some of our older machines. This is impressive considering the machine has belt driven spindles as opposed to the direct drive spindles on newer Vollmer machines.”

Despite the Vollmer Vgrind 160 being significantly faster than alternate machines, Rodrigue says it is difficult to draw parallels between the various grinding centres at Apex Cutting Tools.
“We have manually loaded grinding machines, machines dedicated to small tools and others dedicated to hob grinding, so like-for-like comparisons are difficult. What we have noted is the kinematic advantages of the vertically aligned twin spindles that pivot around the C axis. Firstly, having two wheels in the work envelope reduces wheel changes to improve processing speed. Secondly, the extremely robust grinding wheel column maximises rigidity and vibration damping. It is this rigidity that contributes to massively reducing flute roughing times. The closest comparative machine would be a very high-end machine that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the Vgrind.
“An extra rail at the top of the C axis gives the axis support from the top and bottom and the whole thing can swing around and grind from two positions,” he adds. “The solidity of that whole system and the spindles Vollmer uses, that’s just the biggest factor. There is no comparing that. Some of our machines have a suspended spindle, so you lose precision, surface finish and the rigidity depends fully on the spindle. Here, you have a massive structure that comes in and really takes out the material.”
For further information www.vollmer-group.com

A second pair of Miyano BNE-51MSY turn-mill centres from Citizen Machinery UK has been installed at contract machinist Unicut Precision of Welwyn Garden City. Joining two identical twin-spindle, twin-turret lathes with live tooling and a Y axis supplied at the end of 2017, the latest arrivals form the mainstay of efficient production for complex components used in the hydraulics industry, which accounts for a large proportion of Unicut’s business.

Unicut was established in 1990 by 24-year-old Jason Nicholson and a partner, who has since left the company, in a double garage in Barnet. Back then, the company had just £5000 to spend on second-hand manual and cam-controlled machines, but progressed to CNC turning in 1993. In 2017 the company diversified into prismatic machining with the purchase of a multi-pallet machining cell, followed quickly by a second. A third cell is now on order for delivery later in 2019, which will be a record year for capital investment at £2.3m.
Over the years, Nicholson has bought 104 CNC lathes, 93 of which were either Citizen Cincom sliding-head models or fixed-head lathes from Miyano, which merged with Citizen in 2011. Today, Unicut operates 22 Cincom lathes with up to 13 CNC axes, 80 cutting tools and 138 bar coolant pressure, as well as eight Miyano machines deploying up to 72 cutters. The machines are usually replaced every five-to-seven years, to take advantage of the high residual value of the lathes at that age.
While turning machines have been sourced mainly from this supplier, each purchase is rigorously analysed by Nicholson with respect to machine cost and achievable cycle times to ensure lowest cost per part and the most rapid return on investment. Ease of machine integration and use, and the desired quality of component, are also paramount considerations. Additionally, prompt provision of service is an important deciding factor.

In 1999, the first Cincom sliding-head lathe was delivered to Unicut, a 12 mm bar auto, and within a year three more were installed, followed three months later by a 32 mm model. The first Miyano appeared on the shop floor in 2002. The CNC lathes replaced cam-controlled turning machines, which had all gone by 2003. CNC equipment was by then achieving similar cycle times to cam-type lathes, with the added advantages of higher quality and unattended running, including overnight, leading to much higher profitability.
To distinguish Unicut from other subcontractors, Nicholson decided early on to adopt a different business model by approaching OEMs, analysing their main cost drivers, investigating the possibility of re-engineering components for more efficient production, establishing desired cycle times, identifying machine tools needed to produce parts within those times, and then proposing to make the required capital investments, subject to the manufacturer’s commitment to a fixed-term contract. Strategic supplier status is what Unicut seeks in its business relationships with customers, and 80% of throughput at the Welwyn Garden City factory is produced on this basis.
For machining larger diameter parts, a 51 mm capacity Miyano costs about the same as a top-end 32 mm Cincom sliding-head model. Unless a high component length-to-diameter ratio dictates otherwise, Nicholson prefers the fixed-head option based on a number of factors, including rigidity, thermal stability, value for money and speed. Bar capacity is greater, offering more flexibility; spindle power is higher, leading to increased productivity; cycle times are comparable; access is easy for setting up, despite the compact machining area; and the Mitsubishi control supports superimposed machining whereby three tools can be in cut at the same time, a facility regularly used at the Welwyn Garden City facility for elevated levels of productivity.

Once a BNE-51MSY is set, Nicolson says that it will produce a run of say 1000 components to very high accuracy without having to touch the machine by the simple expedient of including macros in the program to offset tools automatically after a predetermined number of parts have been produced. Tolerances down to ±2 µm can be held and surface finish is described as impeccable. He favours the Mitsubishi CNC system fitted to Miyano and Cincom lathes due to its flexibility and ease of operation using the drop-down menus and comprehensive graphical support. Citizen’s
off-line Alkart Wizard software helps to ensure jobs quickly enter production. However,
for larger production runs, time can generally be cut from a cycle by tweaking the program at the control.
Citizen’s operating system in the CNC system fitted to one of Unicut’s Cincom sliders features patented LFV (low frequency vibration) software that operates in two CNC axes simultaneously, allowing stringy swarf to be broken into shorter chips of a length to suit the material being cut and the swarf conveyor. The feature is popular with operators, as it enables uninterrupted production without having to stop the lathe due to ‘bird nests’ clogging the workpiece and tools.
Citing a 320 stainless steel part that was previously impossible to run unattended, even during the day yet is now routinely left to run lights-out with LFV, Nicholson says: “The feature is easy to use and does not require any special skill set. The software can be switched on and off, either manually or within a program, and parameters can be adjusted. It is especially good for processing plastics unattended, as well as other difficult-to-machine metals such as Duplex and titanium. It just works.”
In conclusion, he shares his thoughts on the current buoyancy of the subcontract machining sector due to the weakness of the pound against overseas currencies. This factor has cut 20% from the price of components that Unicut exports and boosted turnover, despite raw material, and indeed the equipment on which to machine it being more expensive. The firm’s first order from China
was delivered in August this year and exports overall currently account for 40% of turnover, up from 10 to 30%
in previous years.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk