THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Howells on track forsuccess with ITC

Founded in 1946 as a radio and TV repair shop, Howells Railway Products has travelled a long way since its early days. Today the company has an extensive list of marque clients that include household names like Siemens, Network Rail, Alstom, Transport for London, Bombardier, Babcock Rail and others. To work at the cutting edge of technology, Howells Railway Products has added a new 40,000 sq ft CNC machine shop with 26 Haas machine tools and cutting tools from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC).

The company has worked with ITC since 2018. A recent project saw ITC introduce the Widia line of indexable cutting tools with modular drills and high-feed shell mills on CLA3 alloy steel castings (end bracket components for rail stretcher bars).

A 63 mm Widia M8065HD face mill set about removing 6 mm of excess casting stock in a single pass as part of a facing and shoulder milling process. With the previous high-feed face mill removing material at a rate of 1mm per pass, the M8065HD significantly improved cycle time.

Always looking to take productivity gains to the next level, ITC then introduced the benefits of aBig Kaiser system to the end bracket components, helping to produce an 88.1mm diameter bore at a depth of 65mm. Previously performed using a 50mm diameter indexable shell mill helical interpolating inside the bore, the process took 3 minutes 30 seconds.

The idea to change the process from helical interpolation to a plunging application paid dividends using a Big Kaisertwin-bore tooling system (SW rough boring head). Howells Railway Products runs the twin-bore head at 542rpm and 81mm/min feed rate, reducing the cycle time by 2 minutes 50 seconds per part.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

ASG Group championsapprenticeships

ASG Group, a Manchester-based manufacturer supplying detail parts and tooling to OEMs, risk-sharing partners (RSPs) and associated supply chains, has taken on a new cohort of manufacturing apprentices in partnership with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry.By partnering with the MTC, ASG Group is able to offer its apprentices access to state-of-the-art facilities and training from experienced industry professionals.

The decision to take on these apprentices is an important step for both ASG Group and the wider UK manufacturing industry. With the sector facing a shortage of skilled workers, investing in apprenticeships is crucial to ensuring a sustainable future for manufacturing in the UK. By recruiting these apprentices, ASG Group is doing its part to address the skills gap and secure its future workforce, with over 150 CNC machine tools, coupled with the latest technologies and cutting techniques.
For further information www.asg-group.co

Mapal expands in Poland

Mapal Narzędzia Precyzyjne (Mapal precision tools) in Poland has a new head office, havingacquired 5000 sq m premises in Komorniki, not far from the previous site in Poznań. The new site has modern office spaces, conference rooms and social areas, its own logistics and storage areas,and a well-equipped showroom for customers. Mapal has invested around €2m in the facility.The company employs 72 people in Poland, including 31 engineers.

Dr Jochen Kress, president of the Mapal Group, says: “Our business in Poland has developed brilliantly over the past 25 years. Demand for our products has steadily increased and it makes us proud that we’re taking on a leading role as a tool supplier and service provider in Poland, especially in the area of tool management. Of course, we also owe this to our competent team on site, which takes excellent care of our customers and ensures the smooth running of the manufacturing processes.”
For further information www.mapal.com

Bystronic provides retail therapy for Crown

Founded in the late 1990s, Crown Manufacturing has evolved into a true manufacturing success story, overcoming adversity and growing to become a business with a presence at two locations in Somersetand a team of over 60 staff. Bystronic has travelled this journey with Crown Manufacturing almost since its inception.

Disaster struck the business in 2018 when a fire caught hold of the paint department, creating catastrophic damage. However, one thing that the fire did provide, was an opportunity to review processes, workflow and production equipment.

“The fire also gave us the realisation that we could work smarter with the people and suppliers that we have,” says Paul Read, works manager at Crown Manufacturing.

Since the fire, Crown Manufacturing has invested in three machines from Bystronic, the latest of which is a ByTube 130. This machine features a fully automatic set-up, bundle loading, six-axis control and high-speed and precision cutting that allows Crown Manufacturing to take on and efficiently complete high-quantity orders to a high standard.

“The tube laser takes away our dependency on a third-party supplier that we ended up struggling with,” states Read. “Integrating the ByTube 130 into our arsenal of machinery has been revolutionary, as it removes bottlenecks in the manufacturing process by allowing us to schedule and prioritise tube laser work in-line with due dates and urgency.”

In conclusion, Read says: “As much as the fire was a disaster, we bounced out of that to create far more productivity from being better organised. Having a new factory layout will help us to move onto the next level.”
For further information www.bystronic.co.uk

DNE Global range extended with LC4 model

TheEngineering Technology Group (ETG) says that the success of DNE Global fibre laser cutting technology has been phenomenal since its introduction to the UK last year. Now, ETG is extending the line-up with the arrival of the LC4. The latest high-quality cost-effective fibre laser cutting machine has a larger capacity and a host of features that reach beyond the smaller LC3 variant.

The new LC4 machine is suitable for a wide range of applications, from thin to thick sheets of steel, stainless steel, aluminium and non-ferrous metals. Delivering greater profit per part with its low investment level, comparatively low operating costs and low maintenance requirements, the LC4 is available in four variants: the LC4 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 with each of the four models signifying the respective laser power from 2 to 6 kW.

The LC4 can accommodate sheets up to 4 x 2 m with a cutting area of 4120 x 2110 x 100mm, and a maximum workpiece weight up to 1300kg. Depending upon the selected model and material in-cut, the LC4 can cut sheets from 5 to 20 mm thick at high speed and with a changeover time of just 27 seconds. The maximum positional speed in parallel axis X/Y is 100m/min with a maximum positional speed of 140m/min.

When it comes to precision, the new LC4 has a bilateral repeatability positioning of one axis (R) of 0.5mm,offering an average bilateral deviation of one axis (M) of 0.1mm with an edge detection precision level of ±0.5mm. Regarding footprint, the compact machine has a floor area of 13.1 x 6.4m with a height of 2.74m.
For further information www.engtechgroup.com