When it comes to machining turned parts, there are very few companies with the experience, prestige and capabilities of HPC Services. As an industry leader, when Ilkeston-based HPC specifies new fixed-head CNC turning centres, it turns to the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) and its Nakamura-Tome brand.

Established in 1997 with a single sliding-head lathe, the BTMA member now has 10 sliding heads and eight fixed-head machines.Along with sister company Hemlock Engineering, the two companies have more than 80 staff and 45 CNC machine tools. This is why HPC Services and Hemlock Engineering claim to be one of the largest subcontract organisations in the East Midlands.

Typically producing batches from 200 to 2000-off on its fixed-head machines and larger runs on its sliders, HPC Services holds upwards of £1m of stock components for its multitude of long-term customers to ‘call off’ at any point. With the majority of its machine tools operating at a 92% spindle uptime, when stock depletes below a certain level, the company recognises the need to invest in new machines to meet customer demand. So, with stock levels diminishing in line with increased customer demand and the company witnessing a period of significant growth, HPC required more capacity.The answer was a Nakamura-Tome WT150II-F turning centre that arrived in May 2023.

Discussing why the company specified a twin-spindle twin-turret Nakamura-Tome WT150II-F, HPC Services managing director Paul Cobb says: “The Nakamura is the ultimate subcontractor’s machine. It is fast, powerful and productive, but above all else, it’s an extremely flexible machine. That’s what you need when you don’t know what job is coming through the door next.”

The ISO9001 manufacturer now has six Nakamura machines, alluding to which, Cobb continues: “We’ve had Nakamura machines for over 20 years; they never let us down. We had three Nakamura machines and, when the brand underwent a significant upgrade over 10 years ago, we bought a new WT150 machine.Its enhanced capabilities and speed enabled it to replace two of the previous Nakamura models. The major upgrades at that time were a move from worm to tang drives, which increased the rigidity of the axes and milling capabilities. Nakamura also introduced a new control and software system. From that point, we bought another three WT150II-F machines, a WT100 and a smaller single-spindle, single-turret Nakamura AS200.

Nestled between Derby and Nottingham, the subcontractor manufactures everything from high-end kitchen and bathroom taps and ancillaries, through fire suppression systems, camera and scientific devices, to hydraulic components for the rail industry. Primary materials machined include brass, stainless steel and aluminium.

Discussing the variation of parts manufactured, Cobb says: “Our sliders produce small components, while the Nakamura machines are dedicated to larger parts. However, when it comes to machining small stainless parts, we move these to the Nakamuras. The Nakamuras are more powerful and robust, which results in higher cutting speeds and feeds, better surface finishes and extended tool life. Although sliders will be inherently faster than fixed-head machines, the ability to use larger more rigid tools on the Nakamuras, along with the flexibility to machine any part with multiple tools cutting simultaneously, is fantastic. Furthermore, this stability and versatility means we can get jobs off the machines in one hit and, by using the Hydrafeed Rota-Rack system on the WT150II-F machines, we can run the machines unmanned over the weekends.”

Regarding the seamless installation of the most recent Nakamura WT150II-F, Paul adds: “We have our Nakamura machines set-up with the programs and tools ready to run. All our tools are stored on shelves with the pre-sets, so they are ready to go. This means that any time a repeat job arrives, we have the program and tools set. It may be more costly from a tooling perspective, but it drastically reduces set-ups and changeovers. We can have some pretty complex jobs set up and running in less than an hour, and this system of operating also works when new machines arrive. For example, the latest Nakamura WT150II-F was up and running within hours of it being commissioned.”

The bank of Nakamura machines now runs for 18 hours a day during manned shifts and the remaining six hours of the day unmanned. The new Nakamura WT150II-F that arrived in May has run 18 hours a day, five days a week since it landed on the shop floor.

“The Nakamura’s are fantastic,” states Cobb.“We had space under a staircase for a smaller machine and bought a Nakamura AS200 single-spindle machine. Even that has been running around the clock since it came. In fact, we keep our WT150 and WT100 machines for bar-fed work and the smaller AS200 is used for 3-4 inch billet jobs.”

Looking to the future, Cobb concludes: “We’re about to launch a new milling company called Skyblade for high-volume automated milling and we also want a dedicated facility for our Nakamura machines. We are confident that, with our growth trajectory, we’ll have 10 and maybe more Nakamura machines soon.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com