UK NEWS

Nikken CEO becomes MTA acting president

Nikken CEO and president Tony Bowkett is the latest acting president of the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA). With more than 30 years of experience as managing director and founder of Nikken Kosakusho Europe, Bowkett is responsible for the success of the company’s activities, including multiple subsidiaries within the Nikken Europe Group thattogether operate in excess of 23 countries. He says: “During my presidency, I would like to make it my mission to engage with MTA members and represent their best interests on local, national and international platforms.”
For further information www.mta.org.uk

Automation supports contract machinist’s growth

Contract machining specialist Unicut Precision Engineering of Welwyn Garden City reportsan increase in annual turnover from £3m in 2016 to £8m currently, underpinned by investment of £1.7m in new production and inspection equipment over the past two years.
Around half of this investment went on two more Cincom sliding-head lathes and two additional Miyano fixed-head lathes from Citizen Machinery UK, bringing the totals of the bar-fed lathes on site to 24 and 11 respectively. The remaining funds supported the purchase of three new items of inspection equipment and an extension to the automatic pallet storage and retrieval system, linking three five-axis machining centres on site.

Regarding turning, which currently accounts for 85% of Unicut’s turnover, Jason Nicholson, owner and managing director, says that standardisation on Citizen lathes with their user-friendly, intuitive Mitsubishi controls greatly helps to mitigate the current shortage of skilled setter-operators. Use of this CNC system throughout the factory also speeds the training of staff and allows operators to swap easily between machines.

Programs are normally prepared offline with Esprit CADCAM and via Citizen Machinery’s own Alkart CNC Wizard programming aid. The latter guides operators through creation of part programs with the help of a built-in code library for machining processes, reducing the amount of time spent typing in G and M codes and consulting manuals or other programs.

Unicut’s latest turning centre additions are two 65 mm bar capacity Miyano BNE-65MYY models, each featuring a pair of Y-axis turrets and the latest Mitsubishi 15-inch touchscreen control. These machines joined five smaller fixed-head lathes in the same series to form a seven-machine cell for producing hydraulic and pneumatic components in volumes up to 10,000-off.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Lontra takes advantage of ‘green’ machine tools

There is an unusual parallel between a new, low-pressure air compressor (blower) manufactured by entrepreneurial British firm Lontra and the Japanese-built turn-mill centre from Okuma that machines one of the fundamental components of the Lontra LP2. Both pieces of equipment are engineered to deliver maximum environmental sustainability during operation and both harness Industry 4.0 connectivity to make them even more efficient. Okuma’s UK and Ireland sales agent NCMT describes the multi-tasking turn-milling application.

An Okuma Multus B550 turn-milling centre performs finish-machining operations on the blower rotor, a high-value component critical to LP2 operation. Adrian Pratt, manufacturing engineer at Lontra, says: “We approached NCMT for a turnkey solution. There are not many factories globally that have the machinery or skillset to manufacture a part like this. The Okuma is a very clever, multi-tasking machine that has the size, robustness and technology to machine our large, heavy rotors accurately and repeatably in fewer set-ups. The repeatability aspect is very important as we need to keep all the rotational parts concentric.”

He continues: ” We can machine multiple features in one go on the Multus B550, allowing us to meet the high drawing tolerances by avoiding repeated re-fixturing of the rotor. Without this advanced equipment, we would need 10 operations to complete the rotor component. With the aid of Okuma machinery, we’ve successfully reduced the number of operations by half, further cementing our commitment to lean, smart and sustainable manufacturing practices and continual improvement.”

Greig Underwood, NCMT’s regional sales manager, adds: “What interests me about this installation is the alignment between Lontra and Okuma in their commitment to sustainable manufacturing practices, as well as their shared focus on energy-saving designs for their respective product solutions.”
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

College hosts landmark Haas facility

West Nottinghamshire College (WNC) has become the UK’s first Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, bringing a major investment in engineering facilities and training programmes for students, apprentices and employers.The link-up will see the college awarded £500,000 to develop its engineering facilities and employer-focused curriculum, aimed at growing the number of skilled manufacturers in the local area and beyond.

The money will fund improvements to the college’s Engineering Innovation Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield, by remodelling the building to dedicate a larger area of its groundfloor to manufacturing, automation and robotics. WNC will also construct a new mezzanine floor containing classrooms overlooking the existing open-plan workshop space.In addition, the college will rebrand the building, which currently boasts six Haas CNC machines used by engineering students and apprentices, as the Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing.
For further information www.wnc.ac.uk

Biggest ever Design & Make Challenge

The UK’s biggest independent STEM event crowned four winners last week in a competition that attracted more than 80 pupils keen to get an insight into engineering. Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, Great Wyrley Academy, John Taylor High School and Lawrence Sheriff High School took the prizes at the Design & Make Challenge 2023, the largest ever staged by the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN).The Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 students split up into teams of four to design, test and build an aircraft using just a box of simple materials and a selection of hand tools.
For further information www.man-group.co.uk