Established in 2003 as a subcontractor, Drury Precision Engineering started two years later to manufacture its own range of mainly aluminium motorcycle accessories for road and racing bikes, and now no longer takes on external machining work. The company sells its aftermarket bike components globally under the Evotech Performance brand. The past eight years have seen exceptional year-on-year growth in turnover that necessitated careful planning of production capacity on the shop floor to keep pace with demand.

A user since 2015 of 16,000 rpm, high-efficiency machining centres from Brother, supplied through sole UK and Ireland agent Whitehouse Machine Tools (WMT CNC), Drury has over the years used various manually operated, twin automatic pallet change (2APC) models of the three-axis, 30-taper, machines, of which only two remain. That is because, to raise throughput, the company decided in 2015 to transition to automated Brother production cells with the purchase of two five-axis Speedio M140X2s.

One featured a Brother 4 m Feedio vision-based, robotic component handling system, while the other was connected to a System 3R WorkPartner Plus storage and handling system accommodating 180 pallets.

Now the company has gone a step further along the automation route with the installation of a larger capacity Brother Speedio U500Xd1 five-axis machining centre offering pneumatically-operated zero-point pallet location, again served by a WorkPartner Plus storage and handling system, but this time for 60 heavy-duty pallets.

It proved so successful that a second, almost identical cell has been ordered for delivery in October 2024, complete with its own WorkPartner Plus, as sharing one storage system between the two machines would reduce unmanned running hours to below the required 14 hours per machine.

More information www.wmtcnc.com

Factory 33 was established in 2016 at Carterton, Oxfordshire, as a subcontract manufacturer of medium-to-large batches of components to fine tolerances in short leadtimes. The company processes an extensive variety of materials principally on machining centres and a CNC lathe from Hurco Europe.

Factory 33 invested initially in a Hurco VMX30Ti three-axis vertical machining centre with a 4^th-axis rotary table and a Hurco TM8i lathe, since when additional three- and five-axis VMCs have arrived on the shop floor.The most recent purchase is a Hurco VMX30UDi five-axis machining centre supplied with linear scales and through-spindle coolant as standard, as well as a 40-station magazine with swing-arm toolchanger. The direct-drive SK40, 15,000 rpm spindle can deliver 15 kW of power and travels are 763 x 508 x 520 mm. Control is via the proprietary WinMax 5 twin-screen CNC system.

Managing director Martin Krzywina says: “We love the Hurco control and especially its graphics. You can show not only solid models but also the toolpaths. It gives so much confidence when running five-axis programs.You can follow the actual cutting cycle in real time on the screen, so you always know where a tool is in the machining area, even if you cannot see it through the coolant.”

He is impressed by the coolant delivery system, which he says is one of the best he has ever seen, particularly as there is no loss in pressure irrespective of the coolant level in the tank. He also sings the praises of the direct-drive spindle on the five-axis machine, which produces surface finishes that he describes as “impeccable”.

More information www.hurco.co.uk