Burnett & Hillman has become a ‘brand name’ in its role as a major manufacturer of hydraulic adaptors and associated fittings that it supplies into around 90% of the world’s countries with a known customer base that exceeds 1000 names.
In addition, parts are sold through significant numbers of distributors and stockists. The company’s standard range includes over 4500 different machined parts, of which 99% are held in stock for next-day delivery. While its machine shop processes some 40,000 components a day, consuming 200 tonnes of mild steel a month, these contribute to a massive year-on-year tally of over 10 million individual machined parts, of which a quarter are exported.
Nestling in the Somerset village of Wrington, this family-owned business still uses multi-spindle automatics to meet its larger volumes. However, for smaller demands and batch sizes, typically from 1 to 250, a progressive addition to the production capability has been the installation of turn-mill centres, including five Miyano multi-axis machines from Citizen Machinery UK.
Following the reliable and consistent performance capability obtained from the first 12-axis Miyano ABX-51TH3 fixed-head turn-mill centre with two spindles and three all-driven 12-station tool turrets, three further smaller capacity Miyano BNA-42GTY machines arrived in 2015 and 2017, while in October 2018, the fourth BNA-42GTY was commissioned. The company has invested some £500,000 over the past two years.
Says general manager Dan Burnett: “We face ever increasing demands for non-standard parts, smaller batches and in-house store top-ups. Due to the demanding specification requirements of customers, quality is the prime requisite, followed by delivery.”
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk
