UK NEWS

JR Gilbert acquires Bryn Precision

A six-figure funding package from the Royal Bank of Scotland has helped to support the acquisition of Bryn Precision (formerly SZ Gears) by Caerphilly-based firm JR Gilbert Engineering. Since a management buy-in that took place in 2012, directors Nick Robbins and Colin Beavis have expanded the business significantly from employing three staff to 33, while turnover has risen from £240,000 to £1.5m in the past five years.

The acquisition of Bryn Precision has secured six jobs and resulted in the recruitment of two new members of staff. Operating from a 10,000 sq ft site in Blackwood, Bryn Precision not only expands the JR Gilbert Engineering business but strengthens its offering with the addition of a niche gear-cutting facility. JR Gilbert now has the ability to produce a range of gears, sprockets, splines, rack and pinion sets.
For further information www.rbs.co.uk/corporate

New face at Master Fluid Solutions

Business in Europe is booming for Master Fluid Solutions and the company is underpinning this growth by expanding its sales team.

The first appointment in this wave of investment is Steve Busby, who joins the company’s European team as business development manager, UK. A qualified engineer, Busby joins Master Fluid Solutions from Oxford Flow, a designer and manufacturer of pressure-control equipment based on technology developed at Oxford University. His base will be Master Fluid Solutions’ European sales headquarters at Needham Market.
For further information www.masterfluidsolutions.com

Aerospace gear specialist brings EDM in-house

Aldershot-based FT Gearing supplies the global defence and aerospace sectors with gears, miniature gearboxes and safety-critical components for wing-surface actuators, engine controls, instrumentation and fuel pumps. Many years ago, the manufacturer tried broaching the bore profiles in steel worm shafts to transmit the drive to thrust reversers, but the length-to-diameter ratios were too high and the tools broke frequently.

So the company put the work out to a wire EDM subcontractor in the Midlands. The service was expensive, partly because the firm needed to have Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defence Contractors Accreditation Program) approval, which is a requirement of primes such as Boeing and Airbus, as well as tier-one aerospace companies, all of which FT Gearing supplies.
Today, the situation has been turned on its head following the arrival over an 18-month period of three Makino wire EDM machines at an FT Gearing satellite facility close to the company’s main facility. The machines were supplied by NCMT, UK agent for the Japanese machine builder. Within six months of the first arriving, the gear specialist had gained Nadcap approval, while the latest EDM machine installed mid-2017 provides capacity for internal development projects and a subcontract wire-EDM service.
Managing director Graham Fitzgerald, who started the business with his father Des in 1978, says: “We chose U3 wire eroders from Makino after we employed a skilled EDM machinist that has a lot of experience operating machines of the same make and rates them highly. He says that ISO programming on the Fanuc-based control is far easier than on some other EDM machines that employ two languages; the macros are simpler to create and operations like rotation and mirror imaging are straightforward.”
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

Top safety accreditation for Erodex

Erodex (UK) Ltd, which provides a range of EDM supplies such as EDM wire and wear parts, as well as graphites, graphite machining and more, has been awarded accreditation from Alcumus SafeContractor for achieving excellence in health and safety in the workplace.

Alcumus SafeContractor is a third-party accreditation scheme which recognises rigorous standards in health and safety management among contractors, and is used by thousands of organisations in the UK, including SMEs and FTSE 100 companies.
The company’s application for SafeContractor accreditation was driven by the need for a uniform standard across the business. SafeContractor accreditation will enhance the ability of Erodex to win new contracts, and its commitment to safety will be viewed positively by its insurers when the company liability policy is up for renewal.
Gemma Archibald, director of Alcumus SafeContractor says: “Major organisations simply cannot afford to run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies in place. More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that Erodex has done. The firm’s high standard has set an example which hopefully will be followed by other companies within the sector. SafeContractor plays a vital role in supporting our clients in meeting their compliance needs, while working with their contractors as they progress through the accreditation process.”
For further information www.erodex.com

Fanuc puts spring in the stride of toolmaker

Redditch-based Vulco Spring & Presswork, which manufactures electrical installations, brackets, clips, clamps, flanges and wire-formed parts, has invested in a Fanuc Robocut C400iB EDM machine to help produce press tooling for its multi-forming machines and 20-70 tonne power presses “We have older EDM machines on-site but we’ve been struggling to locate the spare parts for these machines,” says production engineer Joseph Draper.

“Reviewing the market for a new EDM, the high-speed automatic wire feed on the Fanuc Robocut C400iB was one of the main reasons we bought the machine. This system will automatically feed the wire through a start hole and then the CNC program will begin to cut the job. Afterwards, this automatic feature will cut the wire, move to the next datum point and then process the next feature or hole. The machine will automatically continue to
process hole after hole, or
shape after shape.
“Previously, we had to manually feed the wire at the start point, start the machine and upon completion we’d cut the wire and move the workpiece or wire to the next point,” he adds. “What this gives us is the ability to leave the EDM work for significantly longer periods without intervention. Furthermore, we can leave the machine to run through the night unmanned and arrive in the morning to finished parts.”
For a manufacturer less familiar with the opportunity for unmanned operation or lights-out production, the Fanuc Robocut C400iB assures the end user with its automatic repair system, which will automatically repair the wire and continue production
For further information www.fanuc.eu