This year is year seven of the Productivity Share Scheme (PSS7) run by KMF Precision Sheet Metal. The scheme pays out an annual bonus to any employee who spots an opportunity for cost saving within the KMF Group. It concentrates on the seven key areas of waste: over-production, inventory, transport, process, idle time, operator motion and quality.
A total of 194 employees contributed to the cost-saving scheme this year, resulting in total PSS7 savings for the KMF Group of £530,589.26.
PSS7 is also unique in that it is the first-time KMF Precision Sheet Metal has extended this project across the group to include KMF Precision Engineering. This year’s taster scheme resulted in £31,793.20 worth of savings from 30 contributors. Since 2013, the productivity share scheme has saved KMF over £1.8m and significantly increased efficiency and productivity within the company’s sheet metal fabrication service.
For further information www.kmf.co.uk

Oil mist collector manufacturer Filtermist has invested in an ABB robot for its welding department as part of the company’s continuous improvement policy. The investment follows sustained global growth which saw Filtermist’s sales increase by 23% last year.
The robot has been installed to TIG weld internal drums and outer cases. Here, cylindrical steel blanks are positioned on a turntable inside a dedicated welding cell, and the robot applies the weld while the table rotates.
For further information www.filtermist.com

Bromford Industries, a specialist manufacturer of aero engine and landing-gear components for the global aerospace supply chain, is in the process of installing nine Okuma MU-6300V mill-turn centres at its Birmingham factory. The Japanese-built, five-axis, vertical-spindle machines are suited to volume production of nickel-alloy aero-engine parts to tight tolerances. The machine-tool order, placed on Okuma’s UK agent NCMT, is valued at £7m. Seven of the machines have already been installed and are producing components, with the remaining two due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2017.
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

Over a series of four open days, XYZ Machine Tools introduced its new five-axis machining centre to more than 140 visitors from 75 companies, with two of the days being dedicated to customers who had approached XYZ directly for a pre-launch preview of the machine.

“The response to these events has been extremely encouraging, and the positive feedback that we received confirms we’ve taken the correct decision to target the higher end of the five-axis market, in terms of machine technology, with the UMC-5X,” says Nigel Atherton, managing director. “Over and above the interest in the five-axis machine, the response to the open days has been fantastic, especially the final day at Nuneaton. Without doubt they have been the best events we have ever held, with 31 machines sold valued at just over £1m, excluding UMC-5X sales.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

GF Machining Solutions will be launching its CUT P series of wire EDM machines for the first time to UK and Irish audiences at its open house this week (9-11 May). The new CUT P range will replace the company’s CUT Sp and CUT mS series of wire EDM machines.
There are four sizes of machine in the CUT P series; the CUT P 550 will feature at the open house, which offers an X axis of 550 mm.
For further information www.gfms.com/uk