UK NEWS

Transforming production capabilities with Hanwha

Machined Component Systems (MCS) is a subcontract machining specialist with a reputation for delivering precision components to sectors including automotive, petrochemical, environmental, transport technologies, marine, healthcare and white goods. Founded by Warren Gray’s father, MCS has been under Warren’s leadership for the past decade. During that time, the company has transformed from a traditional engineering firm into a sophisticated manufacturing hub, a move made possible with investment in the latest manufacturing technologies, including three Hanwha sliding-head turning centres from Dugard.

By 2022, MCS faced a critical decision regarding its sliding-head capability.

“We’d had some very good sliding-head machines from another manufacturer over a number of years,” says Warren. “Those machines were beginning to age, so we went out to three or four sliding-head manufacturers with the same suite of parts. We asked them to tender and provide a complete turnkey proposal for those components, and Dugard won.”

The selection process was not simply about specifications or price comparisons; Warren insisted on a comprehensive evaluation that would reveal real-world capabilities.

“Dugard invited us down to Brighton. I took my lead setter and a senior sliding-head machine setter. The three of us spent the whole day reviewing Dugard as a company and looking at the Hanwha machines in action. On the back of the quotation provided, they won our business.”

The company now has three Hanwha machines, the XD20II-V NHY, XD26II-V NHY and XD38II-R NHY. These six-axis turning centres have a diameter capacity from 20 to 38 mm with an ability to turn parts up to 545 mm long.

Warren’s assessment of the partnership is overwhelmingly positive: “The Hanwha machines are very good machine tools and we’re extremely happy.”

More information www.dugard.com

Sliding-head Lathe Cuts Tungsten 12 Hours a Day

Achieving 10% year-on-year growth in global sales since the start of the decade has prompted First Light Lamps to replace some of the 1980s- and 1990s-built turning machines at its Ely, Cambridgeshire factory with two new models that are more reliable, capable, productive and accurate.

Two legacy Miyano fixed-head lathes and a Cincom sliding-head turning centre have been removed to make room for two modern Cincoms, which were delivered in May this year by Citizen Machinery UK. The lathes will not only machine all the electrodes and connectors previously produced by the three old Citizen lathes but, when they are fully on-stream, will also allow the 10% of components currently outsourced to be manufactured in-house.

The smaller of the two new Cincoms, a 12 mm bar capacity L12-VIILFV, is devoted to machining lamp electrodes from lanthanated tungsten bar, 1.5 to 2 m long, of various diameters between 2.8 and 9.5 mm. The job was previously performed by two of the old Miyano fixed-head lathes, which were purchased second-hand in 2004 when First Light Lamps was founded. It is notable that, being of 34 mm bar capacity, they were deliberately over-specified in terms of size to gain the rigidity of a bigger production platform for machining the tough material.


There are 500 designs of electrode and a similar number for connectors, which underlines the need for machining to be wholly controlled in-house, as well as lamp assembly.


Says company director Paul Walker: “Our new, highly capable Citizen lathes, despite being fewer in number than previously, produce four times more connectors during our day shift, as well as all of our electrodes, many of which we were previously having to buy in.”

More information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Islander Milestone

Britten-Norman, manufacturer of the iconic Islander aircraft, has reached a major milestone in the company’s programme to bring full aircraft production to its Bembridge facility on the Isle of Wight. Supported by new investment and a wide-ranging transformation initiative, Britten-Norman has completed more than 50% of the first new UK-built Islander’s assembly while expanding its workforce and modernising the company’s facilities. Wing assembly of the first UK-built Islander is expected to be finished later this year, with final assembly scheduled for early 2026 ahead of first delivery in spring 2026.

More information www.britten-norman.com

HyFlux & AMRC to Create Clean Aviation Cooling

Clean tech company HyFlux is collaborating with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to create a groundbreaking cryogenic cooling system designed specifically for hydrogen-electric aircraft.The Swansea-based company will head up the new £1.5m project, named SUPERCOOL, aimed at enabling the lightweight, high-efficiency cooling required for superconducting motor operation in zero-emission propulsion systems. HyFlux will be overseeing project delivery, system architecture, and commercial strategy. The AMRC will support engineering validation and integration.

More information www.amrc.co.uk

Team UK gathers medals on road to Shanghai

Team UK has reached an important milestone in its journey of skills development and international competition in preparation for next year’s ‘skills Olympics’ in Shanghai, with a bronze medal and five medallions for excellence awarded in the process. The Industry 4.0 bronze medal was awarded to Caolan McCartan from Newry and Patrick Sheerin from Portadown, who train at Southern Regional College and work for Pronto Engineering Group and AJ Power respectively. In addition, Thomas Ankers from Wrexham, who trains at Coleg Cambria and works for Electroimpact, won a medallion for excellence in CNC milling.

More information www.worldskillsuk.org