The decision to invest in machining capacity by Rugby-based SiFab Engineering Solutions was driven by a desire to be able to control deliveries to customers, as well as manufacturing costs. However, with no formal machining training, and limited floor space, company director Simon Hall had to choose his machine tools wisely.

Hall turned to friend and business acquaintance Phil Boffin of BMS Engineering, who had gone down the same route in starting his own business, for advice. “I had used Phil for some tube work for roll cages, so knew he had invested in XYZ machines. On his advice I went along to an XYZ open day at Nuneaton with the intention of looking at a lathe. After having a ‘play’ on a couple of machines, I placed an order there and then for an XYZ SLX 1630 ProTurn lathe and an XYZ 2-OP machining centre.”
The two machines were delivered to SiFab at the end of November 2017 and, once installed, Hall went for his free training on a Friday. Come Monday morning he was producing and shipping his first parts. The conversational aspect of the ProtoTrak control on both machines made generating the first parts easy.
“I produce lots of one-off and prototype parts, and while I am confident that the first-off will be right using the Traking facility on the SLX lathe, it is also straightforward to make amendments when the customer changes things,” says Hall. “The further advantage is that I haven’t waited two weeks for a subcontractor to make these parts and been charged the earth for them.”
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