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Last month, MTD Magazine attended the Fritz Studer AG ‘Motion Meeting’ at its headquarters in Thun in Switzerland.

With 2018 being a record year, it was encouraging to hear the company report another positive set of results in 2019, but this event wasn’t a stakeholders meeting to discuss numbers, it was an introduction to a new brand design, new product enhancements and an overview of the company’s evolution.
Now Rhys Williams continues the story.
Reporting that 2019’s results were positive is somewhat of an understatement.

It was the third highest turnover in the cylindrical grinding company’s history.

With 34% of new machine sales being ‘new business’ Studer was quick to emphasise its growing market share and successful deviation across a host of industry sectors.

Before we go into the finer details on Studer’s Industry 4.0 journey and integrated manufacturing strategy, increased service offering, the maintenance and overhaul business, let’s first take a look at the new technology.
Like many innovation leaders, Studer has invested in additive manufacturing technology to enhance its product offering and at the event, this was presented in the guise of the Generation 2 version of the company’s WireDress® solution.

The enhanced WireDress® GEN 2 system is reported to incorporate 15 additively manufactured components that have been developed, designed and manufactured in-house.

By incorporating additive manufacturing into its product development and production, the new WireDress® GEN 2 has components that could not previously be machined.

For the end-user, the benefits have already proven evident.

Thanks to the new WireDress® GEN-2 the company has reduced cycle times for a hip-joint application in the medical sector by 70%.

This life cycle solution project was conducted with a customer in Biel, where ceramic components for use in mass spectrometers were form-ground to high precision levels in several grinding trials with the customer.

It’s claimed the new WireDress® GEN2 can improve productivity by 30%, reduce dressing times by 20% and eliminate wear on the dressing tool.

Furthermore, with an 8 degree left to right orientation, the WireDress® GEN2 can allows customers to create any profile with a single tool.
Looking to other innovations, Daniel Huber, CTO at Fritz Studer AG says: “You can expect a new product from Studer in a few months.”

Venturing into more detail on the new hydraulic synchronous tailstock, Daniel Huber says: “The hydraulics of the redesigned synchronous tailstock have been replaced by a servo drive with an electrical clamping function.

The repeatability and accuracy of the clamping force have been increased to the exact gram. An even lower contact pressure can now also be selected.”
The synchronous tailstock will provide 30mm more travel (from 90 to 120mm), allow automated fine adjustment, provide centre pressure and spring tension through the NC axis and it will include a pneumatic clamping chuck.
For customers that are planning to visit the GrindTec exhibition in Augsburg at the end of March, Studer engineers will be on hand to discuss both the synchronous tailstock, the new Generation 2 WireDress® and the arrival of a new ‘non-contact’ laser measurement system.

The new ‘non-contact’ laser measurement system will be on the S41 machine at GrindTec demonstrating how it can reduce measurement and checking times by more than 60%.
In a modern era where automation is a critical factor to success, Studer also discussed its easyLoad entry-level automation model.

Providing a low-cost option for feeding and removing parts to and from the grinding machine, the easyLoad is compatible with the S-thirty-three, S-thirty-one, S-twenty-two and S-forty-one machines.

Incorporating a portal loader system with V-gripper, the Studer easyLoad system is suitable for shaft components up to a length of 300mm and a gripper diameter of 4 to 30mm; it therefore covers the majority of parts produced on the machines.

The parts are supplied via a standardised, adjustable synchronised conveyor.

Studer also offers suitable solutions in collaboration with external suppliers with additional functions such as deburring, brushing or the re-measuring ground parts that can be offered for automation systems in the mid-range.
Studer claims there are no upper limits to automation solutions; and the company has implemented many different combinations of machines and technologies to deliver optimal solutions.

The company is now looking at additional functional solutions such as reading and marking codes on ground parts as well as sorting, measurement and match grinding.

In the USA, parent company United Grinding Group has developed the flexLoad loading system, a six-axis robot that can move into the machine on a seventh axis for workpiece changeover.

Currently available for the Studer S-thirty-three, S-thirty-one and S-forty-one in the USA, expect to see similar offerings in Europe in the near future.

The delegation at the event were also introduced to the progress that Studer is making with its digitalization strategy.

The company has four fundamental priorities that include Connectivity, Usability, Monitoring and Productivity.

Forming the digital pillars of the United Grinding Digital Solutions strategy, Stephan Stoll, COO of Fritz Studer AG says: “Digitalization is finding its way into production.

As a user of our own machines, we are also the internal customer, so to speak. We can support our developers with practical tests and suggestions for product improvements, from the user’s point of view.”
Taking this integration further, Studer has just made significant investments at its Steffisburg location with a major cubic production project successfully completed last year.

Stephen Stoll says “Technically harmonised milling centres allows automated, high-precision manufacturing of our key components”.

A further investment was also made in component production and this concerns the complete production of spindle shafts. Still says “We also want to maintain and develop our expertise and efficiency and increase our internal value added.”
The company has also incorporated smart manufacturing into its cutting tool management processes.

The entire life cycle of a tool is now digitally controlled and monitored. Each tool has digital marking by means of a chip or smart code and can be allocated to a preparation process, an order or a machine.

The control cabinet design and assembly process chain also holds potential, which can be optimised with digital support.
“Finally, digitalization is also finding its way into assembly”, says Stoll. Instead of using outdated drawings, the assembler drags the most recent data as a 3D representation directly onto the screen at the workstation and has optimal working documents.

Through a chat function, the employee can easily send questions and ideas for improvement to the relevant engineering department and create a short and direct feedback loop.

Whilst these are fascinating insights into how the company is increasingly integrating Industry 4.0 technologies into daily business functions, the downstream benefits to end-users are also increasingly evident.
With more automation solutions, more technology enhancements and now greater flexibility and production controls and efficiency on an internal basis, Studer is putting the customer at the forefront of every facet of its business.

Demonstrating this, in 2019, the company’s ‘Customer Care’ department was further developed with organisational changes.

From a business perspective, this clearly yielded results with machine overhauls and maintenance departments achieving a record turnover with double-digit growth.

Sandro Bottazzo, the CSO at Studer says: “Machine overhauls are an important business area for us and ideally complement our new machine business.

This means that our customers can have the complete range, from a new machine through to a machine overhaul, from a single source.”
The growth in ‘Customer Care’ department turnover has arrived from employing more service engineers, streamlining internal processes with Industry 4.0 processes, and nowhere is this more evident than the overhaul department.

The popularity, longevity and quality of a Studer machine is a given, but when the machine eventually gets tired, the Studer overhaul service has become a viable and popular option.

A machine overhaul turns an old machine into one that is as good as new.

Studer has been carrying out machine overhauls for 20 years and more than 25 employees are involved in giving machines and assemblies a new lease of life.

Over 400 machines have been completely overhauled to date, as have countless assemblies.

Irrespective of whether a machine or an assembly such as a spindle or tailstock, they all have one thing in common – an overhaul turns an ageing product to a quality and precision level that is comparable to that of a new machine. 

The industrial challenges
We can all sit and discuss the ‘state-of-the-industry’ and form an opinion, but companies like Studer have a knack of adapting to market conditions, adopting new processes, technology and strategies to continually evolve with considerable success.

The company acknowledged that customer segments developed very differently in 2019 compared to previous years.

In the automotive sector, in particular; market conditions were much more challenging than in 2018.

However, thanks to its broad diversification strategy, Studer was able to offset weaker market segments with stronger ones.

For example, the aviation industry was one of the segments that flourished in 2019.

Looking back over the last year, Sandro Bottazzo says “Our company has been well positioned in the aerospace customer segment for many years and we are a preferred supplier of many component manufacturers”.

Studer sees one key to its success is in its global customer-focused sales and service organisation.

This is also one of the reasons why the proportion of new customers was almost 40% last year.

Smaller markets for Studer, such as the UK, achieved a very good order intake in 2019 and this is largely due to the size of the UK’s aerospace industry.

The market share was also increased in the company’s home market of Switzerland.

As part of the Quickgrind Group of companies, Quick-vend is an industry benchmark in tool management systems; the company explained to us some of the points to consider before taking the next step in tool vending.

First and foremost, engineers need to look at their tool inventory procedures with a fresh pair of eyes and ask a number of pertinent and sometimes searching questions.

These questions include points such as: Is your tool availability secured?

Is your inventory reduced to a minimum?

Are repeat tooling orders generated automatically and on-time?

Do you value machine up-time and are you keen to reduce ‘squirrel’ stocks and wastage? 

Considering the above points, virtually all manufacturers without tool inventory management systems, will at some point have had, stock shortages or lost and misplaced stock.

This could well have led to a job that you needed to get out-of-the-door and you didn’t have the appropriate tooling available.

The result was probably inefficient production methods with ‘makeshift’ tooling or at worst, machines at a complete standstill, costing your business valuable production hours, extended lead-times and production bottlenecks.

Are these points resonating?

If these common errors are resonating with you and your business, then you certainly need to be looking at tool vending.

If you start to dig a little deeper, you can ask yourself some more searching questions; and these questions may highlight more inefficiencies in your tool management systems than you first thought. 

For example, are your staff guided easily and trouble-free to the stock location?

Is stock information and statistics available quickly and transparently?

Can a stock audit be carried out at any time at the push of a button?

Does your system regulate access to new and re-ground or remanufactured tools?

Does your system provide an automated supply chain and stock control?

Are you witnessing increasing costs associated with purchasing administration and do you implement accountability throughout the organisation for tool management? 

If you are already implementing tool management systems, does your system cover all of the above points?

If you are only considering or starting your tool management journey, this second set of questions not only tells you what you need to consider, it also identifies where your current inefficiencies may lay.
Tim Darch from Quickvend, gives MTD Magazine 10 good reasons to take control of your inventory management via a Quickvend solution.

He says: “The opportunities for best practice, sound inventory management and cost reduction potential are huge.

So, considering 10 good reasons to investigate vending, manufacturers should be conscious of the ability to provide secure 24/7 stock availability with a complete audit trail, the point-of-use convenience with low-cost multi-site and multi-device options, the reduction of stock-level administration, the elimination of unauthorised retrievals and usage tracking and ‘pay as you use’ inventory.

Our system also increases stock accuracy by identifying slow-moving or obsolete stock, it reduces purchasing costs with just one invoice per month, the reports can also be generated by user, job, cell or department.

The speed of issue reduces production down-time and it also eliminates satellite or ‘squirrel stocks’ that may be kept in personal lockers or tool boxes.

When you consider all of these factors, professional tool management systems like ours can deliver huge benefits and massive cost savings for your business.”

But with so many vendors in the marketplace, why chose a Quickvend solution?

Tim says: “Quickgrind’s robust, proven tool vending solutions are the solution to all the previously mentioned issues and more.

Once we’ve audited your tooling requirements and consumption levels, we can supply engineers with a fully stocked machine – as our range of machines can hold from 300 to over 1,680 individual tools.

The usage and stock levels are then automatically monitored, and replacement tools are sent-out before your stocks deplete.

Because your tooling inventory and usage levels are pre-determined, you regain complete control of your purchase administration time and costs.”
“In addition, our tool management systems are designed, built, tested and manufactured in the UK by our tool vending experts.

When engineers invest in our tool management systems, they are buying into the philosophy that we can fully service and support the products with confidence.

From a technical perspective, our systems are built and tested with security ‘front of mind’, and that is why we adopt secure Linux based software.

The device has the option of wired or mobile communication, but our preference for peace of mind is 4G, completely removing the system from the customers’ network.

We also have detailed web-based analytics available and remote access to diagnose machine issues if they ever arise.

The Quickvend system automatically reorders stocks and it works even when it is offline.

Some vending machines only function when they have an internet connection, but ours will work off-line and once a connection is re-established, it automatically uploads the vending transactions.”

To retain a position as a successful subcontract manufacturing business for more than 60 years is an achievement.

But, to be an industry leader and innovator, like Pope & Meads, is something that has required significant investment.

In the last three years, the company has invested in 8 new machine tools, all being optimised by cutting tools from ISCAR. 

The Hertford Company manufactures very high-quality components and assemblies for the aerospace, defence, medical, automotive and scientific instrument industries.

Differentiating its quality and precision from other subcontract companies, 50 employee Pope & Meads has an ISO Class 7 Clean Room as well as ISO: 9-20001 S-C: twenty-one and are working towards their AS: 9100 accreditation.

So, when the company invested in a Star S-R-32-J sliding head, Mazak 250-Q-S-M and three-hundred-M-Y turning centres plus two 4-axis Mazak V-C-N 430 A machining centres and three Hurco V-M-10s and a V-M-20 machining centre, in less than three years, it needed to ensure its cutting tools were capable of maximising the output on its new investments. 

Commenting upon this, Pope & Meads Director, David Williams says: “A few years ago, we set-up an engineering team with the specific remit of bringing a completely fresh approach to our facility to reduce waste, enhance quality and improve production methods.

This team has been instrumental in our improvements in efficiency and productivity, we had to change machining strategies – closely looking at how to reduce set-ups through workholding and tooling strategies to improve our throughput and quality.”

“We had been using ISCAR tooling for more than 6-years through a third-party supplier, but the supply chain was lacking the technical expertise to really deliver the changes we needed.

As a long-term user of ISCAR products, we knew the quality and diversity of the product ranges was beyond reproach, but it was the technical support we really needed to reap all the benefits of the cutting tools.

So, two years ago we went direct to ISCAR and we haven’t looked back since.”

By working directly with Birmingham based ISCAR, Pope & Meads had gained a ‘technical partner’ that invited the subcontractor to regular technical seminars to grasp an understanding of the latest innovations.

Supporting the seminars, ISCAR provided comprehensive training and support that importantly for Pope & Meads, included a complete review of machining strategies.

Recalling one of the first projects that ISCAR were involved with, David Williams says: “One of the first jobs ISCAR engineers were involved in, was a magnetically sensitive component for a high-precision electron microscope.

The large Swedish Iron billet is a regular job with a quantity of three-hunred-off per year and the ISCAR team initiated a change of tools that instantly reduced the roughing cycles from 3 hours to less than one.”

The microscope part required a tapered bore with an outer bore diameter of 200mm tapering at 30 degrees to an internal bore seat diameter of 46mm with a depth of 146mm.

The previous process required drilling and subsequent time consuming internal boring operations with depths of cut minimised to avoid disrupting the magnetic properties of the sensitive parts.

However, the ISCAR application team demonstrated their ingenuity by researching the magnetic properties of Swedish Iron and this enabled them to completely change the cutting parameters of the drilling process.

The 40mm indexable drill with ISCAR’s I-C-908 grade inserts was introduced with a massively increased feed rate.

Increasing the feed rates from 0.028 mm/rev to 0.1 mm/rev, the Mazak 250-Q-S-M turning centre increased the turret feed from 28 to 95 mpm.

This subsequently increased the Material Removal Rate from 35 cm3/min to over 120 cm3/min

The result was a cycle time reduction from 353 seconds per hole to 103 seconds – an entire four minutes per part.

Whilst this performance was undoubtedly impressive, it was a 15-percent insert cost reduction that was amplified by the fact that the new ISCAR I-C-nine-zero-eight inserts had 4-edges.

This was compared to the previous competitor product with 2-edges, and that further impressed from a financial standpoint.

Despite the combination of reduced cycle times, reduced tooling costs and economy being impressive; when combined with the increase in tool life – that was when the benefits became genuinely staggering.

The ISCAR drill outperformed its competitor by extending tool life from 15 to 25 parts per insert edge.

So, the ISCAR drill not only reduced cycle times by 4 minutes per part, it also reduced the cost per part by £3.75, a 70-percent saving.
However, the drill was only the first step to producing the internal bore.

Following the drilling operation, ISCAR introduced its ISO-Turn A-thirty-two-S boring bar with a CNMX insert geometry with ISCAR’s I-C-six-zero-fifteen grade.

Tasked with internally turning the 30 degree bore, the ISCAR application engineers increased the cutting speed from 130 to 160 mpm and the spindle speed from 460 to 560 RPM compared to the previous tool.

Increasing the Depth of Cut from 2mm to 2.42mm, the Material Removal Rate increased from 79 cm3/min to 120 cm3/min – once again outperforming the previous supplier.

To emphasise the benefits of the ISCAR boring line, for a batch of 26 parts the tooling cost was 10% lower, the cycle time was reduced by 39 hours from 123 to 84 and the cost reduction per batch equated to a saving of £1,940!

The combination of the ISCAR drill and C-N-M-X boring line is reducing machining times by 16 minutes per part, purely on the cone-shaped bore.

Reducing machining times and set-ups is a critical factor for Pope & Meads, as the company often works to part tolerances of plus-or-minus 3-microns with completed assemblies often having a plus-or-minus 5-micron tolerance.

Discussing the types of work undertaken at Pope & Meads and the emphasis on capacity, David Williams says: “Manufacturing high-precision parts and assemblies from nickel-iron, titanium, In-connell seven-one-eight and other challenging materials for aerospace and scientific projects, really isn’t the type of work you can subcontract out to external vendors.

Added to this, we are on 24/7 call-out for some of our customers, so sufficient capacity is critical to our success.

Along with the new machine tool investments, ISCAR has been instrumental in ensuring we can meet these capacity demands.”


The Benefits of a close relationship
“By developing a good working relationship with ISCAR, our engineering team is now looking to adopt ceramic tooling products for the first time.

During early trials, the new ISCAR ceramic turning lines are capable of increasing our machining speeds from 38mm/min to over 115mm/min when roughing in-connell 718.

This really is a ‘step-change’ in our machining strategies, something we wouldn’t have considered without the expert advice of ISCAR engineers.

We are still in the infancy with trails, but the results have been outstanding.”

Currently undergoing a trial phase on a scanning component for the semi-conductor industry, Pope & Meads is tasked with machining 336 parts per year, with volumes expected to rise to over 500 in subsequent years. 

By changing out the existing ISCAR CMNG 12047 TF IC-806 insert grade and replacing it with the ISCAR ISO-TURN RNGN 120700-T I-S-350 the performance improvements have initially been staggering.

ISCAR has increased the cutting speed from 191 to 573 R-P-M with a feed rate increase from 38 to 114.9 millimetres-per-minute.

This has reduced the machining time from 26 minutes to just over 8 minutes.

Furthermore, the double-sided ceramic insert grade is destined to reduce tooling costs whilst improving productivity rates.

ISCAR’s Area Sales Manager, Mr Dave Thompsell says: “Ceramic tooling requires a step-change in machining strategies and customers need to adopt completely new philosophies.

For example, Inconel seven-one-eight is generally machined with C-N-M-G insert grades at 40-50 meters-per-minute, we are applying ceramic button inserts at over 180 meters-per-minute with a feed rate of 0.25 millimetres-per-revolution.

It is these parameters that are creating the huge benefits for Pope & Meads.”

“As part of the machining strategy, we initially hit the part with a C-N-M-G insert to create an entry angle of 35 to 45 degrees.

This is because ceramic tooling is sensitive to impact and intermittent cutting.

We then radially enter the part with the ceramic button tool and during the cycle, we continually vary the depth of cut to prevent notching.

By introducing these strategies, we are witnessing huge productivity gains and we are excited about introducing additional new lines to this part, and many others at Pope & Meads.

Despite being a company that is over 60 years old, the refreshing approach to machining strategies and cutting tools will allow ISCAR to deliver significant benefits to this great company,”

The British have always been good at sports cars.

While high volume car brands like British Leyland and Austin Rover have been consigned to the history books, names like Morgan, Lotus, Caterham and Lister hold a global reputation for well-built, British, two-seated driving heaven.

Look deeper into the niche vehicle industry and you will find far more than a handful of car makers with a racing pedigree, however.

From the micro, carbon fibre-framed Axon Automotive concept car to Jaguar Classic Works, the spin-off firm rebuilding classic Jaguars from the 1960s onwards.

These include the X-K-S-S and E-types, and some new electric sports car models, UK niche automotive is an inventive, fluid and exciting sub-sector of manufacturing.

Automotive body SMMT, The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says the specialist car manufacturing sector is worth £3.6 billion p/a and employs over 11,000 people.

The segment is also both preserving craft skills and investing in new technology, such as the switch to electrification and new methods of forming and bonding metal alloys and wood to keep weight down and allow higher speeds.

Racing car company Lister manufactures replication two-seater sports cars using the same machines, tooling and even some of the same people as the original company founded by Brian Lister in 1954. Who said engineers want to retire?

David Brown Automotive or D-A-B in Silverstone hand-builds exquisite and throaty coupés, with an Aston Martin pedigree but with US-Chevvy Corvette style grunt.

The Speedback GT Silverstone has a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 that can produce 601bhp.

Each car is built using thousands of man-hours of labour and prices start from an eyebrow-raising £600,000, reaching north of £750,000 for the fully specced Speedback GT Silverstone Edition.

D-A-B also makes reproduction original Minis, and the new Mini Remastered O-selli Edition is its latest model.

The Minis cost around £75,000 and are currently popular with Japanese and Hong Kong buyers, who the company says “have a fondness for high quality British, especially English, products,” There are no public plans for an electric powertrain version.

Cars made by Morgan Motor Company are the quintessential English two-seater classic sports car.

Morgan is 110-years old and still builds its cars from the same workshops, built on a hill, in The Malvern Hills in Worcestershire.

It currently produces five models, from the £82,000 flagship Morgan Plus Six with a CX-Generation aluminium platform, 3.0 litre turbocharged BMW engine / eight-speed automatic, to the 3-wheeler with 2.0 litre V-twin S&S engine, which sells for around £40,000.

Production in 2020 is forecast for between 900 and 1,000 units.

Morgan has developed bonding technology to house powerful engines in the strongest but lightest chassis.

The aluminium platform is bonded and riveted in a method perfected over decades, then the ash wood frame is bonded to this and finally “superformed” panels are placed over the frame.

The aluminium chassis has double the stiffness of the Aero 8 model but is much thinner, reducing weight to a tiny 97kg.

The head of marketing Toby Blythe, says, “At Morgan skilled craftspeople apply time-honoured techniques, and natural materials such as ash wood and leather, but at the same time, you’ll find bonded aluminium platforms, superformed panels, BMW powertrains and 3D printing.

The Plus Six, launched in 2019, represented a new era for Morgan, and has received a glowing reception and increased demand. 2020 marks a very important year for Morgan too – it sees the end of our steel chassis, as well as the launch of an all-new model.”
Electric switch

A large stake in Morgan was sold to Italian investor Investindustrial in 2019.

Ownership by big foreigners, while taking these classic marques out of all-British ownerships, means they have cash to invest in new technology, electrification and marketing for growth. 

A majority stake in Lotus by Chinese automotive Geely in 2018, which also owns the London Electric Vehicle Company that recently announced 100 new jobs to meet demand, meant investment in the iconic brand.

Lotus claims “the newest car facility in the world” to produce the firm’s latest model, an all-electric “hypercar” the Evija, which as of late February was in final prototype production to prepare for series production this summer.

Evija is part of Lotus’s Vision80 growth plan.

With production limited to 130 cars, the Evija is priced at a jaw-dropping £1.7m plus duties and taxes. 

CEO Phil Popham says, “Evija means ‘the first in existence’ and is the perfect name for our new car – it’s the first British all-electric hypercar, it’s our first electric offering and it’s the first new model under the stewardship of Geely.”

Lotus had made a loss for several years until 2017 and had changed its chief executive several times.

Today it’s looking up. Richard Yarrow, the communications at Lotus, says “2019 also saw further investment in future product plans and new facilities at Hethel in Norfolk and around the world; the development of a global dealer support strategy, and a sponsorship deal with Norwich City Football Club.” 

Fast, furious and FUN

For pure fun, look no further than Ariel. What’s not to like about this company?

It has stripped down car making to great engineering, and simple design, with no frills and fuss in excess bodywork, to achieve high speeds for the race-car Atom 4 and the on-road off road buggy, Nomad.

They also make a motorcycle, the Ace.

Employing 32 people, including nine in R&D, in Somerset, the company makes 100 cars a year and 25 motorbikes.

For a small business, all models have rave reviews from both auto and bike magazines; Auto Car gave the Atom a very rare 5-star score.

All cars can be customer-specced around a fixed engine with big list of options.

The superfast Atom – which does 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds! – uses a 2-point-0 K-twenty-C Honda 4-cylinder i-V-TEC, turbocharged engine while the Nomad uses a 2.4 K-twenty-four Honda i-V-TEC.

The company is always looking to retain strength in the frame but reduce weight.

Ariel’s Tom Siebert says “Cars are typically getting heavier and duller; our ethos is to move right away from that, strip the car back and keep them light and basic but most of all, fun.”

Prices for the Nomad start from £36,000 inc VAT, while the Atom 4 is nearly £40,000 and about 20% of product is exported.

Several factors make this a strong time for UK niche vehicle companies.

These include the decline of diesel and the rise of electric, with new market entrants with electric power expertise, low interest rates, overseas demand for British-made cars and pockets of funding to develop lighter, greener cars from Innovate UK and others.

As well as the sportscar brands covered here, in the niche segment consider the new Land Rover Defender to be manufactured soon by chemicals group IN-E-OS.

London-electric van company Arrival’s £85m investment from Hyundai and Kia.

Volta Trucks 7.5 and 8.5 tonne electric good vehicles, BAC in Liverpool which makes about 40, single-seat Formula-3 style road cars a year, among others sitting up and down the volume and technology curves.

Last Autumn, FANUC hosted its first-ever automation and digital transformation event. The engaging and insightful event was aimed at not only selling products but also addressing the issue of the UK's slow automation adoption. MTD magazine spoke with Tom Bouchier, the Managing Director at FANUC UK t...

Tru-Tech makes EDM investment based on trust

Tru-Tech Precision Engineering is a company that has established a reputation for quality and reliability within the high-tech industry sectors it supports.

It bases its business model on the expertise of its staff and the manufacturing equipment it relies upon.

Based in a 5,000sq/ft facility in Dundalk, in Ireland, Tru-Tech was originally established in 1996 to provide subcontract centreless grinding services to customers in the medical device sector.

It has built an enviable reputation as a leading manufacturer of high precision mould inserts for the medical moulding industry.
As customer requirements have changed, the company has invested in additional manufacturing technologies to meet these needs.

Managing Director, Joe Murphy says “That’s not to say that centreless grinding is no longer a key part of our business,” around half of our turnover comes from the high precision centreless and form grinding services we provide to various industry sectors.”
Tru-Tech has equipped itself to meet and often exceed the growing demands of its customer base that now includes medical and healthcare, automotive, electronics, computing and telecoms businesses.

Alongside the CNC milling and turning machines on the shopfloor, a CNC EDM die sinking machine supports the company’s ability to provide precision single and multiple mould tool cavities.
Joe Murphy says: “We used an ONA die sinker for many years, and Warwick Machine Tools’ sales and service engineer, Paul Barry, has always been on hand to look after the machine for us.

He was aware we were having issues with an old wire cut machine that was unreliable and expensive to repair, so during a visit to our facility, he mentioned the new Excetek V400G CNC wire cut machine.

On paper the cost-to-performance ratio looked unbeatable.”
Providing comparative performance levels to the existing Swiss and Japanese wire EDM machines, the new Excetek V400G offers a major cost-saving against any equivalent size machine tool, and the price includes training and installation.

The new V-4-hundred-G is capable of accommodating larger workpieces up to 750 x 550 x 215 mm weighing up to 500 kg with a compact overall footprint.
All the standard range of wire EDM machines from Excetek feature a C-frame structure and the new V400G features a honeycomb frame structure for rigidity and thermal stability.

The AC servo motor driven C1 class ball screws are cryogenically treated to minimise the thermal effects of the machine’s ambient operational environment, with high accuracy linear scales fitted for accurate positional feedback.
The machine also features Excetek’s latest corrosion-free electro discharge generator technology that improves cutting performance.

While the cutting speed of every wire EDM machine is limited by the laws of physics and set by the thickness of the raw material being cut, it is a manufacturer’s corner control that defines its machine accuracy.

Excetek’s software ensures the motion control and spark generator work together for the optimum power ramping and compensation dwell on corners, avoiding wire twist and reducing corner ‘washout’.

Wire diameters from 0.15 to 0.3mm can be used and for extended operation, a 50 kg jumbo wire feeder can also be fitted.
Joe Murphy says: “The machine is very keenly priced, and we were sending around 10,000 Euros of wire work out every month and, although the quality was good, we had very little control over the lead times.

Now we have the ability to carry out the work in-house we can control both the costs and the timescales.”
As well as the ability to produce very accurate and detailed copper electrode for the die sinking machine, the wire EDM has provided a further benefit with its ability to cut form grinding dressing blades from Syndite.

A composite material that combines the hardness, abrasion resistance and thermal conductivity of diamond with the toughness of tungsten carbide, Syndite blades could take a couple of hours to produce on a digital Optidress wheel forming dresser.

Using the Excetek V400G, Tru-Tech can now generate the blades in less than 30 minutes.

Packing precision into a small footprint.

Headquartered near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Vilardell specialises in the production of precision parts with a high added value and comprises two divisions, the Medical Division and the Industrial Division.

At the Industrial Division, Jordi Roy Torras, The Manager of the Industrial Division says Vilardell has specialised in the production of highly complex parts for some time.

He says “This is our core competence. Something we have developed year after year and part by part.” 

“We employ 165 staff and they are very important to us,” almost every day, we are faced with new challenges.

Even with the best machines, we wouldn’t be able to tackle these challenges, if we didn’t have such a strong team!

Our customers know that they can count on us and on our expertise when it comes to meeting any machining challenge.

We have to keep our minds open and focus on innovation as one of our key values.

Each and every one of us has to remain innovative, irrespective of his or her position or function within the company, that’s essential for our business.”

Luckily, the company has invested in technology from Tornos.

The long-standing collaboration with Tornos now boasts an impressive inventory of equipment that includes a small number of single-spindle cam machines, the T4, R10 and MS7 and a large number of multi-spindle machines, the AS 14, SAS 16 and SAS 16 DC.

In terms of CNC machines, the company’s fleet includes the Deco 10, Deco 13, Deco 20, Sigma 20 and the EvoDeco 16 models.

“We are determined to provide our customers with comprehensive service and are collaborating closely with them.

We try to understand their needs and provide advice to jointly optimise the machining processes.

Over time, we have gathered a profound expertise in our key markets, and we can efficiently advise our customers in various fields, be it in the automotive, aerospace or in any other industrial sector requiring precision-turned parts.”

“The focus is on high added-value products and this requires us to integrate new technologies, such as the latest machines from Tornos.

We also pay special attention to quality and we hold ISO: 9001 and IATF: 16949 certifications.”

Recently, Vilardell purchased a MultiSwiss 6x16 machine, but what made the company opt for this machine?

Jordi Roy Torras says “The choice was driven by rational motivation.

In terms of technical specifications, the machine is simply the best in the market.

However, we had to also consider the restricted space in our plant.

The MultiSwiss boasts the most compact footprint and is definitely the most efficient machine in the market.”

“At first sight, this small footprint may seem to be trivial.

However, it makes the difference.

The machine is really doing well and the fact that it is equipped with a container comprising all peripherals is a key advantage for us.

The machine works perfectly and the peripherals are very well integrated.”

“We are extremely satisfied with the machine performance.

The hydrostatic features work wonders and we are able to achieve an excellent surface finish whereas the tool wear is well below the wear of conventional machines.

In addition, the machine boasts excellent ergonomic features.”

“The operator can really enter the machining area without difficulty.

The tools can easily be installed in the machine without the need for the operator to lean into the machining area and the machine set-up can be realised in next to no time.

The MultiSwiss doesn’t only offer excellent performance but also complete ease of operation.

Thanks to its high level of productivity, the machine enables us to multiply our performance per square meter while guaranteeing an outstanding part quality both in terms of precision and surface finish.”

“It should also be noted that the collaboration with Tornos is excellent and that their service stands out for its high responsiveness.

Jordi Roy Torras. says “This really is a combination that pays off for us.”

A New Era of Machine Manufacture.
By Kasra Mehraky

Most people don’t pay much attention to the method of construction when looking to purchase a new machine tool.

Although, the most known machine bed structure is gray cast iron and welded steel, there is another
method that has gained popularity, mineral casting.

Whilst there are several methods and materials for producing a machine tool bed, such as polymer concrete, natural or artificial granite, here we will discuss mineral casting technology.
Structural machine tool design continues to go through enormous changes.

One of the more recent technologies for producing machine tool beds is the ‘mineral casting’.

Using this method, the mineral compound is mixed with epoxy resin to make the machine base, guaranteeing maximum rigidity and vibration damping when compared to many established and traditional methods.
Normally, the structure of a machine tool is manufactured from thin steel or iron plate walls that are reinforced with an internal network of plates.

This network is often subjected to extensive trials and testing to yield the most efficient and solid base construction.

But with mineral castings, the machine bed is almost fully filled with a mixture of special epoxxy resin and mineral compounds that turn into a concrete-like material.
There are several ways to produce this kind of machine bed.

The most conventional route is by pouring the material mixture into a mould, made out of wood, plastic or sometimes steel while vibrating it continuously on a surface to reduce the cavities during the casting process.
WHY MINERAL CASTING?
This method of producing machine beds has enormous advantages compared to old fashioned manufacturing processes.

Here's a list of the most significant ones.
Vibration damping: Without doubt mineral casted machines have much greater vibration damping characteristics than traditional casting methods and some companies claim that it is 10 times better than the cast iron bodies.

Of course, vibration damping is a major benefit with regard to the machine tool stability, performance and of course, the quality and precision of the parts machined on the machine tool.
Thermal stability: One of the main issues that concerns machinists and machine tool manufacturers is thermal expansion that occurs when the temperature is increased in the work envelope

This is caused by the machining process and can significantly impact machine tool accuracy.

The mineral cast machine bed has far lower thermal conductivity than a steel bed construction and this ensures the machine produces a consistently high quality and precision level over time.

High resistance to media: Another issue that can reduce the lifespan of a machine tool is material wear that is created due to its contact with oils, coolants and chips.

Compared to other machine manufacturing technologies, mineral cast beds show a promising resistance to material wear over the life cycle of the machine tool.
Integrated bolts, hoses, tubes and power lines: This is very exciting for machine designers.

Mineral cast machine beds can offer designers the opportunity to provide internal lines for different pipes, cables and hoses and this reduces the need for post-cast machining.

This should reduce the labor and subsequent cost of machine tool production.
Super-high precision surface finishes: Mineral cast components can be machined and ground.
To achieve greater flatness and precision, processes such as hand lapping can be implemented on the surface.

Companies such as Hamuel Reikenbahker in Germany offer the total casting and machining service to a wide variety of machine tool manufacturers.
No need for heat treatment: For achieving the best stress-relieving properties, cast iron elements need to be stored for a prolonged period.

The process is known as aged stress relieving.

The shorter route is via a heat treatment process that is costly and has a lot of disadvantages, but with mineral technology, the need for stress relief is generally not required.
In-house production: Many machine builders outsource the casting productionprocess, as it’s difficult and expensive to manage.

Just consider the need for a large iron casting oven and the mould production process.

With the Rampf Group and its EPUMoNT technology, machine builders can just buy the equipment and do it themselves.

This enables machine tool builders to carefully manage the whole process of casting.
As this list shows, the benefits of mineral casting are numerous, and at this point in time, this technology indeed costs more than traditional casting methods.

However, as more machine builders adopt the mineral compound strategy, the price of the components will reduce, as is the case with mass production environments.

The Challenges of a Subcontractor.

by Paul Brunton, Managing Director at Arnold Wragg Ltd.

In the Summer, MTD spoke with Paul to discuss the challenges of a modern-day subcontractor.

As the figurehead of the A-S:9100 approved specialist manufacturer of first level safety critical fastener’s, we discussed a number of topics.

These included challenges such as material technology and advancements like additive manufacturing; working to revision B, C & D of historical drawings older than most engineers, order quantities, scheduling and price per unit considerations – even the calculations needed to justify a new machine purchase. 

In this second instalment, Paul, in his own words looks at ‘business strategies’, how to adopt a suitable strategy and also how to overcome the challenges that are very often unique to the typical UK subcontract manufacturing business. 

“At Arnold Wragg, we chose to adopt a Kaplan and Norton Strategy mapping tool and a balance scorecard.

We chose this map, as it is a popular choice with plenty of information, examples and designs available.

There are also helpful guides all over the internet including tutorials on YouTube.

This means that members of my team could become familiar with the concept, which is more informative and explanatory than having staff limited to just my interpretation.”

Paul continued...

“It is worth noting that having your team members carry out a little homework or research can aid tremendously at the early buy-in stage.

This is vital to the success of any type of long-term development cycle.

I also found it helped to promote ideas and interpretations.

Additionally, individuals within the company are motivated, informed and they then come to the table keen; with open channels of communication flowing from the start.

This creates a superb energy to get out the marker pens and start writing big on the wall.” 

Step one: pick a strategy and Step two: add the energy... 

“We took the 4-tiered mapping tool which illustrates the generic perspectives of a company: learning and development at the bottom to underpin the whole thing.

Above this was our ‘internal structures’ followed by the ‘customer’.

Finally, the top tier is the ‘financial’ aspects.

As a team, we then looked at each of the elements within these perspectives and relate them to our company.

For example, ‘Price’ could be margin or hourly rate and ‘Service’ could be on-time delivery or quoting response time.

For the ‘Internal’ perspective, we could take ‘Productivity’ and work out value-adding percentages or VA performance - i.e. the productivity of the revenues, which as we know is the lifeblood of an S-M-E subcontractor.” 

“Once we had debated and decided what we believe is significant or relevant to us, we would want to identify it as something to review.

So, we gave identification codes to aspects of our strategy, for example I-P or internal perspective.

Another example would be ‘01-A’ and this could equal ‘value-adding time’ or VA.

Once we have done this, we gave this element a unit of measure and in this case, it would be a percentage.

We then chose the frequency in which to record this data, the criteria being it had to be manageable and yet still hold significance.

Finally, we chose a starting point and process owner, which is immensely important throughout this project.

Process ownership is key, it’s like the sustain in a 5S project - it is imperative to get it correct at the beginning of the roadmap.

I was more than aware this project was a ‘concept’ at this early stage and only time would make it habitual, which in turn would make it part of our new culture.

We are all creatures of habit in some way or form and even these wonderful improvement cycles, which can develop to what seems to be a complex evolving change promoting mechanism, is at its core a fundamentally basic process machine.” 

Step three: Add the ownership... 

“The next job on the list is to start collecting the data.

There are a couple of elements to this.

Firstly, we developed the means of collecting the data, such as developing queries on our M-R-P systems, time sheets or other specifically developed documentation.

Secondly, we placed information up on our notice boards to outline the tasks the company had chosen to undertake.

These highlighted points of interest, underpinning knowledge on the subject matter, and why the company had chosen to go down this route and the potential benefits to the business.”

“As previously stated, staff buy-in is imperative to the success of the development cycle which includes all members of the organisational chart.

Sure, a simple instruction can be given and can be expected to be carried out if the request is reasonable.

However, feedback is fantastic and should be welcomed at each and every level, regardless of whether the feedback is positive or negative in content, it is all part of the education journey.” 

Step four: Ensure the ownership spreads... 

“Record the data and pick an amount of time that would yield a reasonable amount of data points that could possibly start to show early signs of trends.

For example, after three months it would be simple and feasible to review this data with your management team.

You may be pleasantly surprised or horrifically shocked.

We experienced a little of both. However, what you should have at this point is a touch of reality and it’s now a case of onwards and upwards!”
“We then decided where it is, we believed the company needed to be, in order to stay healthy for the future.

This created both ends of our chart, where we are on the left and where we wanted to be on the right.

In between was to be a massive void of unknown.

When you are at this point, it’s time to set some goals by adding some milestone objectives and review points.

In addition, we added upper and lower control limits, building in our own tolerance banding with any item landing outside of these tracks incurring a ‘route cause analysis’ and with that, the start of our strategy mapping tool and continuous improvement cycle was born.” 

“When it comes to which element of the business requires the most attention, we can then ration out our resources accordingly.

If the results state that you need implement action; as previously stated in ‘part one’, you can then go and buy that new machine.”

“By adding this data into a balance score card each quarter, we can ensure shareholders, management, process owners and employees alike, are all working to one coherent message that is being read and universally understood.”

“How do we overcome the previously stated items?

In a nutshell, we make informed decisions as a team, participation promotes belonging and ownership and with this, you can solve issues and improve your position promoting continuous improvement activities and ideas.

You can adapt to issues that are significant to the health and development of the organisation.

With a relatively small management team or process owners, a simple strategy, an excel spread sheet and strong communication, you can quickly understand your business and you can thrive in these choppy waters.

It is only when we understand and know ourselves, that we can place ourselves into the business canvas with the confidence that we are as fit as can be; ready, willing and able to serve our supply chains and industry to the best of our abilities.” 

“So, by following this strategy, what does this mean for the future of Arnold Wragg?

Coming from a position of being a company that was purchased as a going concern some 6 years ago to a point where we are most defiantly holding our own, Arnold Wragg is investing.

We’re investing in people, their education and developing engineers for the future.

This is giving us the opportunity to work with local colleges and advanced training platforms close to home.

In addition, we have entered the world of social media on LinkedIn and Twitter and are privileged to have met many people who share the same interest goals and ambitions - with some truly great success stories.

We are becoming a stockist later-on this year, we will be promising a next day delivery service on a large range of aerospace part codes and our specialised A series and AGS series locking nuts.

If all goes well, perhaps some new machinery may be on the cards too.

Arnold Wragg are adopting the above strategies to create a ‘Wragg’s to Riches story’.

We may not be a beacon of glittering success just yet – but we’re certainly a success story with a few chapters to go in our strategic aims for future success.”

Can 2020 be the year of not Brexit

2019 was a year in which a lot happened in politics;

Government defeats, the fall of a Prime Minister and what may come to be viewed as an era-defining election.

Will 2020 be the same?

First and foremost, it will almost certainly see the UK leave the European Union on the 31st of January.
On one level nothing very much will change because we will enter a transition period designed to give time to agree on a new relationship.

The economic relationship is set to be the most contentious area, one which will bring at least some of the brinkmanship that so marked 2019 into 2020.

The timetable is very tight, but the new Government seems to have set its position against any extension and now has the muscle in the Commons to prevent any manoeuvre by Parliament (a 2020 version of the Benn Act) to override its will.

Whether this will lead to another ‘No Deal’ countdown at the end of the year, remains to be seen.
What matters for manufacturing is that we can maintain our positions in European supply chains.

In many cases these are part of global supply chains – its not one or the other.

Some friction at the border, in the form of more bureaucracy and at least the risk of delay, seems inevitable but we should be able to avoid the re-imposition of tariffs and quotas.

The ability of UK companies to send personnel to Europe, for project engineering or services, is threatened and will be something we will want to see preserved.
As an internationally traded sector it makes economic sense for our companies to manufacture to international standards.

They will continue to do so, and we would wish to continue to be included within the framework of the European Standards bodies, principally CEN.

We want UK Notified Bodies to continue to be able to certify compliance with EU regulations.
The government, elected of course to ‘get Brexit done’, will be keen to be seen to be doing things other than Brexit.

In December’s Queen’s Speech, there was much said about Health and Law and Order, two of the key themes from the election.

There was less about the economy or what ‘business’ can expect, and we will be eagerly awaiting the first Budget of a Johnson Government, postponed from November because of the election.

This is due to be delivered in February.
However, in the wake of the General Election there were some Manifesto commitments that were fulfilled.

At the MTA, we were very pleased at the announcement that R&D Tax Credits are to be extended to cover digital technologies that made it into the Prime Minister’s Foreword (if not the speech itself ).

This welcome move, which the MTA has called for repeatedly, should help SMEs to offset the costs of going digital.
Science and technology are set to be priority areas, with the confirmation that the Government is retaining its target to raise spending on Research and Development to 2.4% of GDP.

In particular, Britain’s Space sector, which is growing fast, looks likely to see further investment. A good place to find out about that is MACH 2020 from April 20th -24th at the NEC at which the Mars Rover, which is under development, will be exhibited.
Leaving the EU and arranging the country’s future relationship with it, will be the single biggest political issue of 2020; being seen to deliver an ambitious package of reform, may well be the Government’s biggest challenge.