15,000 PRODUCTS IN STOCK - Ptreview

Nov/Dec 2011 P&TR 19
Closer to Home
Specialising in a niche market for UK manufacturers is not
something new, but for Stockport based gear manufacturers,
Mini Gears, it has recently taken on a whole new meaning.
Mini Gears, probably best known for
producing medium to high volume
batches of commercial gears and racks,
has recently diversified into totally
different markets, including low volume
and very high precision industries such
as Autosport, specialist gears for classic
cars, high end valves applications, rotor
pumps and even as diverse as aircraft
seating for first class business travellers.
Over the last 18 months the company
has been very busy investing in areas
such as gear grinding, gear shaving, low
volume turning and milling on the newly
acquired XYZ machines and this is to
compliment the already existing very
flexible machining cells that include 3 of
the latest Mazak 5 axis CNC multitasking
centres and CNC Gear Hobbing.
Although Mini Gears’ traditional markets
are still holding up extremely well,
the fact that so many high volume
components have migrated abroad and,
in a lot of cases the whole assembly of
the product, this has meant that future
expansion is very limited in these areas
and some 2 years ago the company
made the decision to diversify into
markets nearer to home.
The positive side of this move has
created many new jobs at Mini Gears’ UK
factory, which employs 80 people and
even during the recession the cut backs
that we had to make were nowhere near
as severe as against most companies in
the manufacturing sector. We have also
taken on 3 apprentices to train up for
the skills gap which is very prevalent in
engineering and the areas we are looking
to cover are the highly skilled machining
side together with the technical, design
and commercial side of the business.
As well as the new lower volume
business we have also seen during the
last 6 months a very high number of new
enquiries for parts that would normally
be sourced overseas and, due to a large
cost increases in these regions, we have
won back a number of contracts for our
UK facility.
The recent installation of new hi- tech
equipment, particularly in gear grinding,
has been a key factor into entering new
markets. We invested in a Hoefler Helix
400K CNC Gear Grinding Machine,
one of the most modern and up to
date machines for grinding a special
Mini Gears manufacture gears for cars
such as the Triumph TR4 pictured above
The Mini Gears team (in black) meeting
with Oxford Brookes Racing (in white)
profile on the gear tooth. Applications
have included power take-off units,
very accurate gears for pump rotor
systems, Autosport applications for high
performance gear boxes and drive trains
and, quite ironically, we have used the
machine to make reproduction gears for
a British company at the very high end
of the market who are reproducing a
1930s Roadster to original specifications
but with all the latest updates to enable
the engine to pass the latest emission
controls. With this type of new technology
the accuracy of the gears that can be
achieved is now so accurate that it
becomes necessary to invest in the
latest up to date CNC gear checking
machines and we have now ordered a
brand new Gleason 350 GMS due for
delivery in March 2012.
Also, at the other end of the spectrum is
the ultra modern design of engines and
gearboxes used in Formula 1 Racing, plus
many other applications at club racing
level, mainly used in saloon cars.
One of our most recent projects we have
been involved in is to supply Oxford
Brookes who are one of the leading
Universities in engine and gearbox design
with a number of gear components
for their racing car which competed
against 500 universities world-wide
in a major racing series. Mini Gears’
parts were displayed at Silverstone’s
Formula Student which was attended
by Ross Brawn OBE who is Patron of
the organisation and who gave a very
inspiring speech to all the students.
Since then two of the students we dealt
with have just started at Renault F1 and
Toyota Racing in Germany.
Mini Gears also supplies many parts to
the Autosport trade and, because we are
not in competition with these companies,
our parts are now running inside a large
number of house-hold named products
supplied by blue chip companies.
One of the main areas of Mini Gears’
manufacture is the production of gear
racks, mainly for the stairlift market,
portable drills and electric generators.
These parts are normally made in very
large volumes and are therefore very
price sensitive. Now, going into niche
markets, we have targeted much lower
Looking for Gears
& Machined Parts
We manufacture to your BESPOKE requirements
• Precision Gears up to 600mm
• CNC Gear Grinding up to 400mm
• Gear Racks up to 3 metres long
• 5 axis CNC machined parts
SPECIALIST SUPPLIER to most Power Transmission,
Valve and Medical Industries
UK & Global manufacture
www.minigears.co.uk
Top Gear House, Bletchley Rd. Heaton Mersey Ind. Est. Stockport SK4 3ED UK
(Left) The newly installed Hoefler Helix 400K CNC Gear Grinding Machine.
(Right) A range of precision Ground Gears.
volume but very high quality gear racks
for such areas as aircraft seating on
commercial airliners. We are also now
supplying a number of customers with
steering racks for cars and these range
from the latest up to date racing series
through to classic cars where the parts
are no longer available.
On our gear products we have previously
made gears up to 600mm diameter for
a many diverse commercial industries.
However, recently we have supplied lower
volume batches to the trade which caters
for the after market parts for a wide
range of cars produced from the 1930s
up to the 1970s. For this we have had
to invest in a specialist gear shaping
machine which can cut helical shaped
gears which is very unique to our industry.
We have literally spent tens of thousands
of pounds on new tooling to enable us to
produce the old design of gears using the
latest technology. Quite literally out with
the old and made with the new.
By looking at new ideas this has now
Contact us:
T: +44 (0)161 432 0222
F: +44 (0)161 432 0444
E: enquiries@minigears.co.uk
turned into reality and we are extremely
pleased with the company’s progress in
these new niche areas.
Paul Darwent (Chairman) comments on
the prospects ahead: “With the advent
of escalating costs in low labour cost
countries, the Directors at Mini Gears
are a lot more confident for the next 5
to 10 years ahead for UK manufacture
especially after what we have had
to endure for the last 10 years with
extremely low cost labour competition.
We are all looking forward as a team to
the many challenges ahead.”
Mini Gears is soon to be featured in
a programme called ‘Manufacturing
Solutions’ We have not been given the
exact date yet so check the news page
on our website www.minigears.co.uk
where we will give the details as soon
as we have them.