Machinery World - September 2016

NEWS NEWS NEWS
TWO LATEST CITIZEN L32 TURN-MILL CENTRES
MEET OIL AND GAS DEMANDS AT ALCO VALVES
Two of the very latest ‘icon’ versions of the
full specification Citizen Cincom L32-VIII
CNC sliding head turn-mill centres feature as
part of the first of the extensive machine tool
installations in the new manufacturing plant
relocation plans of the Alco Valves Group.
Alco Valves Group’s new, purpose
designed 68,000 ft2 flagship headquarters
which has seen an investment of $10 million
on an 8.5 acre site in Brighouse, West
Yorkshire, will progressively integrate three
existing sites, in order to centralise product
design and research as well as the
development, production, final assembly and
test of oil and natural gas valves.
Acquired by American conglomerate
Graco Inc. in 2014, a world leader in fluid
handling equipment, Alco Valves has
become a key part of Graco’s oil and gas
division. The decision to purchase the Citizen
machines against competitor sliding head
machines involved not only a team from the
UK but also engineers from America.
Together, they jointly performed in-depth
investigations of the technology and the
potential capability to meet future
production requirements.
Major advantages also cited in the
justification and decision for the Citizen
machine installations were factors such as
reliability plus ease-of-use and high levels of
flexibility for processing the company’s type
of work. Once the joint decision was made,
the US team also placed orders for identical
machines to perform similar turn-milling
requirements for parts up to 32 mm
diameter.
The two Citizen machines, which were
installed in a cell in late February, are being
progressively tooled for producing valve
bodies, inserts, end connectors, stems and
seals using materials including 316 stainless
steel, duplex and PEEK. Cycle times at the
moment vary between 30 secs for seats to 5
minutes for valve bodies.
Mr Stonier commented: “This was our
first venture into sliding head technology as
these parts up to 32 mm diameter were
previously made on subcontract. This means
our focus has been on building our own very
cost-efficient programs that will reduce our
lead times.
Tom Stonier, UK Manufaturing Engineer
Manager, described how the acceptance trials
of both machines were carried out without a
hitch and all the run-off criteria was easily
exceeded.The Alco Valves machines have an
IEMCA bar feed and outfeed component
conveyor, Citizen’s Coolblaster CB50 high
pressure coolant system and Absolute
filtration. An external coolant tank is
included with integrated swarf conveyor that
has an air curtain under the conveyor outlet
to prevent any small swarf particles being
carried back along the load length of the
conveyor. Both machines are linked into a
wireless network that will cover all machine
tools in the facility.
Tel: 01923 691500
Web: www.citizenmachinery.co.uk
FICEP STEEL PROCESSING EQUIPMENT FORMS PART OF A
SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT
AJN is a forward thinking, independently
owned steel stockholder that was originally
operating from the one 11 acre site in Kentford
near Newmarket, but recently they have
opened an even larger 17 acre depot in
Henstridge in Somerset.
This substantial new £13 million
investment included the construction of the
new site, 22 combi forklifts, 16 trucks with £5
million of the overall total being spent on new
FICEP steel processing machinery.
From the very start AJN were looking to
source all the machines from the one supplier
to ensure continuity of support. It was only
after in-depth research by AJN and numerous
trips around world to access the different
machine manufacturers and visiting many sites
that the decision was made to go with FICEP.
At the long established Kentford site has a
daily turnover is around 350 tons of steel. The
new Henstridge site total is growing rapidly
month by month with the goal to achieve 500
tons per day within 5 years by increasing shift
patterns from 1 to 3 to fully exploit the
potential of the FICEP steel processing
machinery.
From the first order placed, the FICEP
machines were delivered and installed and
commissioned on time and were operational
within 3 months. The 8 new FICEP machines
in operation at AJN include an Endeavour - a
multi-spindle drilling line, the Gemini - the
gantry drilling, milling and thermal cutting
system for plates, several Katana - high speed
bandsaws, the Rapid - high speed drilling line
for angles and flats and a shot blasting
machine and a second Endeavour machine
was purchased for the Kentford facility.
A detailed time study analysis determined
that a 48 minute job on the old machinery now
takes under 5 minutes on the Endeavour and
is 4 times faster when drilling only.
Productivity has been further enhanced by the
Gemini which is the most versatile machining
centre for the processing of plate products.
The Rapid now allows AJN to drill and cut
angles which is a new service they can offer
their customers.
The Henstridge site now covers the whole
of southern England and their customers are
already benefiting from AJN’s increased
productivity and lower production costs - it’s
a win, win scenario for both parties.
Courtney Bell, Finance Director of AJN
had this to say “When we decided to expand
the into a new site we were looking for the
very best equipment available. FICEP were
the ones who offered us the best solutions
after a considerable review of existing and
new suppliers.
The Endeavour proved to be the ultimate
solution for drilling and sawing, on top of this,
the Rapid 25 we purchased allowed us to
secure a large amount of new business. In
buying several machines from FICEP
including the Gemini, Katana Saws and one of
the UK’s largest roller conveyor shotblasters,
the capacity and performance in the new
facility has exceeded all expectations. FICEP
has lived up to all our requirements in terms
of delivery, commissioning, machine
capability and customer support.”
Tel: +44 (0)1924 223530
Email: info@ficep.co.uk
Web: www.ficep.co.uk
10 Machinery World, September 2016