Manufacturing Machinery World July 2017

NEWS NEWS NEWS
subcontRactoR sets up manufactuRing cell foR
peRkins engines
Peterborough subcontractor Westcombe
Engineering has installed a new manufacturing
cell to produce increased quantities of a family of
aluminium engine components for Perkins
Engines. It comprises a Haas ST-30 CNC lathe
with short bar feeder, a Blast Wash top-loading
washing machine and a vibratory bowl finishing
machine from PDJ Vibro, the second to be
installed in the factory.
Now owned by Peterborough City Council,
Westcombe Engineering was established in the
early 1970s by philanthropist Royce Westcombe
to provide work and development opportunities
in manufacturing for people with physical and
mental disabilities, of whom 10 currently work at
the factory. Together with seven support staff,
they produce milled and turned parts mainly for
nearby Perkins Engines and its parent group,
Caterpillar.
Westcombe Engineering’s general and
commercial manager, Andrew Lesiw explained,
As one of the global leaders in banking and
retail support services Camberley, Surrey-based
Cennox Plc is at the forefront in the battle
against card skimming at cashpoints,
developing components and systems that help
banks stay one step ahead of the criminals.
To maintain its lead Cennox has an active
research and development program that
requires numerous parts to be machined with
relatively short lead-times. In addition it also
has production parts to produce in order to
back up the service it provided to banks in
repairing damaged cashpoints In the past all of
this machining work was put out to subcontract,
but as demand grew the cost and
delays that this created was impacting on
productivity, so the decision was taken to
investigate bringing machining in-house.
After investigating the market Cennox chose
Matchmaker CNC to supply the machine it
required as well as providing extra support in
pulling together a tooling and CADCAM
package (Sharp CAM). The choice of a
Matchmaker VMC 1020 vertical machining
centre, with its 1100 by 560 mm table that
allowed multiple set-ups to be in place at any
one time was a big advantage to Cennox as
some components require six operations and to
have them all on the table simultaneously
improved productivity and manufacturing
costs considerably.
Given Cennox’s lack of machining
“Our latest manufacturing project is a good
example of the applications input that we can
provide.
“We redesigned the engine parts so that they
could be produced automatically and cost
effectively from extrusion fed by a bar magazine,
rather than from manually loaded castings.”
When the subcontractor was previously
making the parts by the latter production route,
porosity in the castings resulted in a significant
level of costly scrap. Often, the porosity became
apparent only after a lot of value-added
machining had been completed, which further
increased the unit manufacturing cost of each
good part.
While the latest vibratory bowl, a 100-litre
capacity model, is dedicated to finishing these
specific Perkins engine parts, the original 220-
litre bowl was installed in 2012 to automate
deburring and edge-breaking of components
machined in all of Westcombe Engineering’s
machine tools from aluminium, cast iron, brass,
stainless and mild steels, exotic metals and
plastics. The intention was to eliminate
mundane, manual finishing tasks and improve
consistency of finish and the PDJ Vibro
equipment succeeded in achieving both aims.
Based on the first bowl’s reliability and
effectiveness, Westcombe Engineering returned
to PDJ Vibro to order a smaller finishing machine
for integration into the Perkins engine cell. Mr
cennox boosts R&D peRfoRmance
experience part of Matchmaker’s role was to
provide some ongoing support, through its
applications engineering department, who
worked alongside experienced R&D
Machinist/Programmer, Craig Wilson. “The
help we received from Matchmaker was
excellent. Sitting down with Matchmaker’s
applications team we have reduced cycle time
even further, producing each part in 34
minutes,” says Iain Ferguson Technical &
Operations Support Manager Cennox Plc.
Now, with the single Matchmaker VMC
1020 in-house, Cennox is producing the same
number of units per day with a marked
improvement on dimensional accuracy and
overall quality.
“The machine has delivered everything that
we expected and the support from Matchmaker
has made the whole project run smoothly from
start to finish.”
tel: 01372 844999
email: cdonhue@matchmakercnc.co.uk
Web: www.matchmakercnc.co.uk
Lesiw offered the comment that the supplier’s
extensive knowledge of finishing technology
was helpful during product selection and also
said that the enquiry was dealt with promptly
and efficiently.
tel: 01908 648757
email: david.hurley@pdjvibro.co.uk
Web: www.pdjvibro.co.uk
WaRD hi-tech
WiDens its
pRoDuct line
Sheffield based CNC machine tool distributors,
Ward Hi-Tech have signed an exclusive sole UK
and Ireland distribution agreement with Vision
Wide of Taiwan.
Vision Wide are one of Taiwan’s leading
manufacturers of double column machining
centres and their product range encompasses a
wide ranging portfolio of DCM models with X
axis travels up to 10m and a range of
specifications covering both heavy duty and
high speed machining requirements.
Vision Wide DCM machining centres can be
equipped with high torque, high power spindle
motors for arduous operational requirements
and high speed electro spindles and spindle
options for high speed machining processes.
State of art universal milling head options
encompassing the latest design technology
provide everything from standard spindle
arrangements to 5 face and continuous 5 axis
milling capability, with automatic head
changing alternatives available on all models.
For over 20 years Vision Wide have been
supplying high specification, high production
machines to a large range of industry sectors
including Aerospace, Automotive, Power
Generation, Ship Building and a wide range of
component manufacturing industries. Vision
Wide philosophy of concentrating solely on the
design, build and continuous model
improvement of double column machining
centres has enabled them to build an enviable
reputation both in the home and worldwide
marketplace.
Ward Hi-Tech is also the sole UK distributor
for Hwacheon, Dah Lih, Kiheung, SFM and
HNK products all details can be found on their
website.
tel: 0114 2560333
email: neilwilliams@wardhitech.co.uk
6 Machinery World, July 2017