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 <strong>Machinery</strong> <strong>World</strong>, <strong>July</strong> <strong>2017</strong>
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