Metalworker goes 'low tech' to enable growth

Metalworking company has made the radical decision to invest in a basic lathe, which will be used to train new engineers and for the development of one off prototypes.

Metalworkers to the technology sector, Hitec, have made the radical decision to invest in some low technology machinery as a part of their strategy to further develop their business.

This low technology machinery is in the form of a basic lathe and is to be used to train new engineers and for the development of one off prototypes.

"Most of the machinery we use is very complex computer controlled machine tools and although these are very powerful and provide us with fast and accurate production, we felt the need bring some aspects of our work back to basics," said John Stevenson, managing director.

"The new machine is much more like the old fashioned lathe and will enable us to more easily train new engineers and develop low volume prototypes.

Despite it being basic, it is still the latest in engineering technology and has the ability to be computer controlled, so will offer us an ideal way of introducing young engineers to the world of automated precision engineering." In addition to their investment in the new lathe, Hitec have also invested in some state of the art inspection equipment.

Called a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), this equipment is capabable of highly accurate measurement of components and will be used for post production inspection.

Hitec claim that this equipment is far from 'low tech', they explain that it is sophisticated and expensive, and until recently has only been the domain of very large companies.

"Increasingly, today's engineers are using powerful software that enables them to design complex and intricate components," said Stevenson.

"Although we have the machines that can turn these designs into precision engineered parts, we are finding a constant need to upgrade our inspection equipment to keep pace with the extreme tolerances that many engineers can now work within.

This has been a major investment for us, but essential if we are to hold our leading position as precision engineers to the technology industry.".

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