Product category:
CNC automatic lathes
News Release from: Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools | Subject: Index 'MS32 Compact' open-fronted CNC multi
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 February 2003
Individual feeds and speeds programmed
on multi
To fight against Far Eastern low wage rates, a UK subcontractor has invested in a CNC multi-spindle automatic whose every station can have independent feeds and speeds, so compromises are avoided.
In an increasingly globalised marketplace, there is a growing threat to British manufacturers from countries where workers earn very low wages Subcontractors in China and India, for example, are able to undercut firms in developed countries by paying operators little more than 30 pence per hour, around 30 times lower than in the UK
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 26 Aug 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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One turned parts subcontractor that is fighting back is Witon Engineering, Barnstaple, which is continuing to invest in advanced CNC lathes to remain competitive, the most recent being a half million pound Index multi-spindle automatic supplied by Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools.
Commented Witon's owner and managing director, Ian Sheldon, "I have been working in turned parts manufacture since 1963 and I have never seen such a high level of business being lost to overseas subcontractors.
It has been accelerating over the past five to seven years.
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"I realised in the mid 1990s that the only way we could survive was to buy modern, highly productive machines.
So we embarked on a programme of investment in single-spindle CNC lathes, both fixed-head and sliding-head with multiple CNC axes and driven tooling, to complement the simpler CNC machines we had been using since 1984." Ian's father, Len, started the business in Wembley just after the end of the Second World War.
The firm relocated to Barnstaple in 1970 with the help of a regional development grant and three years later, Ian bought Witon's first multi-spindle machine to complement the existing 30 single-spindle cam automatics.
Others were installed later and the subcontractor soon became one of the leading auto shops in the country.
Automotive work accounts for around 40 per cent of production, much of which is destined for assembly lines in Europe.
Parts for the hydraulics industry is another major area of activity.
Ferrous components form the majority of throughput, as standard production of brass components is fiercely competitive, and within the last few years manufacture from stainless steel has become a speciality.
Some 35 customers are active at any one time out of a total of 60.
The background to Witon's purchase of the German-built Index 'MS32 Compact' open-fronted multi from the Geo Kingsbury stand at MACH 2002 started with the failed attempt by another subcontractor in the UK to manufacture a complex automotive part on a cam-type multi.
By the time it was discovered that the job was impossible given the tolerances required, the subcontractor had already put in a low price which could not be matched using single-spindle lathes.
But as any subcontractor knows, once a price is quoted it can only go down, never up.
The work was subsequently given to a subcontractor in Germany that operated an Index CNC multi and has since passed to another UK firm using a similar turning facility.
While evaluating the contract, Ian Sheldon saw the potential of this type of machine.
The trouble with models having cam-actuated slides and with CNC multi's other than the Index is that it is not possible to set entirely different spindle speeds and feed rates at all six stations.
The result is a compromise at most if not all stations, which lowers productivity and often reduces quality.
With the Index MS series of CNC multi's, every station can have independent feeds and speeds to optimise the machining characteristics at each spindle according to the material being cut and the type of operation.
Continued Sheldon, "These days it is difficult to justify buying a new cam-type multi-spindle lathe; the design has scarcely changed in 50 years.
Some have been rebuilt to a high standard for about half the price of a new machine, and these provide strong competition for relatively open-tolerance production at around +/- 0.1mm in batches of tens of thousands.
"But for long runs of close-tolerance, complex parts, an Index CNC multi is the answer and the ease of setting has reduced economical batch size, so we frequently undertake 10,000-off these days.
It allows us to win business that subcontractors using conventional multi's in the western world are unable to fulfil to the required accuracy and cost.
"Our Indian and Chinese competitors could always come in below our price, and it is true that they are starting to install good machines, allowing them to achieve top accuracies.
But as we only need one person to operate the MS32 Compact, which is essentially six CNC lathes in one, and even that operator can be doing something else for much of the time, the differential in employee cost is much smaller between us and the low-wage economies.
Apart from the logistical difficulties they have of delivering parts over long distances, highly productive machines are the only real advantage we have in the west, but they must be CNC and easily reconfigurable for different jobs." Various features of the Index machine stand out, according to Mr Sheldon.
One is the filtering system that removes all particles of metal above five microns and prevents the coolant from becoming abrasive.
This prolongs tool life, improves the accuracy of the machined component (15 microns total is routinely held) and extends the life of the machine itself.
There is no need for tool presetting as datuming is performed within the machine; and the tooling is repositioned for the next job by a global offset system.
High-pressure through-tool coolant and two 2-axis slides at all but the first two stations assist in achieving short cycle times.
Drills are hydraulically clamped and so are held accurately on centreline, which is difficult if clamping is effected on one side by a bolt.
Synchronous pick-up at each of the six stations is by a chuck rather than a collet, allowing the part to be held rigidly for back working, which is performed on most components at Witon Engineering even if it is just to deburr.
All six main spindles have a full C-axis and are held at a constant temperature by refrigerated coolant.
Mr Sheldon is particularly impressed with the way power is transmitted to the spindles by hard wiring the electric supply, rather than using unreliable rotary connections.
The wires are prevented from tangling by reversing the direction of motion after the fifth index to return the spindles to their original positions.
Integration of the Iemca bar magazine was said to be seamless.
Hexagonal as well as round bar is used, although Sheldon points out that polygon generation, even in stainless and alloy steels, is no problem owing to the power and rigidity of the Index machine.
He concluded, "The Index CNC multi is between two and three times more productive than a cam multi and we get nearly six times the output of a CNC single-spindle auto.
We operate the multi for 24 hours a day during the week and get very high uptime of around 95 per cent.
It is allowing us to gain new business, pitch for cost-down work that would previously have been uneconomic, and retain existing contracts at better margins.".
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