Highly specified centres slash set-up times

Two more UK companies' purchases confirm the trend towards using highly specified turn-milling machines for one-hit production of complex parts in electrical and aerospace sectors.

Further evidence of the move by UK manufacturers towards adopting highly specified turn-milling machines for one-hit production of complex parts is the purchase of Index G160 lathes by two different companies.

The combined value of the orders placed at the end of 2004 on UK agent, Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools, was nearly GBP 800,000.

Launched at the company's open house in Gosport last July, the modular lathe is capable of up to five-axis machining and is customised by Index to suit the intended applications.

Deutsch Co, St Leonards-on-Sea, will take delivery of its machine in February 2005 to assist in the manufacture of harsh-environment electrical connectors.

Part of the rationale for investing in a G160 is the flexibility offered by the 64-tool carousel, which will allow set-up times between batches to be cut by a minimum of 60 per cent.

Langford Lodge Engineering in Crumlin, Northern Ireland, a leading supplier to the aerospace industry, will have a similar number of tools in its machine and also cites set-up time reduction as vital and the main reason for its order.

The machine is due for delivery at the end of March 2005.

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