Product category:
Flexible machining cells and systems (FMS)
News Release from: Mike Page - editor's feature articles | Subject: Horizontal machining centre system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 November 2005
Diesel engines to be CNC machined - like
now!
When a leading earthmoving plant builder made a rapid decision on engine building, the machine tool supplier had to act quickly to supply a system and pre-production parts, reports Mike Page.
To produce cylinder heads, blocks and bedplates for a new JCB 4.4 litre diesel engine, Mahle Powertrain, UK, has invested in a new 5000m2 plant with 18 machining centres When JCB decided to build its first own diesel engine for its backhoe loaders, it needed an engine design/manufacture partner with a credible track record
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 29 Oct 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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JCB selected Mahle Powertrain in Wellingborough, UK, which in turn, selected Heller Machine Tools, Redditch, UK.
Heller was called upon to supply 18 horizontal machining centres (HMC) - in a 'turnkey package' - to perform the machining operations - including camshaft and crankshaft line-boring.
In selecting the machine tool supplier, the 'short list' reduced to two - Heller Machine Tools and a UK supplier of Japanese HMCs.
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The final selection procedure went down beyond specification, price and 'turnkey package' capability to consider the machine tool suppliers' financial status.
As managing director of Heller Machine Tools, Geoff Lloyd, commented at Mahle's plant last Thursday: "Not all machine tool suppliers can supply financial stability.
On-time delivery was also a big issue in the negotiations, as the (new Mahle) factory was not ready.
So (Mahle) wanted early information on product production, which Heller offered too." Commenting on the multi-million Pound turnkey package, managing director of Mahle Powertrain, Warren Roberts, said: "We gave a lot of responsibility to Heller - and it has proven to be successful." * Cast iron engines - Note well that the machining of cast iron was a new activity at Mahle Powertrain's UK plants, as previously, Cosworth had been primarily involved in aluminium cylinder head manufacture, as well as aluminium engines.
The UK company had not 'aggressively machined' cast iron products before, but during negotiations, was able to 'benchmark' cast iron machining with the large numbers of HMCs delivered by the German Heller Group to Audi's Hungarian plants.
Another advantage Heller Machine Tools in the UK was able to offer, said Lloyd, was that the company had worked with JCB and Ricardo on diesel engine product design.
"So the JCB programme was not unknown to us." * Narrow timescale - Once JCB had made the decision to go ahead with its first diesel engine - production was anticipated in 12 months from concept.
Not only had the machine tools to be sourced and built - as turnkey package provider Heller had also to source, for example - handling, tooling, cylinder honing machines, and so on.
Also, JCB and Mahle wanted pre-production components: for example, 200 valve heads.
""We were under pressure 24h/day," said Lloyd.
"Fortunately, we had always trained our employees to be flexible, we have a very highly skilled workforce.
We appointed a project manager and also had to decide if Warren's (Warren Roberts) own team was up to 'par'.
He has a superb team - and the synergy between the two companies was also superb - with similar technical capabilities, the two companies came together and worked." Roberts commented that a complete capability on volume runs had to be determined along with addressing volume CPK needs.
Originally Mahle had intended to subcontract out the bedplate - but a late decision was made to machine them in Wellingborough, which raised HMC requirement from 15 to 18.
Roberts said: "Initially, JCB did not want 'all their eggs in one basket', but gained confidence in Mahle as the project progressed, so a decision was made on the bedplate." Out of the 12 months available to production start-up, Heller had six months in which to build, install and commission the 18 HMCs.
Lloyd informed that JCB had machined components for Mahle, which were assembled into test engines within six weeks: "From 'handshake to delivery'." Heller and Mahle had decided on using a modular jigging system, and HMCs were available in Redditch - along with some of tooling.
'Speed was the essence', because to establish its credibility, Mahle had to provide JCB with test parts.
Roberts, when questioned about that six weeks timescale, said: "We had had machine tool suppliers working with us for two years, but nearer to signing the contract with JCB, we had become nervous about supplier capabilities (financial robustness) and after-sales service.
The application is easy, but commitment (on the part of the supplier) is essential." Those first 200 test parts - cylinder heads - were delivered in March 2004.
The first four HMCs were delivered to Mahle's new factory in May 2004.
All 18 HMCs were built and delivered in a period of six months.
* The HMC system at Wellingborough - initially, Wellingborough is machining one design of cylinder head, cylinder block and bedplate for JCB and more variants will follow.
The system's capacity is up to 50,000 engines/year.
To begin with, production is 'ramping up' to 20,000 - 25,000/year.
For Mahle, Roberts says the JCB engine 'bridges a gap' in engine supply experience between small batch and large volume production (for example, in 1999 Mahle was delivering 500-600 of Audi V8 engines - peaking at 2000/week - and now 'ramping down').
The three Heller HMC lines are described as 'manual transfer lines', with operators loading castings to the twin-pallet HMCs.
Casting loading is with hoists and roller track is used to transfer castings from station to station.
Included in the three lines (head, block and bedplate) are Mecwash washing machines.
Honing operations are performed on Nagel vertical honing machines.
Weber automatic assembly and marking systems are used for, for example, inserting plugs prior to pressure testing.
Tooling management - of Mapal's and other suppliers' tooling - is carried out by Mapal (all the companies mentioned are registered with Manufacturingtalk).
The heads and blocks are machined on Heller MCH 280 HMCs - five on the head and 10 on the blocks.
Three Heller MCi 16 HMCs machine the bedplates.
The HMCs are standard machines.
Fourteen operators/shift manage the three lines.
The HMCs use a lot of Mapal 'special' tooling including multi-step tooling and the long Mapal boring bars for the cam line and crankshaft line bores.
The standard Heller MCH 280 can automatically tool change (ATC) boring bars from the HMC's tooling magazines up to 600mm+ in length.
In Mahle's HMCs - the longest is 606mm.
The MCH 280 maintains accuracies of 5 microns on bore diameter and 15 micron concentricity.
The boring bars are located in HSK100 tool holders.
Heller's integrated power monitoring system is applied to all critical tools and ensures worn/broken tools are changed automatically.
The HMCs also ATC large face milling cutters up to 250-280mm diameter for machining the joint faces between head and block.
Operators carry out quality control checks, using for example, Brauer gauging equipment.
All inspection data is provided for operators on-screen at the gauging stations.
On a regular basis, full audits are carried out on CMMs in separate inspection department.
Mahle also operates an extensive planned maintenance programme.
Heller was called upon to deliver a turnkey system capable of working on a continuous 24h/5-day basis with 85% efficiency - high uptime and no breakdowns".
""We gave a lot of responsibility to Heller," said Roberts.
"It has proved to be very successful." * About the author - Mike Page is editor of manufacturingtalk.com.
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