World's fastest wire EDM helps user stay ahead

The 'fastest wire EDM on the market' is now helping leading orthopaedic implant manufacturer beat off stiff competition from Eastern Europe and the Far East.

Although Croom Precision has been a Sodick customer since 1994, when the time arrived to invest in a new high specification wire EDM, the company still made time to investigate the market thoroughly.

However, its search concluded with the selection of the latest Sodick AQ327L machine from Sodi-tech EDM for one overriding reason: "Quite simply, it is the fastest machine on the market," says Croom Precision's managing director, Paddy Byrnes.

Since its inception in 1984, Croom Precision, based in Limerick, Ireland, has grown into a 26-employee manufacturer, specialising in the production of orthopaedic implants.

The company bought its first Sodick wire EDM machine, an A280, back in 1994, followed by an A320D three years later.

However, it was only recently that Byrnes decided that Croom Precision required more speed capability to combat the rise in competition from less expensive economies such as the Czech Republic and China.

"Our Sodick A280 was nearing the end of its life and so we thought it a good time to invest in some new cutting edge technology," he explains.

"We looked around at the various wire machines on the market, but in my opinion, the AQ327L appeared to be the fastest machine available for the type of components we machine." The parts in question are surgical instruments of complex geometry that demand the ability to hold tight tolerances, often in the order of 0.005mm.

The competitive nature of the market means that Croom Precision has to achieve these tolerances, at speed, without error.

Installed in April 2005, the Sodick AQL327L has more than exceeded expectations.

"I would estimate that the machine is 25-35% faster than any other machine I have ever come across," says Byrnes.

Cycle time savings of this magnitude are critical if companies such as Croom Precision are to survive and prosper in what has become a global manufacturing marketplace.

"Unfortunately manufacturing in Ireland has been haemorrhaging overseas in recent years and we feel that the only way we can compete is to invest in the latest technology available." Other benefits that Byrnes cites as influential in machine selection include the AQ327L's ease of use.

Croom Precision has often suffered from losing trained operators to competitor companies in the past, but with the user-friendly nature of the Sodick, Byrnes says that a new operator can be trained in approximately half a day, hence negating the problem.

Other components to be machined on Croom's new AQ327L include punch and die sets for the aerospace industry.

Similarly to the medical components, these also constitute low volume, high complexity parts.

Although Croom Precision is currently only running a single shift, Byrnes feels that the amount of potential work in the pipeline will soon mean that the company will have to adopt a two, or even three-shift pattern, hence working the Sodick AQ327L even harder.

Fortunately this does not hold any fears for Byrnes.

"Since we bought our first Sodick in 1994 we have never had a problem with machine reliability," he confirms.

"The only problems we have experienced have been minor and Sodick was able to help us out over the phone".

"On the rare occasion this has not been possible, a Sodick engineer has been here the following day".

"Overall they have been tremendous.".

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