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News Release from: Star Micronics GB
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 08 May 2008
Star sells GBP 1 million of CNC
automatic lathes
During the UK's recent MACH 2008 machine tool exhibition, Star Micronics GB sold CNC sliding head automatic lathes worth over GBP 1 million and expects many more orders to result.
Star Micronics GB reported that it took orders for over GBP 1 million during the recent MACH 2008 show Orders had reached GBP 500,000 during the UK show's first two days
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 14 Jul 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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managing director of Star Micronics GB, Bob Hunt, said that the the high quality of some of the enquiries taken on the Star stand made him expect MACH-bsed orders would yet increase substantially.
Hunt said that in spite of decades of 'unremitting penetration' of the turning market by CNC sliding-head automatic lathes, there are still a lot of manufacturers and subcontractors that can yet profit from using such multi-axis machinesd on parts up to 32mm diameter.
Star Micronics GB said that such companies fall generally into two categories.
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Magazine feeds small diameter, full-length bars
Designed for feeding sliding-head and fixed-head automatic lathes with bar in the diameter range 2 to 16 mm, the new Turbo 2-16 has been added to the lower end of FMB's standard bar magazine range.
1 - Cam automatic lathe users looking for greater accuracy and one-hit machining to reduce labour costs.
2 - Users of fixed-head CNC automatic lathes who realise that sliding-head machine cycles can be much faster, even on short parts.
Specialist in centreless bar grinding and CNC turning, Microplus Engineering, Stourbridge, UK, placed the first MACH order for a Star SR-20RIII, on the first day within hours of the show opening.
Adam Marshall and his father, Alan Marshall, managing director, had been using fixed-head lathes up to 42mm diameter capacity.
Microplus now intend to extend its service into high-accuracy CNC milling and turning of shaft-type, mild steel and stainless steel components and had decided that Star was the best option.
The company is in the middle of an expansion phase and will double its grinding capacity from 3m to 6m.
* Hydraulics company buys first sliding head lathe - also on the first day, Gerald Gosnay, managing director of Hydraulic System Products (HSP), bought a Star SR-32JN.
The 32mm diameter capacity model will be the first sliding-head lathe to be installed at the Wakefield, UK, company.
The Star SR-32JN does not have a guide bush, which HSP did not need as most of its parts are 50mm in length or shorter.
As the headstock is able to grip the bar very close to the point of machining, only a short remnant is left, resulting in big material savings, said Star Micronics GB.
Gosnay said: "All components that go into our hydraulic products need a second operation.
Until now we have been achieving one-hit production on fixed-head, twin-spindle lathes with a single turret".
He continued: "Cutting trials on the Star showed a 50% reduction in machining time through the ability to machine the front and back of components simultaneously".
* Automotive fasteners firm buys Star SV-32 - Pontefract, UK-based Philidas produces automotive fasteners from small batches to 'millions-off'.
The company uses 14 labour-intensive, cam-type, multi-spindle automatics, some of which are over 50 years old.
They run 8h/day at the company's works.
The company said that while components are becoming more complex, sometimes requiring five or six separate operations, it faces increasing competition from the Far East.
The foregoing were the reasons why Steve Webley, CNC team leader at Philidas, ordered a Star SV-32.
He said it would do the work of six machines, that is, of one single-spindle fixed-head lathe and five multi-spindle automatics.
He said Phildas would realise an eight-fold space saving on the shop floor, while labour costs would be reduced by largely unattended 24/5 running of the Star.
Also cycles on the CNC sliding-head lathe will be on average twice as fast as on the firm's three fixed-head CNC lathes.
* Automotive subcontractor buys its second Star SR-32J - only two months after buying its first SR-32J CNC sliding head automatic lathe, automotive subcontractor, Auto Turned Products (ATP) of Northampton, UK, placed an order for a second Star SR-32J through its technical director, John Dent.
ATP uses 16 cam-operated multi-spindle automatic lathes and 40 turret-type automatic lathes as well as five high-specification fixed-head CNC lathes.
The company had found that second operations after conventional turning had risen to such an extent that single set-up machining on a Star mill-turn centre was needed to maintain competitiveness.
Said Dent: "What surprised me was just how easy to program, reliable and repeatable the first Star is.
We come in every morning to a bin full of close-tolerance, complex parts after an unmanned ghost shift overnight".
He said that one component in particular has resulted in big labour cost savings and improved quality, namely the locking feature on wheel nuts, which ATP supply to Land Rover and Jaguar, including ones for the new Jaguar XF.
Dent explained; "Previously produced in two set-ups on a fixed-head CNC lathe and a machining centre, the component is now produced in one cycle on an SR-32J to very high accuracy, despite the toughness of the material".
Another subcontractor, Newtech High Speed Turning of Widnes, UK ordered a Star SB-16C through its Alan Riley at MACH 2008.
The subcontractor wanted to expand its CNC turning capacity, which until now had comprised three fixed-head lathes for producing parts up to 180mm diameter.
Although the company is new to sliding-head technology, Riley had had previous experience of using Star machines.
Newtech had identified opportunities to win new business by focusing on smaller diameter, shaft-type components of greater complexity.
The Star SB-16C will initially be used for machining electrical connectors and catering industry components in batches of from 200-100,000-off.
The CNC sliding-head automatic lathe will allow Newtech to get work from the medical industry, in particular the manufacture of orthopaedic components.
Hunt commented: "Many of the subcontractors that became customers back in the 1990s now use Star machines counted well into double digits - firms like Techno Group and Qualiturn in England and Tercet and Bonspiel in Scotland".
He concluded: "It is obvious what the potential benefits are to Star GB of the new customers that ordered machines from us at MACH.
We play our part too by guaranteeing that they are successful.
We do this by providing a personal service, from industry-leading applications engineering before the order is placed right through to comprehensive training and after sales service.".
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