Product category:
General Machining Subcontracting Services
News Release from: Unicut Precision | Subject: Turning
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 May 2007
Subcontract turning company expands
services
Subcontract machinist, Unicut Precision, acquired the loss-making subcontract turning company A J Clarke in December 2005, and has made it profitable.
When precision subcontract machinist Unicut Precision based in Welwyn Garden City acquired the loss-making subcontract turning company A J Clarke (Automatic Machinists) of Bourne End, Buckinghamshire in December 2005, Unicut was riding the crest of the wave Sales were up on 2004 by 28 per cent with some 40 per cent of orders taken from export contracts in the US, Canada and Germany
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 30 Apr 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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It was the capability of subcontract machinist to provide single operation turning solutions that took some 20 per cent out of the price of gas fire burner heads and ensured total consistency.
Machine tool investment pays off for subcontractor
Unicut Precision's investment programme in the latest mill/turning technology has paid-off enabling the company to meet market changes and as a result grow sales by 18 per cent during 2003.
In that year the two directors Jason Nicholson and Charles Kenny had just completed a project to double the floor space in the Welwyn Garden City machine shop to 12,500 ft2 by taking on the building next door and at that time 18 people were employed.
Unicut has benefited from its investment led strategy by continuously updating its production capability and maintaining a policy of no machines being older than five years.
Indeed, in 2006 the company broke GBP4 million in turnover and GBP750,000 was invested in new equipment that has helped fuel a further 10 percent increase in sales in the first quarter of 2007 against the same period last year.
Further reading
CNC sliding head lathe ousts five cam automatics
Within six weeks of acquiring A J Clarke (Automatic Machinists), Unicut Precision has ordered a new CNC sliding head lathe to replace five traditional cam automatics.
Production software covers two machining sites
All production operations are now fully integrated between two machining sites for quotation, order processing, purchases, material and tooling, CNC, programs, drawings and work scheduling.
Subcontractor invests in systems integration
To raise productivity a small precision parts machinist has invested some GBP 25,000 in an integrated central communications and production management system.
While automation of the business is high on the agenda, the head count is now 23 people.
By the end of 2006, the two directors had turned A J Clarke into a marginal profit and are continuing to build the business as a sister company.
Maintains Mr Kenny: "We are using our experiences at Unicut to move the business forward.
We spent a long time analysing the operational history to understand the business and its customers which is a lot to absorb when you must at any cost, not lose sight of the importance of the Unicut operation".
Unicut produces multi-featured mostly very complex components for the medical, aerospace, automotive, brewing, computing, oil and gas, telecommunications and valve sectors while A J Clarke supplies fastenings, leisure industry, electronics, switchgear, connector, furniture components and automotive related industries.
At Unicut there are 18 CNC mill/turn centres installed, of which 14 are Citizen CNC sliding head autos.
There are also two Star sliding head machines, a Miyano ABX-64 TH2 and BNJ-42 multi-axis turning centres.
There is also a Durr Minio programmable component cleaning system and an integrated materials handling system, while the latest acquisition, an OGP SmartScope Flash 200, fully integrated touch probe and non-contact video 3-D inspection centre, is now fully operational.
A J Clarke has three CNC machines, a recently installed Citizen L20 that replaced five cam autos, a Citizen C16 and a Miyano BNJ compact turning centre.
In addition, there is an installed base of cam autos and special purpose machines dedicated to second operation work.
Second operation machining is taboo in the mind of Unicut directors and everything produced at Welwyn Garden City is against a one-hit strategy.
But here, Mr Nicholson says that work has been exchanged between the two sites that is more suitable to the installed equipment.
In the longer term the one-hit strategy will be applied right across the two companies.
However, in Mr Nicholson's view the first priority is to instigate business practices and a shift system at A J Clarke, invest in the 14 strong workforce and its training.
Both these factors have been a major contributor to Unicut's successful operation.
While Unicut runs around-the-clock to a continental shift system and unmanned at night, A J Clarke works to an eight hour day with overtime plus Saturday morning.
"We have very skilled cam auto setters and we are progressively training them on CNC ready for the new equipment - batches are getting shorter and if you have the ability think and plan ahead to reset quickly, as we operate in Unicut, have the right type of machine, management and support, you can compete," he says.
Early in 2006 Unicut directors installed a PSL Datatrack production software system from Prospec Systems of Windlesham in the A J Clarke factory and integrated the system with the existing installation made in 2004 at Welwyn Garden City.
As a result, all production operations are now fully integrated between the sites for quotation, order processing, purchases, deliveries and material stocks, tooling, CNC programs, drawings and work scheduling.
In addition, invoicing, operational performance and traceability is now incorporated throughout the business.
There are servers at both sites with nine terminals at Welwyn and six at A J Clarke.
At Welwyn a complete system for bar handling, storage and transport to each machine was installed in 2006 which, through Datatrack, is monitored against order and delivery and is organised for placement alongside each machine in time for setting.
Also at Welwyn, a fully automated tool dispensing system was installed in January and linked into Datatrack to monitor tool usage against each job and automatically re-order as stocks are used.
The 'point-of-use' AutoCrib 2000 gives access to 2,500 individual items which seems a lot for a subcontractor, but it has to be borne in mind some machines such as the Citizen M32 sliding head lathes can carry up to 80 tools, the Miyano ABX-64 TM2-36 tools.
Each employee at Unicut has a swipe card and enters the works order number via a bar code reader to obtain tooling, toolholders and safety products.
The system also records return transactions and provides full traceability where and when the items have been used.
"We are also able to check tool availability and order new tools when programming a new job," said Mr Kenny.
In March, to meet the biggest order book ever, two Citizen K16s and an additional Citizen L20 worth GBP250,000 were installed to meet the demands of a new aerospace contract from the US - this brings the total number of new machines installed to 21 of which 16 have been Citizen.
To speed first-off inspection, monitor production and automatically collate inspection reports and statistical process data, the installation of the OGP SmartScope has proven its worth especially when parts having 60 or more dimensions have to be checked.
"What has proven to be worthwhile is the monitoring of burrs and sharp edges," says Mr Nicholson.
"We tend to build deburring into the machining cycle to eliminate additional work so we are now able to quickly check at any time, that we are maintaining the level of quality and by removing the edges automatically via the machine program it is not open to personal interpretation".
"Also because we have so many features on parts requiring geometric relationships we can quickly access these are within tolerance as well as checking the setting of contours, radii, blends and most difficult on a shadow graph, intersection points," he says.
According to Mr Kenny: "Throughout 2007, the focus of the business will be to introduce more automation and provide a slicker operation between the two companies".
Offline programming is high on the agenda for purchase with a design module - but Mr Nicholson has found, the sliding head sector is not well supported in CADCAM.
He says: "It's still seen as a niche but we need to be slicker in getting everything to the machine, minimising set up time and creating a situation of maximum machine utilisation".
He maintains: "We already have most of the elements in place, we have sourced equipment to give us the most consistent production and competitive pricing, our teams of people are well-trained and a key part of the business - but we dare not stand still".
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