Nakamura-Tome mill-turns notch up seven orders in October for Turning Technologies

The company, part of The Engineering Technology Group, received orders for six machines from its WT ranges of twin-spindle, twin-turret, one-hit turning centres from customers in industries including aerospace, automotive and fluid systems. The seventh machine, an NTJ twin-spindle, twin-turret machine with a B-axis on the top turret, was ordered by Aylesbury-based subcontractor CNF Precision Engineering. The B-axis turret allows milling and drilling at an angle, giving the equivalent of 5-axis machining on a turning centre. Engineering Technology Group chairman Paul Rhodes said: "The signs in the market are very encouraging, especially for more sophisticated automated systems. I think we have been surprised at how much the automotive sector has come back this year – it has really stood up – and aerospace demand remains strong. In all these sectors the key requirement is to apply high technology machine tools, like Nakamuras, in a way that adds value to their manufacturing and gives them a competitive edge in global markets." CNF's managing director Neil Fearnley said: "The decisive factor for us was the time savings the B-axis turret gave over tool-changer machines. The job we bought the machine for is a brand new high technology product that is going to be marketed on a global basis. It has around 12 tool changes per part and we are saving around five or six seconds per tool change using the Nakamura NTJ machine. That adds up to a massive saving when you are making 100,000 parts per year. "This is our first Nakamura machine, but I was aware of their very good reputation. We also went to see a couple of machines in action at another company and saw that they were obviously very robust workhorses."