Pollard uses Miyano’s ABX turn-mill centre for multi-feature subcontract machining

Richard Pollard, financial director of the company that employs 46 people servicing the mining, aerospace, oil and general commercial sectors, explains: "We have always maintained an investment-led policy in order to continuously improve our competitiveness and have always planned to install at least one new machine tool each year. Following just five months of using the Miyano ABX, we have never before experience such a significant 'sea change' in our production." Foreman Mark Cummings explains: "We have so far tooled up four very complex components, but one particular multi-featured hydraulic spool now combines 10 previous separate operations into just two. On two other parts, each having three operations, these have been reduced to two and one, respectively, and a fourth part which previously had two operations is now produced in a single cycle. This has made my job so much easier in planning our workload and overcomes previous concerns where we had to pay so much attention to prevent loss of accuracy and geometric positional tolerances due to the number of relocations and resetting." Quality director Alan Pollard's view is that with the type of components being produced, the combination of features into a single cycle gives so much added security to production. "While the initial first-off inspection takes longer to perform due to the added complexity, it significantly reduces the need for so many first-off approvals for each separate operation - which can build up and cause major delays in setting."