Apperley Honing and Arthur-Sanders (Cheltenham) become Apperley Honing Machines

Apperley Honing has been in business for more than 40-years and, during that time, has built up considerable knowledge in subcontract honing, specialising in both hand honing of small sized parts and tube honing of large cylinders. It can process parts with bore sizes as small as 3 mm and as large as 750 mm, with its largest tube hones able to finish cylinders up to 15 m in length. Mr Sanders set up Arthur-Sanders (Cheltenham) in 2008, helped by David Arthur, managing director of Delapena Honing Equipment. "One of the principal reasons for bringing the two companies together is so that the machine tool customers can benefit from the subcontract honing company's experience," explained Mr Sanders. "Customers who are new to honing can start by subcontracting the work to us and then, when volumes build, they can move the entire, proven production process into their own works as a turn-key package, including tooling, gauging, fixtures and training. We can even supply them with the necessary consumables to keep running with minimal fuss and disruption." He thanked Mr Arthur and his team at Delapena for their support, but added: "I now feel the time is right for us to take a slightly different direction. I know that Apperley Honing Machines goes forward with his [David Arthur's] blessing and this move will allow us to be fully independent." Mr Sanders explained that Apperley Honing Machines would be able to assist companies looking to install their own, used honing machines by offering them the same levels of service as people would expect when buying new. "Honing is often perceived to be a tricky and mysterious procedure and we want to demystify this so users of the machines we supply will benefit from our expertise," he said. "Buying a used machine was akin to buying flat-pack furniture, only to find, when you got it home, there were no instructions. We aim to change all of that." Mr Sanders offers that the engineering scene in the UK is rapidly changing and he sees this acquisition as a positive move to embrace these changes. "It's no secret that much of the heavy industry in the UK is going overseas. As a honing company, we have found our services are being required abroad more and more. "In recent months, we have completed a £70, 000 contract to supply a Delapena tube hone and staff training in Bangalore, India, as well as the supply of a Sunnen CH-100 line hone to Sweden, and a Sunnen MBB1660 hand-hone to a customer that builds Kart engines in Fremantle, Australia. I only see the demand for this type of work expanding over the next 18 months."