Production on the boil

Hull-based Ideal Boilers has recently created an advanced flow-line, manufacturing cell for the volume production of two new condensing boiler ranges: one for commercial use, the other for domestic applications. As the company anticipates significant levels of global sales for these two ranges, Ideal's new manufacturing unit has been designed to cater not only for the projected high throughput of parts, but also to have the flexibility to allow a wide range of components to be manufactured simultaneously. A key element of the new cell is a Heller MC 25 pallet pool machining centre (0121 275 3302). "As our new high volume cell will be taking raw casting directly from our own foundry, a comprehensive range of plant and machine tools was required to enable the rapid production of high quality finished components," explains Ian Faber, Ideal Boiler's production director. "Because the largest proportion of our capital expenditure was allocated to the purchase of a high throughput, accurate machining centre, and mindful of our previous experience with an existing Heller machine, we approached Heller Machine Tools with a list of our requirements. Image: Ideal Boilers wasn't looking for a pre-used machining centre, but Heller Machine Tools suggested it, offering warranties and reassurances, as with a new machine "Heller's response was to suggest the purchase of a reconditioned MC 25 machining centre. Although we had not previously considered a pre-used option, impressed by the assurances received, the machine's extended warranty, the unit's competitive price and, not least, the promised performance of the machine, we chose to purchase the MC 25. We anticipate a rapid payback on our investment of less than 12 months." Given the current economic situation, the purchase of a fully guaranteed, factory reconditioned machining centre direct from Heller's manufacturing plant in Redditch is becoming an increasingly popular choice, it is reported. Standel Dawman has recently invested more than £750,000 in CNC machine tools to support the expected significant market growth for its recently launched Greenhill range of electric golf trolleys. Formed in 1952 as a specialist plastics moulding company, Barrowford, Lancashire-based Standel Dawman has more recently focused on the supply of products to the major manufacturers of golf trolleys around the world. "Our association with the world of golf began back in 1978," says production director Gary Dawes. "It was then that we manufactured our first wheels for an electric golf trolley. Since then, we have worked with a number of OEMs, helping to develop a range of products for that market that includes gearboxes, clutches, speed controllers and axles." STAGGERING NUMBERS The numbers are staggering, with more than two million wheels, one million clutches, 200,000 gearboxes and hundreds of thousands of other components, including axles and speed controllers, being manufactured at the company's 30,000 ft2 premises. The thought of manufacturing its own golf trolley range had been around for many years, but was ultimately prompted by an influx of cheap products from low labour-cost economies, leading to the demise of some Western trolley manufacturers, some of which were customers for Standel Dawman components. So the company took the major decision to begin manufacturing its own brand of electric golf trolleys, called Greenhill. "Many of the components used in the manufacture of trolleys are sourced in the Far East, China in particular," says Mr Dawes. "Our experience told us tha,t to be competitive and quickly gain a presence in this market, we had to be different, so we took the conscious decision to become self-sufficient; we design and manufacture as much as possible in-house, hence the requirement for the investment in the Mazak machines, which we are using both for component manufacture, and the machining of moulds and dies for the plastic mouldings." The latest Mazak machines (01905 755 755) to be installed are two Mazak vertical Centre Nexus 410A-II vertical machining centres. These feature a 900 by 410 mm table that is large enough to accept the mould tools that Standel Dawman has to machine, while the 36 m/min rapid traverse rates and 12,000 rpm, 18.5 kW spindle are ideal for the volume manufacture of components, such as hinges and various other workings found in its Greenhill golf trolleys. Image: Parts for Standel Dawman's golf trolleys are made competitively on Mazak machine tools The majority of these are programmed at the machine, using the Mazatrol conversational programming language contained in the Matrix Nexus control system. Offline programming is only used for the more complex mould tools. "We find the control system extremely easy to use and it allows us to get parts into production very quickly," explains the production director. These two machines are among a total of six Mazaks that are helping Standel Dawman to remain competitive and address the challenges posed by low-cost manufacturers. "We are targeting a 10 per cent share of the global market for electric golf trolleys within the next two to three years," Mr Dawes underlines. "Achieving this will be testament to our decision to manufacture here in the UK and to the investment we have made in our manufacturing facility, with the Mazak machines playing a major part in that success." UNMANNED CONFIDENCE At Sterling Products, a full-CNC XYZ 1010 VMC, equipped with Siemens 810D ShopMill control, has joined several CNC/manual mills and lathes also supplied by XYZ Machine Tools (01823 674200) to help the company manufacture moulds used to vacuum form plastics packaging for a wide range of industries. The seven-strong company, located in Bridgwater, Somerset, machines moulds from solid, rather than source raw castings, because, says director Dave Bowyer, "this way we retain complete control of the production process. By not waiting on raw castings to be delivered, we can save ourselves up to 48 hours – which is worthwhile, as we are often working to very tight deadlines". Prototype moulds machined from model resin are used to produce sample packaging in-house, which is then submitted to the customer for checking and approval. Once a packaging design has been finalised, a production mould can then be machined in aluminium. "Having a machine with the capacity of the 1010 VMC allows us to load, say, a dozen workpieces on its 1,200 by 450 mm table, download the required programs and then run the machine unattended overnight and at weekends," says director Steve Riddle. "We come in to find that the job, which may involve machining several identical moulds for one customer or any combination of moulds for several customers, has been completed and the machine has turned itself off. This is how we stay competitive and maintain our business at a comfortable size." Image: Sterling Products' XYZ vertical machining centre is used to machine moulds from solid material. By not waiting on raw castings to be delivered, it says that it can save up to 48 hours – important when short deadlines are the demand Although the machine's Siemens ShopMill control features simple conversational programming, anything other than relatively simple moulds or general machining work is programmed off-line – the company being introduced to CADCAM by XYZ Machine Tools. Using a network link from the PC to the machine, programs can be copied to the control system's internal storage or executed directly from the computer's hard drive. And rather than store NC programs, the original model information is kept on file to provide the basis for new programs that take account of any subsequent 'design tweaks'.