Muffett Gears boost productivity with Tornos
1 min read
Muffett Gears, a specialist manufacturer of gears, has been able to steer its way through the recession without sustaining any loss of staff or significant downturn to its business.
This has been credited to the company's investment in technology and a strategy that has seen it diversify into the medical, aerospace, hydraulic, marine and motorsport sectors, as well as the development of its own range of gearbox products.
Recent investment includes a Mori Seiki machining centre and a Tornos Gamma 20/6b sliding head turning centre, both acquired for the production of the Tunbridge Wells-based company's own range of worm gearboxes.
The Mori Seiki NV5000 VMC was acquired for the production of aluminium gearboxes while the Tornos Gamma 20/6b was purchased to machine the gears and worm gears that are housed within the aluminium casings.
Chief production engineer, Alan Kennard, comments: "We supply an ever increasing number of our own gearboxes. Each gearbox incorporates a number of individual components and many of these parts require complex operations on different machines. This situation has seen us historically run out of parts. So, we bought the machines to improve continuity of supply and to ensure we never run out of parts while significantly improving production times."
Putting some perspective on the potential cost reductions the Tornos is delivering; the company was previously machining bronze pins in a time of 20 minutes with four operations, on two machines, at a cost of £9 per pin. The parts are now produced on the Gamma in 1 minute 5 seconds, at a cost of 80p per pin.
"We can produce higher volumes and have now reduced cycle times of our gearboxes by over 50 per cent. We have projected a growth of approximately £400,000 for 2011 and without the two new machines, this targeted projection wouldn't be possible," concluded managing director Tony Smith.
