Subcontractor Greenway Pepper orders a Bridgeport MV154 at MACH

The machine order was prompted by the production demands of a new contract that will involve between 80 and 90 components per month, with cycle times up to an hour each. The MV154 proved ideal for this application, with table loading of 500 kg and dimensions of 900 by 500 mm, coupled with axis strokes of 700 mm in X, 530 mm in Y and 560 mm in Z. The machine also has X, Y and Z traverse rates of 40, 40 and 36 m/min and acceleration of 7, 6 and 5 m/sec² respectively. Accuracy is high, at 0.008 mm helped by hand scraped slideways, however, the machine specification can be improved to 4 microns by incorporating the linear encoder option. Bridgeport is well known to Greenway Pepper's production team as they already have five Bridgeport VMCs and a GX600. Diversification has brought increased revenue to the subcontractor over the last couple of years, with a move from general subcontract work to being more focused in supplying the medical, defence, food and healthcare industries. As a result, turnover has grown by some 20 per cent to over £1 million, helped by a £250,000 investment in new equipment. Set up in 1998 Greenway has progressively grown from 10 to 25 people, producing parts from materials as diverse as copper, aluminium, stainless steel, brass and PTFE. With the new contract, which will provide long term gains, the company has confidence to invest and has already changed from single to double shift working to improve machine utilisation.