System 3R adds offers flexibility and fast change-overs for medical parts maker

The orthopaedic ring fixator system is an external stainless steel modular framework, invented in the mid-1950s by eminent Russian surgeon Gavril Abramovich Ilizarov and after who the technique is named. The Ilizarov system is used in surgical procedures to lengthen or reshape limb bones; to treat complex and/or open bone fractures; and in cases of infected non-unions of bones that are not amenable with other techniques. All the elements of the system are made by Dixons and consist of stainless steel rings and half-rings, heavy-gauge wire pins, threaded rods and adjustable nuts. "The increased demand for the ring fixator system from an orthopaedic customer was instrumental in our purchase of a new Mazak VMC 410A-II vertical machining centre," explains managing director Jay Dixon. "It was also obvious that we had to increase our flexibility and productivity in order to meet our customers' lead time requirements, so we chose the Delphin zero-point tooling from System 3R. "This allowed us to substantially reduce changeover time between jobs. With over 20 different sizes of fixator rings and half-rings, Delphin was the answer to improving productivity and competitiveness." Not only that, but Delphin also gave Dixons the guaranteed positional accuracy that would prove vital if an emergency job needed to be slotted in at a moment's notice. "There is no doubt that Delphin gives us far more flexibility in our scheduling, that means we can react very quickly to our customers' requests which enhances our customer service delivery," Mr Dixon adds. Dixons' philosophy is to keep as much of its production in-house and an earlier purchase of an Agie-Charmilles FI440CC wire eroder encouraged the company to buy Macro pallets from System 3R to give them with workholding capabilities that matched the increased complexity of the parts that were being produced. "We used to make our own jigs in-house, but the need to work to tighter tolerances in the manufacture of more complex shapes and profiles led us to seek the highest precision tooling and fixturing, and we found Macro fitted the bill. It not only gives us the assured repeatable accuracy that our customers want, but also has a wide range of components that provide an exceptionally clever workholding system with which we can grow, as we take on even more complex work," explains Mr Dixon. "Our investment in high precision machines to provide the quality of work that we produce demands the highest quality of precision tooling and workholding – that's why we rely on System 3R."