It was part of a team that won a silver award in BAE Systems' global 2014 Chairman's Award for Innovation. The award is made annually to BAE Systems' employees and partners worldwide who have shown 'outstanding behaviour, innovation or determination' to improve efficiency and drive down costs. The award ceremony was held in Washington DC in December 2014.
Techni-Grind's ongoing success in its 20-year tool regrinding service to BAE Systems is, says managing director David Higham, due to the company's exclusive use of Walter Helitronic tool grinders and Walter Helicheck tool measuring technology – supplied over the past ten years by Walter Ewag UK, a member of the United Grinding Group.
Higham explains that the cost reductions are being made on the regrinding of a range of rotary tools: "We are continually and consistently processing batches of tooling – HSS and carbide end mills and slot drills included – to very high and guaranteed standards for BAE Systems," he says.
"The ongoing process is made even more challenging due to the highly technical nature of the tools, typically incorporating features like cam relief clearances, unequal index of flutes and constantly varying core diameters. The machining of these complex geometries is overcome by the expert programming technology of our Walter tool grinders."
Adds the managing director: "We utilise the machines' Tool Studio software, in particular in conjunction with the Helicheck Basic tool measuring machine which we use to pre-measure each tool before regrinding to ensure we produce perfectly blended radii without any reductions on shank diameter."
Tool Studio allows operators to quickly and easily create tool machining and movement sequences.
The Helicheck Basic measures tools up to 320 mm diameter by 400 mm long to a repeatability of 1.5 micron and an absolute accuracy of +/- 2.2 microns. It is complemented at Techni-Grind by an array of five multi-axis CNC Walter tool grinders.
As part of its Tier One status with BAE Systems, Techni-Grind visits the client's nearby Salmesbury site every day to ensure a planned programme of regrinds is maintained. The company also services sites at Brough and Barrow-in-Furness as part of the Supplier Excellence Programme.
Higham concludes: "The aerospace industry demands continuity of quality; the customer has to be certain that when a cutter has a regrind it will be as good as new, time-after-time. The cutters are not checked by the customer, so they need to have faith in our processes. Our Walter technology ensures we can constantly meet those demands."
