600 Centre Airbus installation goes live

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600 Centre of Shepshed has installed and commissioned a 4-machine flexible manufacturing system (FMS) at the Airbus site at Filton near Bristol.

The project will produce key titanium components such as pylon brackets on the wings of the A320 Airbus. The project, under the control of 600 Centre’s recently appointed technical director David Holden, involves four Toyoda Mitsui Seiki HU80A machining centres. Two are HU80A 4-axis machines and two, HU80A-5X 5-axis trunnion versions. Included in the project is a 20 pallet Fastems workhandling system with two work setting stations and tool transfer via two 7-axis robots involving a central tool store with a capacity of over 1,000 tools. The FMS also incorporates the latest FSE 200 bar, Ultra Jet high pressure coolant system. The Toyoda Mitsui Seiki HU80A horizontal machining centres have a working envelope of 1,200 mm in X, 950 mm in Y and 900 mm in Z with an 800 mm pallet size. However, the five-axis HU80A-5X has increased Y- and Z-axis strokes of 1,000 mm and 1,050 mm, respectively, with the addition of a +10° to –110° swivelling A-axis.