New technology to cut processing time for aerospace and automotive components

A new horizontal machining centre with 10-pallet pool is slashing throughput times for aerospace and automotive components.

Subcontract machinist BCW has installed the Japanese-built Okuma MB5000H machine to add capacity for producing high precision components for the aerospace, automotive and off-road vehicle sectors.

The machining cell was delivered by UK agent, NCMT, to BCW’s new, 30,000 sq ft unit opened in October 2014 on the Innovation Drive aerospace supply park in Burnley.

Tony Kilfoyle, group engineering director said, “One aluminium aerospace part we machined on another make of twin-pallet HMC took 23 minutes to complete, whereas the Okuma finished it in well under half the time, taking just 11 minutes.

“The reduction is partly due to being able to present a component on its pallet to the spindle more quickly, as it comes out of the pallet pool already fixtured, so set-up does not delay the start of the next cycle. Changeover is therefore limited to the automatic pallet change time, which is no more than 35 seconds.

“Once the part is being machined, the cycle is quicker because idle times are short due to the 60 m/min rapids in the linear axes and 2.5 seconds tool change. Additionally, the in-cut elements of the cycle are shorter, as metal removal is fast with the 26 kW / 15,000 rpm spindle.”

Large reductions in machining times are evident across many aerospace and automotive parts produced in the cell by BCW for such well-known companies as Airbus, Safran Aircell, Messier Dowty, GKN Driveline, JLR, Ford and Aston Martin. The subcontractor is a first-tier supplier to many of them, developing and supplying prototypes as well as delivering production components to tight schedules.

The machine 40-taper, 4-axis machine has 500 x 500 mm pallets and a machining volume of 760 mm3. Two extra pallets was included in the purchase, enabling 12 different fixtures to be set up at any one time.

With 10 pallets normally available, three jobs at a time are typically scheduled through the cell, each occupying three pallets, leaving one free station to fulfil low-volume, rush jobs. Established by Paul Biggs, Alec Cassie (Managing Director) and Andy Wheelan in 2002, BCW is the winner of many local awards, not least due to its rapid growth to £20 million annual turnover, generated by 124 employees. Another new factory is being built, adjacent to the existing premises on Innovation Drive, which is due for completion in March 2015 and will be dedicated to aerospace machining.

Its centrepiece will be the group’s biggest machine to date, a 70-tonne Makino MCD2016 twin-pallet, 5-axis HMC with a 2,000 x 1,600 x 1,500 mm working envelope.

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