It should be part of any shop’s strategy to identify areas for improvement, regardless of the size or speciality. This should be an ongoing exercise. We realised this a few years back, and embarked on a new phase in the company’s history whereby we are now all about bringing processes in-house so as to accelerate delivery times while better serving our clientele. If a particular sub-assembly needs new pins and bushes I want to be able to make them in-house.
A new Leadwell V-60iT 5-axis machining center with a Siemens 828D control that has recently been installed by WD Hearn.
Of course implementing this strategy also means that costs are contained and this is a saving we can pass on to clients.
In the machining department we had always relied on our trusty conventional equipment. That was up until 2004 when we purchased our first two Feeler CNC lathes from Craft Machine Tools. This was the beginning of the new phase of the business – the CNC equipment expanded our capabilities and made our operations more productive.
However the lathe work restricted us and we made a conscious decision to go the milling route and purchase some CNC machining centres. By 2008 we had another four CNC machines on the floor, all of them Leadwells supplied by WD Hearn. Besides turning and milling operations we could now offer drilling work.
StrucMAC is known for manufacturing and refurbishing large components and sub-assemblies.
We now have five Leadwells on the floor and 16 CNC machines in total. Just installed a couple of months ago is a Leadwell V-60iT 5-axis machining center with a Siemens 828D control. The V-60iT is a new 5-axis model featuring a 630mm integrated tilting rotary table and a 26kW, 12 000 rpm ceramic/steel hybrid bearing spindle motor.
This is over and above the two Leadwell V-40L high speed linear way machining centers, the heavy duty Leadwell MCV-1500 box way vertical machining center with BT-50 and Siemens control, and the Leadwell LTC-35CXL M turning center with C-axis, live tools and 2 000mm turning length that were installed over the last 18 months.
By performing more services than generally found in a single discipline job shop, some of the business risk is spread over a group of jobs rather than just one. It has also cultivated customer loyalty.
For further details on what StrucMAC can offer you, call us on 011 822 2399.
