Arterial credits Tornos machine tools with productivity gains and expansion
In 2005, Arterial UK invested in high specification machine tools and in particular the Tornos sliding head turning centres. The company has since expanded from working within the food and aerospace industries to developing successful partnerships with manufacturers in the defence, medical, oil & gas, hydraulics and electronics sectors.
Previous to the purchase, the production of a complex injector for the food industry involved up to five specialist subcontractors for completion costing in excess of £20,000 each month.
‘The production of this component gave us cost and logistics nightmares and it was the acquisition of a Tornos Deco 20a in April 2005 that enabled us to produce part in-house. All of a sudden we could produce the complete part on one machine with the exception of one brazing operation. From that point onwards we haven’t looked back as the Tornos not only solved a problem but opened new doors for us,’ states Arterial UK Director Mr David Ross.
Based near Poole, This growth has seen the Dorset based BTMA member move from a garage to a 10,000sq/ft facility within 5 years. The forward thinking company now has a dedicated line of machine tools committed to sub-spindle machining as well as a string of single spindle turning centres.
The company purchased a second Tornos in April 2006 at the Simodec exhibition. Ross states: ‘We opted for the machine with the specification to meet our exact needs. As the Sigma 20 is not fully loaded it has the capacity for longer parts in the 200 to 225mm length range and this now sees us using the machine for rods and spindle components. It was also available with the GE Fanuc 31 control as opposed to the Tornos TB Deco software and this proved appealing as the TB Deco has more capability than we required.’
The machines increased the capability range of this ISO 9000:2000 registered company to the extent that it won new customers and orders. The ability of the Tornos turning centres to run unmanned also increased capacity with the sub spindle section of the workshop moving to 24-hour operation. With Arterial’s capabilities, delivery times and product quality winning the attention of an increasing number of aerospace manufacturers the company gained AS9100 (aerospace manufacturing standard) accreditation in November 2007. The same month noted the acquisition of a further two Tornos turning centres.
‘Prior to AS9100 accreditation, we purchased a fixed head turning centre for machining up to the 42mm diameter range, however our workload continued to increase and we acquired our third Tornos, a Deco 26a with 32mm diameter capability. We bought this to release some of the capacity from our larger fixed head machine. It proved to be an excellent purchase as it further reduced our lead times and with greater accuracy levels than the fixed head machine, it improved our quality and confidence still further,’ states Ross.
Simultaneously Arterial acquired a Tornos Deco 13a as Mr Ross continues: ‘Our first two Tornos machines and the larger 42mm diameter capacity machine were dedicated to batches in the range of 50 to 5000 parts. The Deco 13a was specified for machining larger batch sizes of more than 100,000 parts. The 26a now shares the workload of the Deco 13a by machining nuts, spindles, bolts and rollers with complex milling and drilling operations and also releases capacity from the larger turning centres.
The elimination of secondary milling procedures has improved the quality of finished parts at Arterial as well as improved the company’s capabilities to meet its customers supply chain requirements such as JIT and Kan Bans whilst meeting its in-house SPC and right first time culture.
‘With our sub-spindle and sliding head section we can put bar stock into one end of the section and the machines deliver finished parts out of the other side. With complete parts rolling out of the machines we have impeccable quality levels and with our 24 hour running we can comfortably meet the lead time demands of the market with cost effective solutions,’ concludes Ross.
