Saturday, November 11, 2006

Tool management system halves costs

Yorkshire Fittings, a leading manufacturer of fittings and valves, has more than halved its monthly tooling costs as a result of installing a Tool Management System from Burcas.

Yorkshire Fittings, a leading manufacturer of fittings and valves for the plumbing and HVAC industries, has more than halved its monthly tooling costs as a result of installing a tool management system from Burcas. The system which was installed two years ago, and holds in the region of 580 different tooling items, is providing significant benefits to the company in several ways as Purchasing Manager, Paul Connolley, explains; 'We have a busy factory and we use a significant amount of tooling stock every month. In order to avoid out-of-stock situations, which could potentially have caused delays, we used to hold an excess of tools - a position that was aggravated by the very long lead times for certain items.

This meant that it was very difficult to control the amount of tooling we were holding and also increased the costs of holding stock.

In addition the administration of raising tooling purchase orders added no value within the supply chain and was in fact an additional cost.

It was clear that we needed a tool management system to give us better control and flexibility - so we searched the market for potential suppliers, but only Burcas offered us a real solution.' The Burcas System consists of a series of metal cabinets, which are located close to where the tooling will be used; each of which contains a set of numbered drawers.

Each drawer is given a reference number, relating to a particular tool item, for example a drill bit of a particular size, and contains space for the required number of those items, which in the case of Yorkshire Fittings varies between five and one hundred, including safety stock.

Each week a Burcas representative arrives on site to check and replenish the tools in the cabinets.

The implementation at Yorkshire Fittings created a smooth change-over between the original arrangement and the new system, with the Burcas cabinets at first being filled with stock already held by Yorkshire Fittings and being replenished from that stock until it was exhausted, after which it was replaced by new stock from Burcas.

During this time Burcas provided a reporting facility, enabling Yorkshire Fittings to make a more accurate assessment of its real tooling usage, and this incremental improvement in stock holding has been continuing throughout the two years that the system has been in operation.

Paul concludes; 'The system is vendor managed, making it really simple for us to operate.

It provides stock replenishment within 24 hours if required, but more usually through the regular weekly visits from Burcas, who also hold duplicate stocks.

The system provides us with three major benefits; firstly it allows us to control our tooling - so releasing capital that was previously tied up in unnecessary stock, secondly it saves us administrative time, because we now have a single source supply for these items and it cuts out the need to raise purchase orders, and thirdly, we do not have to pay for tools until we use them.

So, using the Burcas system, we can be very lean with our tooling costs, while being confident that we will not suffer from delays due to stock-outs - all of which allows us to provide a better service to our factory and ultimately our customers.'

Certified repair and overhaul composite components

Brookhouse Composites, of Darwen, Lancashire, has been formally approved by the Federal Aviation Administration as a certified repair station complying with FAR Part 145 certification.

Brookhouse Composites, of Darwen, Lancashire, has been formally approved by the Federal Aviation Administration as a certified repair station complying with FAR Part 145 certification. The approval allows Brookhouse to repair and overhaul composite components on US-registered aircraft on behalf of OEMs and airlines. The company already holds EASA Part 145 qualification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The FAA is responsible for the safety of civil aviation and for the airworthiness of US-registered aircraft and, as such, issues and enforces regulations and minimum standards covering manufacturing, operating and maintaining aircraft.

The EASA is similarly charged with maintaining the level of aviation safety in Europe and beyond.

With its dual certification, Brookhouse can now provide local repair facilities to aircraft operators irrespective of the aircraft's country of registration.

Brookhouse Composites is a company within Brookhouse, an organisation totally focused on the aerospace sector, providing solutions in composites.

In addition to its repair facilities, Brookhouse offers a design and manufacturing facility for composites tooling, as well as a capability for design, prototyping, manufacture, testing and finishing of complete composite components.

As a result, Brookhouse can offer its global customers a global facility to take responsibility for complete parcels of composites' development and manufacture projects.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Thread mills, die sinkers, hollow mills, cutters

Burcas manufactures a wide range specialised cutting products including thread mills, die sinkers, hollow mills, rotor blade cutters, step drills, step reamers and spline cutters.

Burcas manufactures a wide range specialised cutting products including thread mills, die sinkers, hollow mills, rotor blade cutters, step drills, step reamers and spline cutters, with the largest proportion of the special cutters division products being hacksaw / bandsaw milling cutters. These cutters are produced in particle metallurgy high speed steels in a wide variety of diameters and lengths according to the application and machine. Burcas cutters are utilised to machine all types of bandsaw forms including vari-pitch, hook and positive rake.

The company also produces hacksaw cutters that manufacture fretsaw blades with a pitch as fine as 120TPI.

The majority of cutters are produced with a spiral lead, but when the customer does not have the capability to regrind spirals Burcas interlocks the cutters enabling them to be set up with all cutting faces parallel for regrinding or staggered for cutting.

The company also interlocks spiral fluted cutters when the customer requires a length of cut greater than 330mm (13').

Burcas designs the cutting geometry of the cutter around the customer desired finish form and all cutters are verified by machining a test piece.

Surface grinding service after internet auction

Pontypridd-based precision toolmakers FSG Tool and Die, is now the proud possessor of a large 1300 x 700mm capacity, Proth surface grinding machine, successfully purchased at an internet auction.

Pontypridd-based precision toolmakers FSG Tool and Die, is now the proud possessor of a large 1300 x 700mm capacity, Proth surface grinding machine, successfully purchased at an internet auction. Operations Director, David Jones, takes up the story; 'We had never participated in an internet auction before, and I have to admit we went into it with a bit of trepidation. It is our policy for what we term our 'primary equipment' to purchase from new, but for support machines it sometimes makes economic sense to make exceptions.

In the case of the Proth we were looking to replace an existing machine, so we knew exactly what we wanted and had the space already allocated, so we made a judgment call, that, in this instance, the internet could offer a good purchasing method.' Having learnt that a suitable machine was for sale, FSG made enquiries both from the auctioneers and from other sources about its age and condition of the machine, before bidding.

It would have been possible to view the machine before the auction, but in this particular case the company did not think that was necessary as all reports were very favourable.

The auction process itself was very simple, with the winning bidders being informed by email within minutes of their success, after which they had one week to arrange collection of the machine.

In this case the auction house had its own logistics department which arranged for delivery and positioning of the machine at FSG's location - where it was hard at work grinding the next day.

David Jones concludes; 'The internet auction experience has been very positive and we would certainly consider using it again for appropriate items of equipment.'

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Access to tooling and moulding operations

ARRK has created a whole new UK Tooling Division to meet and support the need for access to a greater network of Tooling and Moulding operations.

With the growing demand from UK customers to have greater access to a wider network of Tooling and Moulding operations both at home and overseas, ARRK has created a whole new UK Tooling Division to meet and support this need. Having acquired many well established tooling and moulding companies over the past 14 months, whilst enhancing our own existing tooling operations, ARRK PDG is now able to unveil a tooling package to suit the most demanding of projects! To oversee the continued growth of ARRK UK's Tooling Division, three new appointments have been made to provide the backbone and support for its successful operation. ARRK has announced the appointments of Steve Haley, as Tooling and Moulding General Manager based at Teesside, John Westwood, as a Regional Tooling Specialist and Shannon Maurice as Programme Manager.

Bill Pe-ad and Norman Hoggett, who have been supporting ARRK's Tooling customers for some years now, will be supporting customers in the South East and the North respectively.

This new division sees the ARRK Teesside Tooling facility acting as the technical for all Tooling project co-ordination and import tooling inspection, modification and trialling.

With facilities now being used in Hungary, Poland, Germany, France, India, Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan all import tools will be validated at our Teesside facility before being released to end parties.

With many of ARRK's sites now performing to automotive and medical specifications utilising many industry standards, ARRK's new set-up makes for an ideal choice for UK customer seeking new and more competitive tooling suppliers with access to facilities globally.

With resources overseas for them to use - without the resource and expense of co-ordinating it themselves - ARRK offers the customer cost efficient solutions with significant benefits through choice, capacity, flexibility and by delivering parts on time, to budget and to supplied specification.

Steve Haley, Tooling and General Manager, aims to take Teesside's Tooling facility to the next level of operational and technical performance, making it a Technical Centre Show piece.

'Along with my new and existing tooling colleagues at Teesside, we are looking forward to the challenge of exploring new market opportunities and developing a product to market phenomenon.'

Product development at Farnborough Air Show

Four of ARRK's leading product development specialist businesses are set to join forces and take part in the UK's most prestigious aerospace trade show - Farnborough International Airshow.

Four of ARRK's leading product development specialist businesses are set to join forces and take part in the UK's most prestigious aerospace trade show - Farnborough International Airshow. Running between 17th - 23rd July 2006, ARRK PDG, NPL Technologies, P+Z Engineering and ARRK Technical Services will be exhibiting their design, technical resource, engineering, test and analysis, rapid prototyping, metal casting and tooling and moulding capabilities. The four companies will be there to promote the 'Full Line Product Development Service' now available from ARRK whereby clients receive complete project management for their project utilizing each of these specialist businesses capabilities.

Alternatively, if clients are looking for additional support for certain aspects of their product development programme, the individual ARRK business can also support them directly.

Ultimately the customer has the choice.

Paul Knight (ARRK PDG), John Argyle (NPL), Rob Taylor (P+Z) and Mike Gilmore from ARRK Technical will be present to answer any questions you may have on the full range of services.

Situated on the West of England's Aerospace Forum Stand E12, ARRK has developed close ties with the aerospace community and is looking forward to meeting as many visitors as possible during the show.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Training jet speed brakes modified and built

Brookhouse Aerospace, of Tameside, Manchester, is currently building the modified speed brakes which will be retrofitted to all the T45 Goshawk trainers in service with the US Navy.

Brookhouse Aerospace, of Tameside, Manchester, is currently building the modified speed brakes which will be retrofitted to all the T45 Goshawk trainers in service with the US Navy. This complex detail assembly is a continuation of similar assembly and build work for the T45 carried out by Brookhouse over the past nine years. The T45 is an adaptation of the successful Hawk trainer and has been re-engineered to withstand the rigours of service at sea.

Apart from being able to function effectively in the corrosive salty environment, the aircraft must also be extremely robust to withstand the repetitive shocks of carrier landings by student pilots.

As part of the re-engineering programme, it was decided to change the backing structure of the speed brake from its original aluminium construction to a construction using steel and titanium, while retaining the main carbon fibre blade.

Working from drawings supplied by the aircraft manufacturer, BAE Systems, Brookhouse have manufactured all the tooling and components required to produce in excess of 180 modified brakes.

This included the design and manufacture of rate tooling for the composite blade and then the production of these composite components at its Darwen site, the manufacture of all the new metallic components for the backing structure, both in titanium and steel.

Apart from some titanium components, which are hot-formed at a sub-contractor, all metallic, backing structure components are cold-formed in house, using both traditional and state-of-the-art plant.

The air brakes are now being assembled and finished painted at Tameside before being despatched to bae systems for delivery to the US Navy.

Brook house's involvement in the Goshawk programme has included manufacture and assembly of the engine diaphragm, the engine bay door, the side structure main panels and the tank floor.

The company is currently undertaking various production phase programmes for a number of civil and military aircraft.

Brookhouse Aerospace is the metallic's division of Brookhouse, the UK's largest independent composites manufacturer for the aerospace sector.

It offers an integrated capability to the aerospace industry, especially in the manufacture of flying parts and metal detail components, from aircraft skin panels and frames to ailerons, engine mountings and floor structures.

It provides component finishing, including fully automated plating and pickling plant, as well as manufacturing facilities complemented by the CNC machining resources of the Brookhouse Darwen site.

With its ability to accept customer specification in formats ranging from hard copy drawings to Catia files, Brookhouse Aerospace has the resource, experience and project management expertise to supply aerospace organisations with metallic detail kit sets direct to line side to comply precisely with manufacturing schedules.

Stereolithography and selective laser sintering

Arrk has recently appointed a new Sales Manager to look after its customers' needs in the Nordic regions.

Arrk has recently appointed a new Sales Manager to look after its customers' needs in the Nordic regions. Erik Bjalkvall takes over this expanding role and is keen to meet as many customers as possible over the next few months. One of the first new initiatives Erik will be undertaking will be to represent Arrk at one of Finland's top trade shows in Tampere.

Arrk will be exhibiting for the first time at Alihankinta 2006 from the 13th-15th September 2006.

Erik will also be participating later in the year at the Elmia subcontractor show in Jonkoping, Sweden, from 14th -17th November 2006, along with his fellow colleagues from Arrk.

Erik's primary role will be to make further inroads into the automotive, telecommunications, aerospace and household goods markets, and making them aware of Arrk's full range of rapid prototyping Services.

With Arrk's growing stereolithography and selective laser sintering capacity along with its numerous material options, Arrk can offer its customers real choice and a wide range of benefits.

Arrk currently has 12 SLA machines and 5 SLS machines all under one roof.

Furthermore, Erik will be highlighting the benefits of Arrk's own in-house, low volume metal casting service from its specialist foundry operation.

Offering both Aluminium and zinc castings in a matter of days, this service is proving to be a real winner amongst our existing Nordic client base seeking small runs throughout the year.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

SLS with greater flexibility, speed and choice

With the explosion of interest in SLS components from all industry sectors ARRK has announced that it has purchased more of 3D Systems latest Hi-Q machines.

With the explosion of interest in SLS components from all industry sectors ARRK has announced that it has purchased more of 3D Systems latest Hi-Q machines. The move takes ARRK's on site capability to 5 SLS machines and 12 SLA machines giving our customers fantastic capacity along with one of the most comprehensive material choices on offer within the industry. Major expansion work is currently taking place at ARRK's Gloucester facility to accommodate the new machines, which will be offering both Glass Filled Nylon and Duraform PA, along with an even bigger paint shop for those requiring post SLS work.

In addition to customers now being offered even shorter lead times for delivery, ARRK will be trialling new powders which offer alternative characteristics and properties to those offered by GFN and Duraform.

The whole SLS expansion is part of an ARRK Worldwide programme which has already seen ARRK Corporation in Japan making a number of machine purchases to boost its own capacity levels.

Craig Vickers, Operations Director, for ARRK Gloucester, commented, 'The increase in activity for SLS components is phenomenal.

ARRK Gloucester alone has experienced 3 consecutive years of SLS growth and it seems to be growing even further.

These new additions provide our customers with significant benefits, such as even greater flexibility, speed and choice.

Bolster plates used in injection mould tooling

Xplora Mould Tools specialises in the design and manufacture of Injection Mould Tooling, for which it uses DMS-Diemould bolster plates and many other standard ancillaries.

Glasgow-based injection mould tool firm, Xplora mould tools specialises in the design and manufacture of Injection mould tooling for the construction industry, for which it uses DMS-Diemould bolster plates and many other standard ancillaries.

Project Manager Tom Rigby explains the reasons behind the company's success; 'The construction industry is using an increasing number of intricate and complex plastic components.

We have developed special expertise in this field, particularly in the creation of multi-cavity tools which enable our customers to obtain a complete assembly from a single shot mould cycle.' In order to maximise the engineering value Xplora's highly skilled staff add to the tooling, Xplora also subcontracts the manufacture and blocking down of many of its inserts to DMS-Diemould, which offers this expertise and machine capacity at its Devon facility, providing Xplora with a rapid turnaround and allowing it to provide customers with tooling in very short lead times.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Strengthened injection moulding with takeover

ARRK has continued to strengthen its Full Line Product Development capability across Europe by taking a strategic shareholding in Italian injection moulding business HCM Stampi.

ARRK has continued to strengthen its Full Line Product Development capability across Europe by taking a strategic shareholding in Italian injection moulding business HCM Stampi. Located in Turin, HCM employs around 150 people and specialises in the production of automotive production plastic injection moulds, along with compression and RIM moulds. Their expertise lies in moulds for instrument panel systems and carriers, bumpers, side panels, interior and exterior trim and under bonnet components.

It is also approved to quality standard ISO 9001 and runs two plants, one in Moncalieri and one in San Martino.

The company's majority shareholding remains privately owned by family member Mr Rossi.

ARRK's investment in this business also gives them access to HCM's sister business Martinplast S.p.A.

With over 30 years experience in the production of moulds for plastic materials, Martinplast's strength lies in the moulding of technical and aesthetic parts made of plastics for all sectors.

The company is able to handle the design and construction of small, medium and large moulds.

HCM owns 100% of Martinplast.

HCM will continue to be run by Managing Director Mr Sartorelli and his management team: Mr Bregolin ( Technical Services ), Mr Gentis (Sales), Mr Gentile (Production), Mr Michelis (Purchasing), and Mr Vitrano (Quality).

Peter Rawson, European Managing Director for ARRK, explains ARRK's latest investment.

'By joining forces with one of Italy's leading tooling companies it gives us not only access to their expertise and experience in the automotive market but it also gives us a strategic foothold and facility in Italy.

We are delighted to be working with Mr Sartorelli and his team.

As a combined force both parties can now offer our customers even more in-house Full Line services'.

Project manager for Airbus projects

John Sturch has joined Brookhouse, of Darwen, as a project manager responsible for overseeing the work the company is currently involved with in the Airbus A300 and A400 programmes.

John Sturch has joined Brookhouse, of Darwen, as a project manager responsible for overseeing the work the company is currently involved with in the Airbus A300 and A400 programmes. The appointment is seen as a continuation of Brookhouse's commitment to investment in plant, quality and personnel to reinforce its position as the UK's largest independent composites manufacturer for the aerospace sector. John, who has a degree in mechanical engineering and is a chartered engineer, brings a great deal of experience to the new post.

He was previously employed by Doncasters, the leading international engineering group, first as general manager of Doncasters Precision Machines in Shrewsbury and then as team leader for the recent successful bid with Hamilton Sundstrand to manufacture turbo-machinery for the Boeing 787 auxiliary power unit.

Before that, John held various senior management positions in companies throughout the UK, after joining Pilkingtons from university as an industrial engineer, where he devised computer simulations of glass cutting machines.

Married with three children, John lives in Colne.

In his spare time, he enjoys gardening and home computing although he still retains a great interest in scouting being former District Commissioner for Pendle.

Brookhouse is an organisation totally focused on the aerospace sector, providing solutions in composites.

It offers design and manufacturing for composites tooling, a facility for the repair of composite components and a capability for design, prototyping, manufacture, testing and finishing of complete composite components.

As a result, Brookhouse can offer its worldwide customers a global facility to take responsibility for complete parcels of composites' development and manufacture projects.