British machine tool industry talisman in rude health; new UK fi rm offers CNC multislide
auto tech; artifi cial intelligence for CNC machine process control & CMM probe
path planning; Dah Lih for Ward Hi-Tech; Gate gets into CNC-supported manual tech
september 1995
25years ago
We kick off the month celebrating a return to form for the
machine tool industry, following a long international
recession, with The 600 Group our focus. Its story is one of
business rationalisation of its business and reduced costs – meaning
the sale of its Startrite business and a more than halving of its
employee headcount, from 2,800 to 1,300. But the group is still a
British machine tool industry talisman, the largest publicly quoted
such company and one of the top rank of machine tool companies in
the UK, measured by turnover. It has introduced new products in
previous years, including the manual/CNC combination style lathe that
is currently popular, so the company is expanding its Mitsui Seiki FMS
system for the manufacture of parts at its Heckmondwike, West
Yorkshire, main plant. With a share price of more than 120p, long
gone are the days when that gure was 30p, we highlight.
Our comment in the second issue of the month celebrates an
addition to the UK machine tool industry, a not too familiar event. The
company is Swiftlevel, the founder is Philip Wilkinson, who has
returned to a previous area of interest – CNC multi-slide automatics.
He set up Winchester machine tools around 1988 to do the same
thing, but that company’s products passed to BSA Tools, which at
this time is still making them. Swiftlevel’s product is SuperSwift. It is
aimed at the up-to-22 mm bar diameter, Brown & Sharpe 00B and
CVA 8 area, and is priced at £38,000 (£76,000 today). Production
rate will be one a month for 1995, then two a month in 1996, with
three a month the following year. A cautious approach is being
taken so as not to repeat the mistakes of his Winchester
experience, but we suggest if larger competitors see unsatis ed
demand here, they will not hesitate to join the party.
In news, we continue the machine tool avour with a report
on the regular MATADOR conference, which is concerned with
machine tool design. Multi-role or modular machine design is
under the spotlight, with these intended to cope with frequent
changes of product or process. Arti cial Intelligence (AI) is
also getting a look in, with an AI system for estimating and
▼ ▼ ▼
The BBC begins
regular Digital
Audio Broadcasting,
Crystal Palace
transmitter
Drilling In XXL-Format
With the KUB Centron you can create large holes
High length-diameter ratio with safety and economy.
compensating for process errors in CNC machines plus an AI probe
path planning system for multi-task CMM inspection.
Elsewhere, Ward Hi-Tech says it is now the UK agent for Dah Lih,
a Taiwanese maker of, at that time, vertical machining centres. The
association between the rms continues today. Gate Machinery
International has joined the current vogue, adding a turning-only lathe
that boasts both CNC-supported manual use and CNC automatic
application. It is priced at £30,000 (£60,000 today). The company will
t the same CNC to one of its turret mills and also offers it as a
retro t for manual lathes and turret mills. Also treading the CNC
retro t path for turret mills is Acu-Rite, and once again this
development supports intermediate CNC-assisted manual operation,
plus 2-axis CNC contouring. A retro t of a different kind is being
offered by Ajax Machine Tools, a belt-head that adds tube or rollgrinding
capability to any lathe.
In cutting tool news, specialists Microbore Tooling Systems and
Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal partner, with the latter’s inserts used in
a new range of the former’s cartridges, while Dormer has launched a
series of technical machining guides for all major material
classi cations. The company has created its Application Material
Group (AMG), developed to make tool selection easier by linking the
correct cutting tool to the material being cut.
A partnership between two UK companies sees T Bowers & Co
(Toolmakers) gain global sales and service rights for Magneti Systems’
magnetic chucking products. Con dence is underpinned by an
analysis of competing products, with the Magnetic Systems’ products
coming out on top.
In feature articles this month we have: centreless grinding, taking
in Sweden’s Lidköping, plus case studies; British Aerospace replaces
computer system for scheduling with a manual system; preventative
maintenance service; a Tooling ‘95 preview; automated video
measurement technology in action; inverted spindle, or self-loading
VTLs; and an investigation into subcontracting/customer partnerships
as part of one of our regular subcontracting supplements. ■
For more information:
cutting.tools/en/kub-centron
Key Events
▼
BBC One premieres
Jane Austen’s ‘Pride
and Prejudice’,
starring Jennifer
Ehle and Colin Firth
50 Adv-KUB-Centron-229x65mm.indd 1 31.07.2020 11:12:48
drimafi lm/stock.adobe.com
Africa Studio /stock.adobe.com
Alexey Novikov /stock.adobe.com
Georgios Kollidas/stock.adobe.com
Luca Lorenzelli /stock.adobe.com
sep 95
Sam
McCluskie,
trade unionist,
dies at 63
▼
Hewlett Packard:
the rst sub
$1,000
recordable CD
disc drive
Sony enters the
video game market
with the release of
its PlayStation
Boxer Frank Bruno wins
the WBC world heavyweight
championship,
beats Oliver McCall
▼
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