Growing, with help XYZ Machine
Two companies have grown, aided by their machine tool technology
suppliers: Tranquil PC with XYZ Machine Tools’ help and BT Lerson,
which has partnered with DMG Mori
XYZ Machine Tools has supplied
vertical machining centres to Tranquil
PC, a business started on the kitchen
table of its founder David Thompson, with
the company outsourcing and offshoring all
of its fan-less ruggedised PC chassis
machining to suppliers in China.
As the business grew, the logistics of
shipping from China, and the associated
risks of products being copied, saw the
decision taken to bring the majority of
machining back to the UK.
Customers are mainly B2B enterprises
from diverse industries, with Royal Mail, for
instance, having over 2,000 units installed.
With volumes such as this, controlling
manufacturing, particularly machining of the
aluminium cases, became a priority.
Explains director Philip Thompson: “Certain
issues arose with our machining partners in
China, so we decided in 2011 to begin our
machine tool investment. That rst move
was to purchase an XYZ Minimill 560,
initially for R&D work. That machine was
soon working to capacity seven days a week,
not only on R&D, but also production. To
ease the workload, we added two XYZ 710
vertical machining centres to create our rst
machining cell.”
At the time, neither he or the machine
operators were ‘seasoned machinists or
programmers’, but the XYZ machines
provided the ideal introduction, thanks to the
ease of use of the Siemens control systems
and the level of support they could call on
from XYZ Machine Tools (www.is.gd/oxorop).
These rst three machines contributed
signi cantly to the overall growth of the
business, thanks to shorter lead times by
eliminating the logistics of outsourcing.
Volumes could be managed much more
ef ciently and a much greater degree of
exibility was created through the ability to
quickly adapt designs to suit individual
customers. The level of support from XYZ
Machine Tools was integral to the next
phase of investment that saw an additional
XYZ 710 VMC and another MiniMill 560
installed to meet demand.
With these machines in place and running
Tools is a longtime
supplier to
Tranquil PC
ve days a week, eight hours a day, Tranquil
PC wanted to complete its second machining
cell, but changes to the XYZ line-up had
seen the XYZ 710 VMC superseded, with the
choice now being the XYZ 750 LR or the XYZ
800 HD. “It was here that our longstanding
relationship with XYZ came to the fore, they
understood what we needed and how we
work and immediately put forward the XYZ
750 LR (750 by 440 by 500 mm) as the
machine to go for, equipped with Renishaw
probing, as tted to all our other machines,”
says Thompson. “The XYZ machines we
have are used as pure production machines,
removing high volumes of material as, due
to the nature of the work, everything comes
from billet aluminium, from which we will
remove 60/70% to achieve a nished part.”
The XYZ 750 LR is part of the latest linear
rail series of machines from XYZ Machine
Tools.
“In-house machining has de nitely been a
driver of our growth and now that Tranquil PC
is part of the French IT group 2CRSI, we
have signi cant plans for further investment
and growth of not only our UK manufacturing
capability but also the creation of a similar
facility in Switzerland to meet demand,”
concludes director Thompson.
At BT Lerson’s brand new 15,000 ft2
facility near Stansted Airport, a partnership
22 May/June 2020 | www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets
/oxorop)
/www.machinery.co.uk