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Working to continually create efficiency improvements in every aspect of production is a necessity for automotive suppliers and LIC Components Ltd of Coventry is no different, acquiring four new turning centres to enhance its position in the sector.
Previously part of the Lucas Group prior to an acquisition by the Currie & Warner Group, LIC, a renowned automotive turned part subcontractor acquired its new turning centres from Leader CNC of Nuneaton. Financial support for the purchase of the four new machine tools was provided by grant aid from Accelerate. As LIC Production Manager, Mr Ray James comments: “This level of capital expenditure would not have been possible without Government support that has helped us pay for the machines and the relevant training. Now we have the machines our business can continue to move forward.”
The 74 employee company produces automotive, fluid power and hydraulic parts for prestigious international manufacturers. Supplying global manufacturers with parts produced primarily from bar, but also from castings, forgings and billets in bright drawn steels, brass and aluminium, LIC needed a series of turning centres that delivered rigidity, accuracy and above all the ability to drive down production times and improve efficiency.
With these specific needs LIC reviewed the market and found the DMC range of turning centres from Leader CNC came out on top. It purchased the DMC 8S and 10S turning centres with an 8 and 10 inch hollow chuck and maximum diameter range of 240mm and 350mm respectively. The other two acquisitions, the DMC 6TL and 8TL are built upon a single body casting with high rigidity complete with a high speed and powerful turret for extremely productive machining. All four machines delivered in January 2008 incorporate 12 tool station turrets, swarf conveyors and part catchers. Despite these identical characteristics, all machines were specified for individual application ranges.
As Mr James continues: “The machine tools the DMC’s replaced were high specification turning centres, and in one case the DMC replaced a twin turret machine. Despite replacing twin turret machines, the DMC’s have still proven more efficient and productive than their predecessors. We knew that to be competitive we needed to improve our technology and skill levels and our previous machine tools were not fast enough to compete with modern CNC production. This meant we were losing projects to competitors on downtime and productivity times – this is no longer the case.”
The DMC 8S has made an immediate impact since its installation by improving cycle times by 20 to 55% over the twin turret machine it replaced. The improvements range across a family of up to 15 different types of turned product in the 60 to 90mm diameter range. The DMC 8S is also committed to a series of hose nipples and fittings that have noted similar productivity gains.
In the competitive automotive sector where seconds literally do count, ISO: 9001:2000 registered LIC Components monitors machine production efficiency, and by calculating every second of production, LIC has found the new 8s to have improved efficiency from 60% to over 80% by reducing non cutting time to an absolute minimum. This is credit to the improved changeover times and flexibility and the significantly higher speeds and feeds.
The DMC 6TL and 8TL turning centres consist of bar pullers that see the machines produce a family of up to 20 stainless steel cable fittings in batches up to 5000. Producing larger batch sizes, the 6TL and 8TL are achieving efficiency values between 88 and 94% in comparison to the 70 to 75% previously obtained by the older turning centres. With a facility that operates up to 21 hours over day and night shifts, efficiency improvements of up to 20% have proven a major benefit to LIC. The smaller fittings demand exceptional accuracy levels and it is for this reason the parts are produced on the 6TL and 8TL machines with linear guideways.
The fourth machine, the DMC 10S is the largest and most rigid of the four machines and it has been specifically employed to conduct intermittent machining of square / hexagonal steel bar. Producing hydraulic fittings and nipples, the 10S has a 22kw motor that delivers high torque at low revs to guarantee exceptional productivity levels with high quality surface finishes within the 10micron tolerance range. Whilst the productivity increase of this chucking machine is beyond 30 to 40% more than that of its predecessor.
As Mr James concludes: “We supply a large percentage of our customers on a JIT basis or on a regularly scheduled delivery system. Having machines that can exceed our current productivity and quality levels has given us additional capacity and improved our confidence in our ability to meet customer deadlines and demands. The one element that played a major factor in the DMC acquisitions is the after sales and spare parts service provided by Leader CNC. Renowned as a company that provides exceptional support and being based only 30 minutes away from us, we know that if we ever encounter problems an engineer will be with us immediately. This gives us great confidence in our new acquisitions.”
Working to continually create efficiency improvements in every aspect of production is a necessity for automotive suppliers and LIC Components Ltd of Coventry is no different, acquiring four new turning centres to enhance its position in the sector.
Previously part of the Lucas Group prior to an acquisition by the Currie & Warner Group, LIC, a renowned automotive turned part subcontractor acquired its new turning centres from Leader CNC of Nuneaton. Financial support for the purchase of the four new machine tools was provided by grant aid from Accelerate. As LIC Production Manager, Mr Ray James comments: “This level of capital expenditure would not have been possible without Government support that has helped us pay for the machines and the relevant training. Now we have the machines our business can continue to move forward.”
The 74 employee company produces automotive, fluid power and hydraulic parts for prestigious international manufacturers. Supplying global manufacturers with parts produced primarily from bar, but also from castings, forgings and billets in bright drawn steels, brass and aluminium, LIC needed a series of turning centres that delivered rigidity, accuracy and above all the ability to drive down production times and improve efficiency.
With these specific needs LIC reviewed the market and found the DMC range of turning centres from Leader CNC came out on top. It purchased the DMC 8S and 10S turning centres with an 8 and 10 inch hollow chuck and maximum diameter range of 240mm and 350mm respectively. The other two acquisitions, the DMC 6TL and 8TL are built upon a single body casting with high rigidity complete with a high speed and powerful turret for extremely productive machining. All four machines delivered in January 2008 incorporate 12 tool station turrets, swarf conveyors and part catchers. Despite these identical characteristics, all machines were specified for individual application ranges.
As Mr James continues: “The machine tools the DMC’s replaced were high specification turning centres, and in one case the DMC replaced a twin turret machine. Despite replacing twin turret machines, the DMC’s have still proven more efficient and productive than their predecessors. We knew that to be competitive we needed to improve our technology and skill levels and our previous machine tools were not fast enough to compete with modern CNC production. This meant we were losing projects to competitors on downtime and productivity times – this is no longer the case.”
The DMC 8S has made an immediate impact since its installation by improving cycle times by 20 to 55% over the twin turret machine it replaced. The improvements range across a family of up to 15 different types of turned product in the 60 to 90mm diameter range. The DMC 8S is also committed to a series of hose nipples and fittings that have noted similar productivity gains.
In the competitive automotive sector where seconds literally do count, ISO: 9001:2000 registered LIC Components monitors machine production efficiency, and by calculating every second of production, LIC has found the new 8s to have improved efficiency from 60% to over 80% by reducing non cutting time to an absolute minimum. This is credit to the improved changeover times and flexibility and the significantly higher speeds and feeds.
The DMC 6TL and 8TL turning centres consist of bar pullers that see the machines produce a family of up to 20 stainless steel cable fittings in batches up to 5000. Producing larger batch sizes, the 6TL and 8TL are achieving efficiency values between 88 and 94% in comparison to the 70 to 75% previously obtained by the older turning centres. With a facility that operates up to 21 hours over day and night shifts, efficiency improvements of up to 20% have proven a major benefit to LIC. The smaller fittings demand exceptional accuracy levels and it is for this reason the parts are produced on the 6TL and 8TL machines with linear guideways.
The fourth machine, the DMC 10S is the largest and most rigid of the four machines and it has been specifically employed to conduct intermittent machining of square / hexagonal steel bar. Producing hydraulic fittings and nipples, the 10S has a 22kw motor that delivers high torque at low revs to guarantee exceptional productivity levels with high quality surface finishes within the 10micron tolerance range. Whilst the productivity increase of this chucking machine is beyond 30 to 40% more than that of its predecessor.
As Mr James concludes: “We supply a large percentage of our customers on a JIT basis or on a regularly scheduled delivery system. Having machines that can exceed our current productivity and quality levels has given us additional capacity and improved our confidence in our ability to meet customer deadlines and demands. The one element that played a major factor in the DMC acquisitions is the after sales and spare parts service provided by Leader CNC. Renowned as a company that provides exceptional support and being based only 30 minutes away from us, we know that if we ever encounter problems an engineer will be with us immediately. This gives us great confidence in our new acquisitions.”
