Case Studies

Founded in 1998 as a spin-off from the prestigious gunmaker Westley Richards, Westley Engineering has evolved far beyond its origins. While only five percent of its output now relates to gun components, the company has established itself as a trusted supplier of machined components and assemblies to multiple sectors including aerospace, automotive, rail, white goods
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A leading OEM specialising in the design and production of equipment for oil heating and diesel tank applications, as well as being a subcontract engineering firm, Atkinson Equipment has dramatically reduced lead-times following investment in a Brother Speedio U500Xd1 5-axis machining centre equipped with Tezmaksan CubeBox automation from Whitehouse Machine Tools. Adam Walford, Engineering Group
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Wisbech-based subcontractor Avant Manufacturing was using four 40-taper, 3-axis VMCs (vertical machining centres) when, towards the end of 2024, a sharp upturn in existing and new business meant that an extra machine was needed quickly. Dominic Roach, who founded the company in April 2021, wanted to install a 5-axis production centre to reap the benefits
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Larger components produced a third faster in half the space Michael Phillips, joint owner with partner Wayne Robins of contract machining firm Atomic Precision, describes their recently-purchased, Japanese-built Brother Speedio U500Xd1 as “a Swiss army knife of 5-axis machining centres”. His comment is due to the 30-taper machine’s high quality, versatile functionality, compactness, and ability
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Aylesbury-based R&A Engineering won a contract in early 2023 to produce several hundred aluminium parts per month across six variants for assembly into sensors that optimise the orientation of wind turbines to maximise the power they generate. The job was tying up a pair of BT 40-taper VMCs (vertical machining centres) on the shop floor
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Components produced eight times faster in one hit Architectural ironmongery manufacturer Instinct Hardware (www.instincthardware.co.uk) has spent more than half a million pounds in the last two years on a manufacturing execution system, a powder coating plant, a water jet cutting machine and an Italian-built Biglia bar-fed, twin-spindle lathe with a turret having a ± 45
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LoneStar Fasteners Hydrobolt Ltd (www.lsfe.com – LSFH), a leading global manufacturer and distributor of high-specification fasteners, bolts and other precision machined components, has placed a repeat order for turning centres to further expand CNC turn-milling capacity at its Wednesbury facility. The company is investing £1.5 million in a total of six twin-spindle Y-axis lathes built
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Established in 2003 as a subcontractor, Drury Precision Engineering started two years later to manufacture its own range of mainly aluminium motorcycle accessories for road and racing bikes and now no longer takes on external machining work. The company sells its after-market bike components globally under the Evotech Performance brand (www.evotech-performance.com). The last eight years
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In the five years from 2019 to the present, turnover at Oswaldtwistle-based ROSS Pneumatrol (www.pneumatrol.com) doubled due to growth across most industry sectors into which it supplies its pneumatic and electro-pneumatic valves, actuators and other products. The process industry is proving especially buoyant currently and sales growth in Asia has exceeded expectations, raising the proportion
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A shortage of skilled engineers and a desire continue with single day shift operation over an existing pattern of a four-day working week have all played a part over the past five years in prompting JWA CNC to research the best way to automate its production. It led in early March 2023 to the purchase
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