subcon scene
COVENTRY ENGINEERING GROUP: Stand L121
Full turnkey service
COVENTRY Engineering Group’s Engineering Services Division (ESD) provides customers with direct, cost-effective
access to sophisticated CNC turning and milling capability, including one-hit machining on 5-axis Mazak Integrex
machines, hard metal turning, internal and external grinding services, CMM facilities, plus full turnkey
manufacturing solutions. From one-offs to volume requirements, both simple and complex machined forms can be
offered at competitive prices - usually on short lead times - and complemented by 2D and 3D CADCAM design
services. This has prompted many enquiries and orders. Barcoded work order control, via a newly-upgraded ERP
system, enables close track and full traceability to be kept of individual orders through each stage of processing, with
the flexibility to re-plan and re-route wherever necessary to meet deadlines. As an example of what ESD can offer in
terms of design, manufacture, assemble and test on complex projects, it has just completed a special 2-axis driven angle
head for a customer in Canada. The head weighs 1.5 tonnes and is around 0.6 metres square by 1.2 metres high.
A £1 million investment in high technology machinery is helping DJJ Engineering stay competitive in global
markets, and even win back work that had been lost to India. DJJ was established in 1976 in Pontypool, South
Wales and recently moved to a new 10,000 sq ft factory in Pontypool. It offers a one-stop CNC service for
precision machined parts from design and prototyping through to doorstep delivery. Having established a
strong reputation for its machining services DJJ appreciated the need to evolve to meet the ever increasing
demands of a global CNC market where quality and price are crucial. It realised that it had to address the issue
of competitive pricing to redress the balance of work lost by UK companies to competitors in the Far East and
took the brave decision to invest heavily in highly productive technology.
Its £1million investment programme included both Citizen MS32V sliding head lathes and a brand new
Index MS32C six-spindle CNC turning centre which alone cost nearly three quarters of a million pounds. The
new 6 spindle machine is fully automated for the production of quality components from bar up to 32mm. It can cope with the most complex of turned parts
- the more complex the better - including back-working with 32 axes and simultaneous machining at 6 main spindles.
MULLER ENGLAND: Stand K118
DJJ ENGINEERING: Stand E127
Expansion of Indian facility
Investment brings global competitiveness
MULLER England is one of the largest privately owned subcontract machining facilities in the UK with four sites, all
of which are TS16949 approved. The Group operates a wide range of multi-spindle and CNC machines supplying
precision machined components ranging from 1mm diameter through to 65mm diameter from bar fed and 350mm
swing chucking machines. Prismatic components measuring up to 400mm cube are catered for by using the latest
CNC horizontal and vertical machining centres. Muller India PvT, which is also TS16949 approved, is a 50/50 joint
venture company that over the past four years has become a major supplier of safety critical components to the
braking systems industry. These are subsequently supplied to leading European OEM heavy truck manufacturers.
During 2008 Muller India expanded its facilities by investing in additional CNC lathes and installing 8 UK-rebuilt multi-spindle automatic lathes.
Already supplying multi spindle manufactured components to the hydraulics industry with competitively priced volume components, Muller India is keen to
demonstrate its capability by further expanding its customer base in Europe. Machining capability ranges from 8mm through to 200mm diameter. Material is
purchased via European manufacturers and integrity is guaranteed with full traceability and certification.
SHAKESPEARE ENGINEERING: Stand F112
Continuing to invest for success
ESSEX-BASED Shakespeare Engineering, a long term supporter of Subcon, will be exhibiting
again this year. The growing success of the company has led to a number of investments across a
range of processes. These include two vacuum brazing furnaces, a pulsed TIG welding facility and a
coil winding Machine for round wire and strip. It has also opened a press shop for low to medium
volume pressings in special materials such as Monel and OFHC Copper. On the machining side of
the business, new CNC machines include two further 5-axis machining centres and a new large
diameter lathe for turning up to 750mm diameter
Shakespeare International, the company’s offshore sourcing division, has opened a new office in
Taipei, Taiwan. Its existing office in Suzhou, China showed a 24% growth in turnover in 2008 and already has significant orders for 2009 for machined
components, castings, springs & mouldings. This global footprint means that Shakespeare can give customers the best combination of low prices and
high quality - with different operations carried out in different parts of the world. On safety critical Gas Sensing parts, for example, Shakespeare
combines high precision, low cost CNC machining of the 316 Stainless steel housing in its Far East facilities, with UK-based vacuum brazing.
86 MWP may 2009
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.