Empire Manufacturing Ltd (
www.empiregb.com) started operating eight years ago with three Star sliding-head lathes. The Hoddesdon-based company has achieved impressive growth, serving a broad customer base that includes clients in the aerospace, electronics, automotive, horological, cosmetics, leisure and entertainment sectors.
However, the demand for components beyond the capacity limits of its sliding-head machines prompted the company to buy a new TA20 YS gantry-loaded CNC turning centre from Rugby-based CMZ UK Ltd (
www.cmz.co.uk) last year.
Empire director Stuart Wade said: “We had customers that were enquiring about larger work than we could handle on our sliding-head lathes. Until the purchase of the CMZ, we had to sub-contract that work out; but when the enquiries became more frequent, we decided to bring the work in-house.
“Producing parts with a fixed-head machine was new to us, but the type of work we do on the CMZ is similar to that undertaken on our Star machines. We do a lot of high-volume ‘lights out’ machining of parts that frequently require complex turning and milling processes, so we were looking for a flexible and highly productive machine.
"With its bar feeder and gantry loading system, the CMZ clearly satisfies that need. The fully integrated machine uses a Fanuc control system like our sliding-head lathes, so training was easy. Moreover, the programming is very similar to our sliders, as the G-codes are more or less the same. This meant that the transition from sliding-head to fixed-head machine was simplified.”
As well as having the gantry loading facility, the CMZ TA20 YS has an FMB Turbo 5-55 bar-feeding unit at the opposite end of the machine. “For us, it was a natural decision, as all our sliding-head machines have bar feeders. The CMZ has a 65mm-diameter spindle bore, so anything below that is bar-fed; anything up to a maximum of 180mm in diameter is gantry-loaded. This gives us incredible flexibility and allows us to run the machine ‘lights out’.”
The machine has a 22kW drive for the main spindle and 15kW for the sub-spindle, which allows Empire to undertake heavy machining in a wide range of materials that include stainless steels, Inconel and hardened steels. Also supporting heavy-duty cutting is a 12-station Y-axis turret (-50 to +60mm of movement) with driven tooling powered by a 12kW motor.
Highlighting the flexibility of the CMZ, Mr Wade says: “The gantry-loaded machine is a different beast to anything we’ve had previously; it is also extremely flexible. We have loaded material via the bar-feeder and unloaded it with the gantry system. The CMZ has really expanded our scope of work and flexibility. Furthermore, we have recently
invested in our first VMC.”