It was 10 years ago that the ‘rags to riches’ story began for Lincoln-based Superstar Components Ltd, which started in a bedroom selling bicycle brake pads.
The company quickly progressed to sourcing manufactured products from Taiwan for cycling enthusiasts; but as it evolved and began offering a broader product range, the lead times grew longer and longer.
Neil Wilkinson, Superstar’s owner, decided to start manufacturing in the UK and installed a Fanuc Robodrill D21MiA5 machining centre, along with a Fanuc M-10iA 10M robot loading system — both supplied by Coventry-based Fanuc UK (
www.fanuc.co.uk).
“I bought the machine because it was a cost-effective means of solving the logistics problem I had. I was getting parts produced in Taiwan, where most of the bicycle industry is based. The production lead times from suppliers started off very short but increased considerably over the years — to as much as seven or eight months in some cases.
“We have now brought this work back in-house to the UK, to gain control over the process and the lead times.”
Superstar began by prototyping pedal systems using a manually loaded four-axis machining centre with manual loading, leaving volume production to be undertaken overseas while it investigated fully automated systems that would allow production to be reshored from Taiwan.
This resulted in the installation of the Robodrill system; and compared with the four-axis machine Superstar started with, the results have been staggering. The time to produce 600 pedals has been reduced from a little over three weeks of manned operation to just three days, with staff time cut to just 1hr a day.
Mr Wilkinson says: “The Robodrill has taken Superstar from being a high-price niche-product manufacturer to a company that can manufacture pedals for other companies at prices that are comparable with Taiwan. Moreover, we can do this while achieving significantly better quality levels.
“When buying the machine, my expectation was to streamline the process and get rid of any problems and inconsistencies that arise from manual labour and importing. However, the spindle speed of the Robodrill is such that we have also been able to significantly improve our surface finishes.”
The BT30 spindle on the Robodrill D21MiA5 has a maximum speed of 24,000rev/min. Mr Wilkinson says: “Some engineers suggest that a BT30 is a ‘little flaky’, but I run the machine like a BT40, pushing the tools very hard and fast.”
The optional direct-drive fourth-axis table ensures that Superstar can complete the pedals ‘in one hit’ without any secondary processes. Moreover, Mr Wilkinson says the indexing speed of the fourth axis helps to minimise cycle times, which is of particular benefit when producing large batches of components.
With regard to the robot loading system, he says: “I was originally looking for a robot solution provider to upgrade an existing machine. However, the Fanuc solution was too good to ignore, as the company provides the machine tool, the fourth-axis table, the robot and the complete integration — all in-house.”
Although Superstar specified the turn-key solution for the large-scale production of bicycle pedal sets, the company has found that it offers an astounding level of flexibility. “We designed the tooling and fixturing in conjunction with a company in Leicester. It has been configured so that we can easily exchange tooling, pallets and the robot grippers, enter a new program and be running a new job with a minimum of downtime.”
With the Robodrill spindle running at its maximum 24,000rev/min, the first operation for producing the pedal set is to drill a series of holes that are next threaded M4, using roll taps running at 6,000rev/min (the reliability of the thread is 100% guaranteed by a Renishaw laser probing system that will immediately identify broken or damaged tools). Once one pedal has been threaded, the rotary table indexes to present the opposite face, where the process is repeated.
The next step is for 6mm and 12mm-diameter end mills to machine the pedal pockets at high speed. The final step is the use of a specially shaped cutter that chamfers the top and back face of the pedal in a single step. This eliminates any secondary hand finishing operations and allows Superstar to take the parts straight from the machine to anodising.
In conclusion, Mr Wilkinson says: “The Fanuc machine has put us back in control of our lead times; it has also allowed us to reduce our costs and make us competitive with Taiwanese manufacturers. Furthermore, the machine is allowing us to focus on the products and not worry about the lead times or the potential to be let down by third-party suppliers.”