French & Son is a household name in Heathfield, Sussex, with three generations having provided garage and taxi services for the local community. While the family business continues to thrive, fourth-generation Charlie French is looking in a different direction to keep it expanding — by making full use of his motor-sport connections.

His involvement with motor-sport, which has included working in the pits as a mechanic for some Rally Cross teams, and racing his own bright-green Mark 2 Ford Escort at track days, led him away from the family business to work for engine builder and British Rally Cross Champion Julian Godfrey, whose engineering company is just up the road. After eight years working for Mr Godfrey, Charlie French had become an accomplished machinist, fully conversant with the operation of the XYZ machines he was using. With the support of his father Stuart, he decided to set up his own manu-
facturing business.

In February this year, French & Son Engineering took space in a local industrial unit and bought an XYZ 710 vertical machining centre from Burlescombe-based XYZ Machine Tools (www.xyzmachinetools.com).

Charlie French initially focused on supplying after-market parts for car and motorcycle enthusiasts, but his ability to solve problems and add value to existing components brought him to the attention of several businesses, which are now putting work his way; indeed, the work-in-progress board in the office is evidence of how busy the company now is.

Stuart French says: “We saw an opportunity through Charlie’s racing activities to create a small business based around motor-sport — one that could provide a fast response to people who needed parts after a weekend of racing. Demand grew fast, as word of the business spread; now, we are not only producing one-off replacement parts but also manufacturing batch quantities for customers. Indeed, one of them has committed to a sole machining agreement with us.”

Machine choice

The choice of a machine from XYZ Machine Tools for French & Son Engineering was influenced by Charlie French’s experience with Julian Godfrey. That said, he is more-or-less self-taught in both CAD/CAM and machine operation. Indeed, until purchasing the XYZ 710 VMC, he had received no formal training; and even now he has only taken two of his allocated training days on the new machine. The 710 VMC has an all-up weight of 4,000kg, features a substantial heavily ribbed main casting and has a work envelope of 710 x 450 x 500mm. As standard, the machine is equipped with a 20hp 8,000rev/min BT40 spindle.

Charlie French said: “We knew we had to hit the ground running when we set up this business, so the choice to go with XYZ was an obvious one. To start with, we looked into buying a used machine, but the cost difference between what was on offer and a new one that would come with warranty and the support of XYZ made the choice to buy new an obvious one. We were also able to specify the addition of Renishaw probing. This has made a significant difference to how we use the machine, cutting set-up times and costs considerably by reducing the need for specialised fixturing.”

Buying a new machine has also allowed Charlie French to call on the expertise of XYZ’s applications team, as he pushes the limits of the machine’s capabilities. For one prestigious automotive customer, he has already machined parts that are larger than the machine envelope, thanks to the use of some “ingenious engineering”.

Just six months into the new venture, the future is looking good; there is already talk about moving to larger premises and employing an additional machine setter/operator. There are also plans for investing in more machining capacity — an XYZ lathe — and retrofitting a fourth axis to the 710 VMC.

“We know we have a long way to go, but we aim to achieve much in the next 12 to 18 months, so that we can carry out our expansion plans. We are also aiming to develop our own product range by enhancing existing after-market motor-sport parts to improve their performance and longevity. We see our ability to work with customers to enhance their products through reduced weight and improved performance — plus lower manufacturing costs — as key to our business expansion.”