With manufacturing facilities in Bristol and Swindon, Dynamatic Oldland Aerospace is part of Dynamatic Technologies Ltd — an Indian company supplying precision engineering services to the global aerospace, automotive and hydraulic industries.

Established in the 1970s in Bangalore, the latter’s growth was organic until 2007, when it acquired Sauer Danfoss to help support a growing customer base. This was followed by the acquisition of Bristol-based Oldland CNC in 2008 and Eisenwerk Erla GmbH in 2011.

James Tucker, managing director of Dynamatic Oldland Aerospace, says that continued success in the aerospace industry has come from “leveraging the best of knowledge, skills and market conditions from each of Dynamatic’s locations. Essentially, where we have a company in the UK or mainland Europe, a sister company operates in India.

The businesses are linked and work closely together. For the aerospace division, it allows the entire high-precision complex-machining operations to be carried out in the UK and the more labour-intensive assembly work to be completed in India.”

Dynamatic Oldland has become a Tier One supplier to Airbus, Boeing and Bell Helicopter; it also has long-term business agreements as a Tier Two supplier supporting many established Tier One firms in the aerospace sector.

Moreover, in the seven-year period since becoming part of Dynamatic Technologies, the company has achieved remarkable growth, expanding to a second manufacturing site.

The original Bristol site covers 23,000sq ft, while the new facility in Swindon covers 160,000ft2. Furthermore, Dynamatic Oldland recently completed a purpose-built 10,000sq ft extension to house a new DMG Mori DMC 340U RS4 Giga milling centre — currently the largest six-axis machining centre in the UK.

Automated system

The Swindon facility houses the company’s most advanced automation system. Installed and commissioned in the first quarter of 2016, this comprises five Hermle five-axis machining centres — four C42 Dynamic machines and a larger C52 Dynamic — plus a Robot Dynamic handling system with 200 pallets from the Swiss company Erowa AG.

Some 30m long, the system was installed by Erowa and its UK distributor — Kenilworth-based REM Systems Ltd (www.remsystems.co.uk). It has three loading stations and accommodates components up to 1,300mm long.

Mr Tucker says: “As the single-source supplier for flap-track beams on the Airbus A320- and A330-series aircraft, we have a commitment to the customer to provide a first-class service.

“The use of this latest technology — combined with our long history of aeronautical manufacturing and assembly — means the company can continue to grow, confirming Dynamatic’s commitment to providing a global service within the aerospace sector. Last month saw the first components delivered to India for assembly into flap-track beam structures.”

As well as civil-aircraft programmes, Dynamatic Oldland also supports defence aircraft; it has a contract to supply complete rear load ramps for the new Boeing CH-47 Chinook dual-rotor helicopter (ordered by the US Army). This project will run until 2019.

Explaining the company’s background, Mr Tucker said: “Our engineering skills are derived from Oldland CNC, which was established in 1971 to make fixtures. It expanded into aerospace in 1975, manufacturing after-market spares. Oldland CNC has an exceptional reputation in the aerospace market, and all the knowledge we have gained over the years helps us to tackle the challenges we face today.”

Pre-installation engineering

A significant amount of engineering time was invested in the Erowa cell before it was installed. This included cutting-tool optimisation and rationalisation, NC program verification and data transfer, fixturing systems and scheduling.

Mr Tucker says: “The Erowa scheduling software is very intuitive, and we have set it up to communicate with our ERP system, so that parts are produced by priority. It also provides real-time data about the time required to produce the part, which is key to optimising production planning and control.

“The robot cell knows the location of the pallet-loaded raw material required, and the tooling software checks that all the cutting tools needed to finish the part are both present and have the tool life remaining to finish the machining cycle. Any issues are immediately flagged up and can be quickly addressed by the operator or by the engineering team.”

As well as providing flexible and efficient production services, the Erowa cell also supports new-product introduction. Any one of the machine tools can be ‘blocked out’ from production, so that components can be trial-machined to optimise the process before they are added to the growing list of live parts.

In conclusion, Mr Tucker says: “We are trying to eliminate human error and achieve a scrap rate of zero, which is why we aim to finish the part within the cell. We have removed the need for hand-operated deburring by adding deburring cycles to the machining programs.

“Consistency and efficiency will secure our future within the aerospace industry, and investment in advanced systems such as the Erowa Robot Dynamic cell provides the foundation for these goals.”