The rail and engineering divisions of Jones Nuttall, which occupy two adjacent buildings on the Bewsey Industrial Estate in Warrington, provide extensive sub-contract manufacturing and overhaul services (www.jonesnuttall.com).

The company works with a wide range of materials, which undergo machining, forming, profiling, fabrication, welding, painting, assembly and testing.

Jones Nuttall has a policy that the age of its machine tools should not exceed nine years.

Underpinning most of the company’s CNC prismatic machining are three Hurco VM30i vertical machining centres (www.hurco.co.uk), two of which were installed in September 2015 (older models from the same supplier were taken in part exchange); there are also four Hurco Hawk knee-type CNC milling machines, which make up 25% of the company’s milling capacity.

Jones Nuttall also has two Hurco lathes with bar magazines, and these make up 25% of the company’s CNC turning capacity; these are a TM10 (with a 10in chuck) and a TMM8 (with an 8in chuck, live tooling and a C axis).

Jones Nuttall has been dealing with Hurco since 2000, at which time the sub-contractor decided to progress from manual-tool-change mills to machining centres. Use of the manufacturer’s proprietary WinMax control and programming software has been a bonus, especially as many operators these days are familiar with this system.

Cutting cycles are prepared quickly using the drop-down touch-screen menus; this is essential for economical production if only a few parts are to be made.

Good relationship

The good relationship that has developed between Jones Nuttall and Hurco over the last 16 years has resulted in the sub-contractorpurchasing metal-cutting machines almost exclusively from Hurco during that period.

Jones Nuttall’s turnover is derived from various sectors; these include rail, which is served by a specialist division. Contracts involve refurbishing flexitors, drum switches, reversers, traction equipment, resistor grids, contactors and gangways, as well as pulleys, hinges and clevis pins used on Network Rail’s overhead equipment.

Recently, the company has been machining forged-steel centring arms for a railway-carriage coupling on one of the latest VM30i machining centres, while another VM30i has been milling mild-steel valve flanges for a manufacturer of filtration equipment.

The remainder of the sub-contractor’s engineering capability is spread across a number of industries, including oil and gas, petrochemical, defence and aerospace. Among the metals processed are Inconel, titanium alloy, stainless steel, other steels, brass, aluminium and copper — plus silver!

Engineering thermoplastics such as nylon, acetal and PEEK are also machined on a regular basis, as are composites such as Railko, Tufnol, epoxy glass and polyester. All products are produced in a self-contained unit which benefits from having extraction fitted to all machines.

Jones Nuttall was founded in 1971 and has been at its current premises for over 10 years. In 2009, the company’s rail division expanded into adjoining premises, adding 7,400m2 of factory space to the existing 20,000m².

Today, the company supplies over 300 customers, has 60 staff and regularly takes on new apprentices.