West Midlands-based Cube Precision — a manufacturer of products for the automotive, aerospace, defence and commercial sectors — has invested in its first simultaneous five-axis machining centre from Hurco (www.hurco.co.uk).

With X/Y/Z travels of 1,524 x 600 x 610mm, it complements the company’s six existing Hurco machines, which range in table size from 1,500 to 4,200mm.

Neil Clifton, joint managing director, said: “The whole team at Cube has worked hard to attract and deliver significant projects in both the aerospace and defence industries; the reward is signing long-term agreements with prime manufacturers in both sectors during 2017.

"With the growth in the low-volume automotive press tooling market, our investment plan always included simultaneous five-axis machines.

“Catching up with Hurco at MACH 2018 and talking about our defence contract, the company immediately recommended the VMX 60Srti to help us reduce our production times and meet our production demands.

“While the justification of the purchase is based on one contract, it is evident since making the commitment that there will be time savings on a number of the projects we undertake.”

Another benefit of the machine to Cube is that its operators — already familiar with using the twin-screen WinMax/Ultimax control on the other six Hurco machines on site — can move seamlessly onto the identical CNC system controlling the new machining centre.

Mr Clifton said: “We are now in our 10th year, and investment has been the backbone of our growth. The VMX60Srti is one of two machines that we plan to invest in this year to meet current demand from our customers.”