Over the last decade, Newbury-based Progressive Technology has built a strong customer base in a variety of industries including F1, medical, oil and gas, fibre optics, defence and aerospace. However, some six years ago, the company realised that it needed to adopt five-axis machining if it was to eliminate multiple set-ups.
The company bought its first five-axis machine — a DMG DMU50evo — in 2007. However, the transition from three-axis machines that used a 3+2-axis machining strategy with rotary tables and fixtures to full five-axis machining proved more than just a case of buying a new machine tool.
Managing director Ross Pinchin says: “When we decided to buy the DMG machine, we realised we also needed a suitable five-axis CAM package, as our previous software wasn’t capable of meeting our new needs. When we discussed our involvement in the F1 sector — and the machining of difficult five-axis components — with CAM company Open Mind, they took us to visit companies producing similar components for the F1 sector. We also visited some F1 engine suppliers; and when we realised they had already conducted in-depth feasibility studies of CAM vendors, we also opted for the HyperMill CAM package from Open Mind.”
Since 2007, Progressive Technology has invested heavily in five-axis CNC machine tools; it now has seven. Until two years ago, the company only had two programmers and four seats of Open Mind’s HyperMill
(www.openmind-tech.com); it now has nine seats of the CAM software. Highlighting the reasoning behind the additional investment, Mr Pinchin says: “With such a high turn-round of complex parts, any problems on the shopfloor had to be rectified on the machine or directed back to the programmers, and this created delays. As a prominent F1 supplier, our business relies on our ability to turn work round rapidly; we have even received orders just after 8pm and had the parts ready by the morning.”
PCs to the rescue
To eliminate bottlenecks and allow machine operators to resolve any problems immediately, Progressive has now installed a PC at every machine tool, thereby allowing the shopfloor staff to edit NC programs — via HyperMill — at the machine; this has had a huge impact on down-time and bottlenecks. Furthermore, the shopfloor can send programs back to the office to improve the flow of information. In addition, confidence has ‘rocketed’ in the machine shop, with operators able to view the component tool-paths
prior to running the job.
Progressive has also installed three HyperMaxx roughing modules — an option designed to create ideally distributed milling paths. This software is based on technology that allows dynamic feed-rate adjustment to existing cutting conditions and achieves the maximum possible feed rate and speed for reduced machining times. For Progressive, this has equated to a reduction in machining time of 25% on most parts.
In addition to improved speeds and feeds, Progressive has also achieved significant increases in tool life. On a large titanium bracket that is regularly produced in batches, the company previously used a 16mm-diameter solid-carbide end mill — costing £100 — on each part. By turning on the HyperMaxx strategy, the company can now produce more than five parts with just one cutter. This is achieved by using the whole flute of the cutting tool with less aggressive tool-paths; spindle load is also reduced.
Another recent addition to Progressive’s arsenal of software is two seats of Open Mind’s new HyperCAD package. “This allows us to review and measure all geometrical dimensions and tolerances — and to add stock if necessary to ensure that parts are correct to the drawings,” says Mr Pinchin.
“Inspection and metrology equipment — plus the respective software — is not necessarily easy to use, especially when calibrating the dimensions on particularly complex parts. HyperCAD allows us to set the origin of any particular plane and to easily check and identify mistakes on drawings. Furthermore, we can fully interrogate our models, so the final inspection on the CMM is just a matter of double-checking what we already know is right.”
In the last two years, Progressive has taken on five more people and seen its turnover increase by more than 70%. “The increase in our turnover has been largely down to our ability to manufacture more parts faster. The investment in additional HyperMill seats has helped us to achieve this improved throughput.”