In the last 12 months, Clevedon-based Cam Machine Components Ltd (CMC) has invested in four new Doosan machine tools from Mills CNC Ltd, Leamington Spa (www.millscnc.co.uk).

The company is using these machines to improve its productivity, secure new high-margin manufacturing contracts and maintain its excellent supply-chain relationships with customers.

CMC has increased its turnover by 200% in the last five years. Among the newest machine tools is a Doosan Puma ST 32G sliding-head sub-spindle lathe; equipped with the latest Fanuc 31iB CNC control system and an LNS Sprint 552 bar-feeder, it was installed at the company’s facility in February 2014. Since then, it has been in continuous operation,

machining small, complex high-precision parts in both medium- and high-volume batches for a diverse range of customers operating in the hydraulics and pneumatics, automotive, agriculture, electronics and ‘3-D printing’ equipment markets.

The Puma ST 32G lathe is equipped with an oil-cooled 5.5/7.5kW 8,000rev/min main spindle and a 2.2/3.7kW, 8,000rev/min sub-spindle. CMC director Gervase Winn, said: “It is a high-performance lathe; and while it is similar in specification to a number of other advanced sliding-head machines, we chose it because it offers a number of advantages.

“These include a small footprint, a lifting door that improves operator access for setting-up jobs and undertaking maintenance operations, and a spacious work area that minimises the potential of interference between adjacent tools.”

The new Puma ST 32G has been used to machine a range of small production parts, some of which were previously produced on one of the company’s small fixed-head lathes. The savings, made by transferring the work to this machine have been significant, with cycle times on some parts down from 3min to just 80sec.