When Plymouth-based Kawasaki Precision Machinery (KPM), a hydraulic-technology specialist, wanted to speed up one of its drilling processes, it turned to Sandvik Coromant’s customer Web site, where it could design and order a tailor-made tool in a matter of minutes (www.login.sandvik.coromant.com).

The result was a customised drill that reduced one cycle time by more than 10%, saving the company thousands of pounds a year on just one of its products.

KPMhas been a Sandvik Coromant customer for more than 20 years and uses the latter’s tools for drilling, milling, turning and boring, but it wanted a better way to drill holes for the bolts in one of its cast-iron Staffa motor cases (www.kawasakihydraulics.com).

It was using two separate drill bits — one for the hole itself and one for the countersink — because the standardised-solution step drill was not suitable for both job; with 35 holes required in each motor case, it was a time-consuming process, so KPM production engineer Kane Ewings sat down with Graham Paterson, a Sandvik Coromant sales engineer, to find a better solution.

By logging into the tailor-made section of the customer Web site, they were able to design a customised drill bit with two separate diameters — one for the hole and one for the countersink, which meant that the entire process could now be done with one tool.

To design a new tool via the Web site, a customer feeds the required measurements into the system, which then creates a drawing and a 3-D model of the tool.

When the design is finished, the customer gets an immediate quote for prices and delivery times and can place an order straight away.

For KPM, which was the first company to order a tailor-made tool in this way, the total lead time from design to implementation of the new drill bit was around five weeks.