Over the course of the past 10 months, Poole-based aerospace manufacturer Walker AEC has bought four Dah Lih vertical machining centres and two Hwacheon long-bed lathes; these are producing a variety of parts that include high-value hydraulic manifolds and landing-gear components.
The machines were all supplied by Sheffield-based Ward Hi-Tech Ltd
(www.wardhitech.co.uk). Moreover, Walker AEC has just ordered a seventh machine — a Hwacheon Hi-TECH 700 long-bed lathe — that is currently being modified by Ward Hi-Tech to incorporate a deep-hole drilling capability.
Established in 1974, Walker AEC is a family-owned and family-run manufacturer specialising in aerospace parts that include landing-gear components, fuselage drain-valve bodies, complex hydraulic manifolds, throttle-pedestal parts, flight-control components and bearing retaining rings, to name but a few. Products manufactured by the company appear on a range of commercial and military aircraft, where high quality and competitive prices are paramount.
Walker AEC sees itself as an aerospace supply chain partner able to add value and deliver a complete service to OEMs and Tier One aerospace manufacturers. Based on this ethos, the company has grown to employ 40 people and has a current order book value of £6 million.
In fact, 2013 is proving a year of significant growth, with orders worth £2 million secured in June and July alone.
Recipe for success
Such success has happened not by accident but through a combination of management guile, as well as a commitment to continuous improvement and the latest manufacturing technologies — as evidenced by the six CNC machine tools recently installed by Ward Hi-Tech.
Walker AEC’s managing director Martyn Walker Walker AEC (pictured with financial director Vicky van Hotson with the latest Hwacheon Hi-TECH 700 lathe) says: “Ward Hi-Tech has been very supportive over the years. We prefer a single source for our machine tools for a number of reasons. Firstly, we can have the same controls on every machine, which provides total manufacturing flexibility, as we can move jobs and operators around as necessary.
“Tooling is also interchangeable; this is important, because our batch sizes are typically in the range of five- to 20-off, which means that quick set-up is paramount.”
In late 2012, Ward Hi-Tech supplied three Dah Lih vertical machining centres to Walker AEC. Three months later, two Hwacheon Hi-TECH 300 long-bed lathes and a Dah Lih MCV-720 vertical machining centre were installed. “The beauty of using a machine tool supplier such as Ward Hi-Tech is that they handle everything — the machine, tooling, finance, installation, commissioning, training, applications and maintenance.
Moreover, every deal we’ve done with Ward Hi-Tech has been tailored to meet our specific requirements — including the company’s ‘buy now, pay later’ deals. These have allowed us to buy machines using a structured ‘drip-fed’ deposit and defer further finance payments for a significant period.”
This type of funding assistance has helped Walker AEC to invest in machines like the Dah Lih MCV series of vertical machining centres, which were supplied with a fourth axis to facilitate the machining of complex parts from a variety of materials, including aluminium and ‘exotic’ metals, to extremely tight tolerances. “We have a reputation for taking work that few others will touch,” says Mr Walker.
Greater capacity
The adoption of Hwacheon turning technology is a recent initiative at Walker AEC. Mr Walker says the machines have proved to be “accurate, reliable and robust”. Indeed, the sucess of the Hwacheon Hi-TECH 300 heavy-duty lathes at Walker AEC has been such that the company has recently placed an order for a third, this time a Hi-TECH 700 model. This large machine has a turning length of up to 2000mm, a 24in chuck and a 700mm maximum turning diameter. However, this particular machine will offer far more than turning operations.
“The Hi-TECH 700 will incorporate deep-hole drilling attachments to reduce the amount of out-sourcing we undertake for this activity,” says Mr Walker. “It’s a move that will provide a considerable competitive advantage by allowing us to produce holes up to 36in deep on landing-gear components — all in a single set-up.”
Aside from organic growth, Walker AEC is growing by acquisition, having recently taken over QA Precision Engineering Ltd. Also based in Poole, QA Precision operates at the high end of the commercial aerospace market. The business has considerable scope for expansion and is already receiving investment from its new parent; since March 2013, shop-floor employee numbers have doubled from five to 10.
In conclusion, Mr Walker says: “Both facilities are extremely busy, and the future looks extremely bright. Machining technology is a big factor in our success, and when the time is right, there could be more capital investment in the pipeline to help meet the increasing demand for our manufacturing services.”