Pic: Stuart Baker (centre) with the University’s team of techniciansNewcastle University has made a significant investment in
Yamazaki Mazak machinery to enhance manufacturing productivity for its key engineering student research projects.
Renowned for its excellence in engineering subjects, the University has invested in five Mazak machine tools. This includes three UK-built machines: a VCN-500 machining centre – designed to significantly improve productivity rates for everything from heavy-duty cutting to high-speed dynamic milling – and two Mazak VCN-600 compact vertical machining centres, one of which has a fourth-axis attachment.
The University has also invested in a QTE-100M SG featuring an integral spindle/motor for efficient and precise part production, and a QTE-200M SG turning centre with a built-in motor spindle for high-torque, high-accuracy and high-speed machining.
The advanced CNC machines, housed in the Stephenson Building – the University’s central hub for engineering and the location of one of the main engineering workshops on campus – are used to make high-precision components for key student research projects. This includes suspension parts and chassis brackets for Formula Student, Europe’s most established educational engineering competition, which tasks teams with designing, building and racing a single-seater race car.
The new machines also help to produce drivetrain housings and custom gear assemblies for The Railway Challenge, which requires participants to design and manufacture a miniature railway locomotive to be tested live over the competition weekend.
To aid with the use of the new machinery, nine technicians from the University attended milling and turning training at Mazak’s purpose-built training facility at its European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester. Mazak offers a broad range of structured applications and service-based training to all its customers and the session with the University’s technicians enabled the team to quickly familiarise themselves with the machines ahead of inducting students to the technology.
Stuart Baker, manufacturing team leader at Newcastle University, said: “This is the largest investment that the University has made in many years, significantly enhancing our engineering capabilities. Investing in UK-built machines was very important to us, along with Mazak’s ability to support with service and training. With our recently redeveloped Stephenson Building standing as a world-leading engineering facility, we now have machines that complement our facility.”
He continued: “The machinery has already allowed us to drastically reduce set-up times for key engineering research projects and improve the productivity of our component manufacturing processes. We have received excellent help from Mazak, from sales to commissioning and training, and I am confident that our engineering department will continue to go from strength to strength with this investment.”
Alan Mucklow, managing director UK and national distributors at Yamazaki Mazak, added: “We are proud to be supporting Newcastle University and the next generation of UK engineers through this investment.
“The engineering facilities at the University are among the best in the world, and it’s great to know that Mazak machines will be playing an integral role in the many exciting research projects that students at Newcastle are involved in.”