Flexible manufacturing cell

A £5 million flexible manufacturing cell installed at the Wrexham facility of Magellan Aerospace is expected to cut machining times by about 30%. At the heart of the cell, which was supported by a grant from the Welsh Development Agency, are two PBZ-HD high-speed five-axis portal machining centres supplied by Handtmann CNC UK, which is part of the Engineering Technology Group. These machines are fitted with the latest 100kW Fischer spindles, which can achieve metal removal rates of 12 litres per min.

The cell will be used to produce about 2,200 wing spars a year, including inner and mid spars for the Airbus A320, plus inner rear spars for the A330 and A340. These spars will be up to 10m long and 1m wide. This work was secured as part of the multi-million-dollar Airbus Power 8 initiative, which gave Magellan increased volumes of work plus some new projects in exchange for cost reductions.

Haydn Martin, director of commercial and business development at Magellan, says: “The Handtmann machines will provide a step change in the way this type of component is manufactured. This cell gives us a world-class manufacturing competence and the ability to be extremely competitive in the global aerospace market.”

The overhead FMS that links the two machining centres minimises loading and unloading times. It holds five pallets, which can be set up off-line while the machines are running, then loaded into either machine. The only down-time is the time taken to lift the pallet onto the machine.