Diving into Productivity
Improvements
Apeks Marine Equipment Ltd of Blackburn began manufacturing
30 years ago with one goal - 'to make the best diving equipment
in the world,' - A goal fast becoming a reality. The company
has continually invested in its manufacturing facility and R&D,
a strategy that has paid dividends with Apeks growing into a
major player in the diving industry, designing and manufacturing
every aspect of diving regulators.
Part of the ongoing investment includes a recently installed
Mikron machining centre and cutting tools from ITC. As Lee Cronshaw,
Tooling designer and head of the toolroom at Apeks comments:
"We bought a new Mikron VCP machining centre three months
ago and we needed to employ effective tooling solutions as our
suppliers at the time only supplied tooling and did not provide
advice and support. We were convinced that with the correct
support we could improve our productivity - and then ITC approached
us with a view to supplying tooling."
Apeks Marine has a machine shop and a toolroom, with the latter
manufacturing injection mould tools, assembly jigs & fixtures
and R&D work. It is here that ITC was put to the test in
an environment that works predominantly with D2 and P20 tool
steels. Mr Cronshaw continues: "We had cutting tools from
numerous manufacturers and we tested them by cutting a 150 by
100mm cavity 10mm deep, at the manufacturers recommended cutting
speeds. The test conducted on P20 tool steel is a typical example
of our every day work and the three manufacturers' cutters showed
remarkably different results. All using 6mm coated carbide slot
drills - One cutter snapped only half way through the test whilst
another completed the part in two hours with considerable wear.
However, the ITC cutter completed the cavity in less than 40
minutes with relatively little wear on the tool. Our decision
was confirmed with this test."
Since employing the new tooling, Apeks Marine has applied ITC
tooling throughout the toolroom with 80% of all its cutting
tools being supplied by ITC and 100% of its carbide tooling
coming from the Tamworth based manufacturer. ITC sales engineer
Jason Clark says: "Since conducting the tests in July,
I have continually provided product service and support, which
has seen our products introduced throughout the toolroom. Two
of the CNC machining centres at Apeks have 24 and 30 tool change
carousels and both are loaded with our tooling."
Now, the ISO registered and CE marked, UK leading manufacturer
of diving equipment uses TiAlN coated 0.5 and 1mm slot and ball
nosed cutters from ITC. This is complimented by a range of carbide
tooling from one through to 10mm diameter.
"We were initially looking for some productivity improvements
and this was driven by the accountants and our considerable
tooling costs. We have now increased our productivity by over
100%, increased our speeds, feeds and overall performance dramatically.
Our surface finishes have improved and the extended tool life
has reduced tooling costs and that inevitably keeps the accountants
happy. Most importantly we have the service and support we need,"
Mr Cronshaw continues.
The cost of the cutters is favourable to Apeks Marine as the
majority of cutting tools are from the ITC Britcut Series. The
series is manufactured at ITC's state-of-the-art production
facility on 5-axis CNC grinding machines that operates unmanned.
The lights-out production of the Britcut range enables ITC to
pass its reduced costs on to the customer. The series is used
throughout the Apeks Marine toolroom in its uncoated and TiAlN
coated form to great success. |
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We
have now increased our productivity by over 100%, increased
our speeds, feeds and overall performance dramatically. |
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