UNICUT PRECISION ORDERS TWO CITIZEN LATHES AT EMO 2007

Responding to increases in export contracts from America and rising orders from the medical sector for high quality components in difficult to machine materials, Unicut Precision of Welwyn Garden City took the opportunity to order two of the latest Citizen K16-VI CNC sliding headstock automatic lathes from the Citizen exhibition stand at EMO 2007 in Hannover.

Said Jason Nicholson: “We believe we can offset the currency fluctuations with the dollar through investing in the right technology to further our production efficiency. We have already benefitted from installing two Citizen K16s in November 2006 that enabled us to meet increased demand from an aerospace contract in America involving special and difficult to machine materials. As we have been so competitive and maintained the strict quality and delivery schedules demanded by the customer the production quantities have been progressively increased.”

As Charles Kenny, joint managing director adds: “At the same time as the aerospace work is building up we have been seeing substantial increases in orders from the medical sector for stainless steel components and also found the K-Series ideal for improving general production due to its tooling layout, ease of programming, speed of changeover and short cycling ability.”

The two directors maintain that by installing two further machines of the same type they will not only meet their commitments but also free-up capacity to cope with increases in orders from other customers and accommodate new work from the ever-growing levels of enquiries.

The Citizen K16-VI has a capacity of 16 mm by 200 mm machining length without re-chucking. The mainspindle is 15,000 revs/min and the subspindle 10,000 revs/min with the four driven tools having a top speed of 4,000 revs/min. The machine also has five turning tools, four front tool positions and four back working positions and up to 34 m/min rapid traverse rates – ideal for Unicut’s short cycling production targets.

Also high on the purchase agenda for the Welwyn Garden City precision subcontractor is the doubling of the processing speed of the latest Fanuc 31i control which, in conjunction with Citizen’s own software, enables simultaneous tool movements, fast acceleration and an overlapping tool capability.

With the new machines, Unicut Precision will have installed 23 CNC machines of which 18 have been Citizen. The company runs a strict ‘one-hit’ machining strategy that, according to Charles Kenny: “Has proven to be the ideal recipe for us to minimise production lead time – especially important on export markets that account for 40 per cent of our production.”