The option to fit Heidenhain’s TNC i530 CNC control to Yamazaki Mazak’s VCN 510C vertical machining centres has proved highly beneficial to Newcastle Tool & Gauge’s (NTG's) drive for diversification. The Gateshead-based company was established in 1979 to provide a service to customers in the press tool and associated industries. However, having developed a reputation for high quality manufacturing – gaining World Class Tool Maker status from the Gauge & Toolmakers’ Association (GTMA) and ISO 9001 and 14001 accreditation along the way – NTG found itself in a changing market place.
While maintaining close links with its press tool customers NTG has moved into the oil and gas and pharmaceutical sectors, among others, and this new business has brought with it a requirement for a different specification of machine tool. “The type of work we have been winning requires a machine tool capable of meeting the demands of machining more exotic materials,” says Charlie Sampy, NTG’s Works Manager. “Mazak was a prime candidate to supply the new machine as we were aware of its build quality. However, while the Mazatrol control system is perfectly capable we opted to remain with the Heidenhain controls that the majority of our existing machines are equipped with.”
With a workforce accustomed to the Heidenhain conversational programming system, a feature that NTG finds invaluable in the low-volume, highly complex work that it undertakes, it did not want to ‘mix and match’ control systems. “Our operators can move from machine to machine with relative ease due to their familiarity with the Heidenhain control,” says Charlie Sampy, “so it came as a pleasant surprise to find that Mazak offers this as an option on the Vertical Centre Nexus machining centres that we were looking at.”
A further bonus was that Mazak had the exact specification machine available in its Worcester Technology Centre. It was delivered very quickly and, once installed at NTG, was up and running within three days. “This combination of Heidenhain and Mazak has proved to be perfect for us,” says Charlie Sampy. “We are now winning orders for complex 3-D work, and the combination of high speed data transfer capabilities of the TNC i530, the familiarity with the conversational programming system and the performance of the Mazak VCN 510C is proving very worthwhile.”
Such is the success of the Heidenhain/Mazak collaboration that NTG ordered a second machine and is now working alongside the first on work from sectors as diverse as oil and gas, defence, automotive, mining and process engineering.