Sound machining decisions make all the difference

Axiom has brought a depth of experience in the engineering sector to the company and has made a number of key strategic appointments to put in place a highly experienced management team with ambitious plans for expansion.

Frank Hay founded the original FRH business in 1952 as a hand patternmaking shop. The company remained a family business, for three generations with Frank’s grandson, Adrian Hay at the helm for the last 20 years.

Following the purchase, Axiom has kept the family connections strong with Tom Hay, great-grandson of the founder becoming a shareholder and production director of the new business.

Axiom Product Development specialises in the design and manufacture of high quality tooling, patterns, components, manufacturing aids and jigs and fixtures for the automotive, motorsport, defence, aerospace and marine industries. It provides a dynamic, quality assured, technically capable engineering service to its customers.

Five Formula 1 teams are on the Axiom/FRH books, making tooling for the cars’ carbon fibre bodies. Some of this tooling has been used to make the Haas F1 Team car; which of course, was made on a Haas machine.

Since 1999 the company has been located in a purpose-built 1,200m² factory near Chichester, which houses eight Haas high-speed machining centres and fully equipped toolmaking facility.

“Our first investment was a Haas VF-4,” explains production director Tom Hay. “We took on an experienced machinist who was familiar with a range of machines, but recommended we buy Haas. We haven’t looked back since.”

The company currently has 10 employees, including CAD designers, high-tech machinists and experts in prototype tooling. “We do all our own CAD modelling,” says Tom, “and a lot of work designing prototype tooling, which is then sent straight to the Haas control to make the part.”

The company’s most recent investment is a Haas VF-9 vertical machining centre. The 2,134 x 1,016 x 762mm capacity gives the flexibility to make full scale vehicle sized parts.

Tom Hay explains the difference the Haas machines have made to the business. “In the last six years we’ve added five spindles to the workshop. This has massively increased our capacity and significantly moved us forward in terms of the technology we have at our fingertips.

“We’ve also replaced some of our older machines with Haas. We find them very useable and their speed has made a huge difference, particularly with the Super Speed machines.”

Axiom Product Development’s five Haas super speed verticals are equipped with 15,000rpm spindle, side mount tool changers and high-speed machining for extra fast cornering: “Using the newer machines, along with our Vero software, has cut our large rough-cut cycle times from five hours to just 30 minutes, and one engraving job has gone from one hour to ten minutes. Maintenance is so much easier too, as the machines only have one type of lube and the cartridges last a long while. We spend less time maintaining and more time machining.”

He continues: “We keep buying Haas because they’ve proved to be accurate and reliable. The control is so simple to use it’s ideal for our apprentices – once they can run one machine they can run them all because the control is universal.”

Axiom Product Development has been set up by Michael Last and Clive Johnson who are both experienced CEOs with complimentary backgrounds in finance, mergers and acquisitions, engineering and manufacturing.

It’s a busy time for Axiom/FRH who recently welcomed Alan Rendle-Eames to the team as managing director and shareholder. Mr Rendle-Eames has over 17 years’ experience in the machine engineering sector and was formerly the project manager leading a team of five designers at Formaplex, a specialist machining and composites company. He previously spent 14 years at FRH Technical Engineering so is the ideal person to oversee the running of the business.

Luke Newman has also joined the Axiom management team as technical director and shareholder. He is a qualified toolmaker with over a decade’s experience in the sector.

Axiom Product Development www.axiompd.co.uk

Haas www.haas.co.uk