Business models

Most children enjoy making models, but for Ben Lyons, managing director of Model Products, the modelmaking has never stopped.

Most children enjoy making models of one sort or another, but for Ben Lyons, managing director of Model Products, the modelmaking has never stopped.

In fact, it provided the basis for a thriving business employing eight people and specialising in making complex engineering models. These models are made strictly for business purposes and, unlike Mr Lyons' early efforts, are definitely not for use as toys.

Having served an apprenticeship as a modelmaker at what was then the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford, Mr Lyons joined the British Hydromechanics Research Association (now the BHR Group). On finding the modelmaking department short of work he took to the road in search of new customers. However, when the volume of new work overtook the internal orders of the newly privatised BHR Group, which had decided against expanding in that direction, he took the plunge and started his own modelmaking business.

The business soon expanded and evolved to cover all types of R&D work. “Many of our models are working prototypes and require complex, often quite large, metal components to be machined,” Mr Lyons explains. “So before long we needed larger capacity machines than the traditional modelmaker's lathe and mill. We also opted for CNC machine tools because of the complex shapes specified for many of these components.”

The first machine to be installed following relocation to much larger premises in Wootton, Bedfordshire, was a ProtoTrak CNC/manual bed mill supplied by XYZ Machine Tools. This was soon joined by a second ProtoTrak-equipped mill and then by an XYZ ProTurn CNC/manual lathe and an 11kW (15hp)/8,000rpm XYZ Mini Mill 560 compact vertical machining centre equipped with Siemens ShopMill conversational CNC.

All four XYZ machine tools are ideally suited to prototype and low volume production, enabling the multi-discipline team at Model Products to take a customer's ideas in any format from sketches to full CAD drawings and quickly and easily program parts ready for machining.

“We will take almost any project no matter how big or small it may be,” Mr Lyons reveals, “with a dedicated design and production facility ensuring we produce components and assemblies to exacting tolerances.”

One striking example of this expertise is a model of the Boeing X-48B aeroplane that served as the centrepiece for Cranfield Aerospace stand at the 2008 Farnborough Airshow and has since appeared at several other events – including an ‘Innovation in Action' event hosted by Cranfield University and attended by the Duke of Edinburgh. However, it seems this is unusual as once an engineering model has served its purpose, it is often disposed of, although some models do eventually find their way into boardrooms and reception areas. Model Products' broad client base includes major water companies, defence contractors, university departments and many smaller but no less important clients. This breadth of experience means the company is able to use expertise gained in one field to provide practical assistance where other modelmakers may be unable to help.

“Our models are commissioned to solve a specific problem and, depending on what the model is going to be used for, we can decide how we intend making it and from which materials, be it metal, plastics or wood,” concludes Mr Lyons. “Many of our more complex models for the water industry require us to produce models in acrylic with an array of internal galleries and chambers.

The only sensible way to produce these is to break the item down into smaller assemblies of individual parts that are required to fit together with precise accuracy. CNC milling and turning has enabled Model Products to offer the high quality service that our clients demand.”

XYZ Machine Tools
www.xyzmachinetools.com
 

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