Engineering firm installs latest machines as part of £1 million investment

DPC provides wide-ranging subcontract and engineering services to clients in the UK, Europe and beyond, across sectors including aerospace, aviation, defence, energy, environmental, marine, medical, motorsport and rail transport.

The new equipment, costing £230,000, represents the latest stage of investment at the Greater Manchester precision engineers. Over £1 million has been invested in expanding DPC’s workshops and premises in recent years by owners Simon Dawson, Paul Dawson and Julie Hughes.

The new machines installed at DPC’s base in Shaw, Oldham, are a Miyano BNA 42 GTY with low frequency vibration (LFV) and a Citizen L20 Type 8, also with LFV, which enables more efficient swarf management when machining in metal or plastics.

The Citizen is a 20mm capacity sliding head machine with sub-spindle live tooling and magazine bar feed. It is particularly suited to long, slender workpieces and parts that require turning and milling in one operation.

The Miyano is 42mm capacity and similar configuration to the Citizen. It is the first of its type to be installed in the UK with LFV Technology, according to DPC.

Paul Dawson comments: “Citizen and Miyano hold an open day event every year and we recently went to Watford to see the new Miyano BNA 42 GTY. We’d heard about the machine in the pipeline but wanted to see it running. It has a 42mm diameter capacity and has replaced two older machines we had. The new machine complements our other machining capabilities of 32mm and 50mm diameters. Staff at DPC have been trained on operating the new equipment, with in-house training and visits from trainers at Citizen/Miyano.”

He adds: “We have invested significantly recently in the latest machining equipment, new production control software, inspection facilities and skills. LFV technology allows for better swarf management by turning waste shavings into chips rather than long coils. This means some materials, such as certain plastics and aluminium, can be cut much more efficiently. The waste swarf falls away rather than building up in long, stringy coils.”

In other developments, DPC has received a strong number of enquiries linked to the recent Subcon show held at Birmingham’s NEC in June. DPC took a newly-designed exhibition stand to the NEC, reflecting its brand-new website, and met lots of good contacts, both new and existing.

Elsewhere, the Greater Manchester precision engineering firm has attended the 2018 congress of the Syndicate International du Décolletage (SID) in Limerick. DPC attended as members of the British Turned Parts Manufacturers’ Association (BTMA).

DPC www.dpc.co.uk