Sector upturn prompts machine investment

Hone-All’s latest acquisition, a Pinacho STH 400 2-axis heavy-duty flatbed lathe was purchased from exclusive UK and Republic of Ireland distributor TW Ward and represents an investment of more than £75,000 for the Leighton-Buzzard-based company.

The STH400 comes with a number of advanced features as standard including automatic eight-station turret with toolholders, electronic handwheels for the X- and Z-axes and automatic slideway lubrication. All castings are GG20/25 grey pearlitic cast iron produced in Pinacho’s own foundry. Induction hardened beds and ground slideways are used throughout.

Operating from its 20,000m² headquarters and manufacturing facility in Huesca, Spain, Pinacho has been manufacturing high quality CNC and conventional lathes since 1946, supplying equipment to a wide range of industry sectors such as oil and gas, automotive, shipbuilding, energy and aerospace.

Hone-All’s specific configuration comprised a 12-station turret, 105mm diameter headstock main spindle bore, 2,000mm centre distance, 805mm swing over bed, 720mm swing over carriage, two-speed servo-motor driven gearbox and Fanuc 0i-TF CNC. Optional extras included a manual three-jaw chuck with hard jaws, manual tailstock, chip conveyor, two fixed steadies, one travelling steady and boring bar support.

“We reviewed a number of machines in the selection process and had originally started looking for a standard 3m lathe similar to our other machines,” explains Hone-All’s managing director, Colin Rodney. “However, the trend emerging from our order book directed us towards a more versatile 2m variant.

“Specifically, we needed a machine with a high spindle speed, the ability to hold an 80mm boring bar and a 12-station turret – all within a relatively small footprint. The Pinacho was the only model to match all our requirements. For such a high-performance machine, the package price represented real value for money – and we were reassured by TW Ward’s excellent reputation for exemplary support and service.”

Turning tides

The oil and gas sector has had a difficult time in recent years and this has naturally impacted on the supply chain. Hone-All’s order book across the board is in rude health at the moment but particularly encouraging and welcome is that its offshore work is seeing something of a renaissance.

“We have seen a massive upturn in orders from all industries, but the biggest turnaround has been from our oil and gas customers who themselves have benefitted from the rise in the barrel price and the production and exploration this has enabled,” Mr Rodney enthuses.

“Despite the recent downturn, we have maintained our standards of excellent product quality, service and value for money, and as a result our customers are asking us to complete more of their machining operations in order to assist their own capacity and reduce lead-times.”

“We are currently enjoying the highest order book we have ever known and are still delivering to in excess of 90% OTIF – a really good achievement in a subcontract shop where customers’ priorities can change on an hourly basis,” adds director Andrea Rodney. “This is testament to the commitment and the effort of the team here who as a result of the work undertook to achieve our EN 9100 Rev D and ISO 9001:2018 approvals, have improved our levels of customer service, satisfaction and quality to our best ever levels.”

Colin Rodney is nothing but complimentary regarding his overall experience dealing with TW Ward: “The team have been excellent in all aspects so far; the process has been quick, efficient and responsive. They have been flexible in terms of installation and commissioning and based on this, if the machine is as good as we think, we will be ordering another in the near future.

“Pinacho was a relatively unknown brand to us and we were pleasantly surprised at the capacity, flexibility and build quality of the machine. Importantly, TW Ward were able to react to our needs and offer us a higher specification of machine within the same lead-time when our requirements changed a little throughout the process.”

Hone-All’s operations manager Craig Ruffett adds: “The Pinacho STH400’s capability to hold an 80mm boring bar significantly expands our capacity as we were previously limited on machining internal bore detail due to both the limited size and range of the holder and the spindle speed on other similar machines on our shop-floor.

“The 12-station turret will also reduce set-up times and increase the services we can offer to our customers who are requesting increasingly more complex work.”

Adapt and thrive

Elsewhere at Hone-All, the growth in demand for the deep hole drilling and honing of components over recent months has led to improvements and adapting existing machines to enable greater capacity.

Much of the work in this respect has been carried out on a Tibo twin spindle gundrilling machine – however this has limitations in terms of size, diameter range and flexibility. It also required different sized gundrills than Hone-All’s other machines, resulting in extended lead-times.

The addition of a new adult apprentice within the section provided an opportunity to look at the machine in detail and identify areas of improvement. As a result, Hone-All’s engineers have completely re-designed the spindle bush assembly to ensure that the 2,000+ gundrills which Hone-All has in stock can be can be effectively deployed on the Eldorado.

Being able to run two components simultaneously has not only reduced lead-times and increased productivity but has also enabled the company to be more responsive to customers who are facing pricing pressures.

Ms Rodney said “This was a prime example of how the team here work together to overcome challenges and ensure that we can continue to meet customer demand – even during the upturn we are currently experiencing.

“Quality is always paramount here at Hone-All but faster lead-times are increasingly the priority for our customers. The adaption of this machine as well as our recent additions to the team here are helping us achieve our planned growth for this year – so much so, that at six months into year one of our projections, we are actually on track towards meeting our year two targets.”

Hone-All www.hone-all.co.uk

TW Ward www.wardcnc.com