Welcome to the matrix…

When Ed Hill visited long-established UK external and internal thread grinding machine builder Matrix Machine Tool in Coventry, he found a company focused on a bright future thanks to new investment from overseas and building on its well-earned pedigree for high precision machine engineering.

Matrix Machine Tool (Coventry) can trace its roots back to 1913. In those days the company primarily made tools and gauges for the thriving engineering industry in the area. However, by the 1930s the company was better known for building precision internal and external thread grinding machines from its own purpose-built factory.

Since then the company has continued to develop and advance machines for this specialist niche area of the metalworking sector. In fact, it has garnered a global reputation for the accuracy, performance and longevity of its machines.

Now Matrix is entering another chapter in its long history with new ownership by the Taiwanese Hiwin Corporation, which has brought with it new investment, additional employment and a new factory. During October 2019 the company moved into a modern 54,000ft² factory at Herald Avenue on the Coventry Business Park, only a stone’s throw from its origins.

In fact, the new owner is probably Matrix’s biggest customer according to UK area sales manager Mark Gibbins.

He says: “Hiwin use our external and internal thread grinding machines to manufacture their own high precision components. With a combination of Matrix machines and their software they believe they produce the highest calibre components of their type in the world, so we have a long-established partnership with them. You could say they liked the product so much they bought the company.”

A compatible combination

A further development is the association with its sister company Matrix Precision in Taiwan which manufactures CNC gear grinding and cutting machines. This range of machines is to be manufactured alongside the thread grinding machines at the new factory in the UK.

It soon became apparent that the highly skilled engineering and design capabilities at the Coventry factory meant it could immediately introduce design improvements to this range of gear machines, taking them to another level.

“It’s great in today’s climate to be able to speak of manufacturing being returned to the UK from places such as Taiwan,” Mr Gibbins says. “This additional new range of gear cutting and grinding machines takes Matrix back a few decades to a time when both thread and gear products were in our portfolio. It broadens the scope of our machine range and is already drawing considerable attention from both the home and international markets.”

The new partnership between Matrix and Hiwin is proving beneficial for both parties. For Matrix in Coventry it means the company can extend its range of machines to include gear cutters and grinders as well as its internal and external thread grinders; for Hiwin the company can draw on Matrix’s long established knowhow and expertise when it comes to all aspects of gear and thread manufacturing.

This now means that the Matrix range – aside from UK-built external thread grinding machines with 500mm between centres, 800mm between centres and 2,250mm between centres, and internal grinding machines with ground bore lengths of 100mm and 250mm respectively – can now also offer continuous gear grinding machines, form grinding machines, vertical gear forming grinding machines, hob sharpening machines and bevel gear cutting and grinding machines.

Additionally, its new CNC gear cutting machines include a bevel gear cutting variant, and being developed, a combined multi-function machine for bevel gear cutting, turning, milling and power skiving. Furthermore, Matrix machines can be offered with automated loading options including pairings with multi-axis robotics.

For Mr Gibbins, this new chapter in Matrix’s development is also an opportunity for the company to re-concentrate its efforts in the UK domestic market.

He says: “I do feel we now have the scope of supply to improve our visibility and ultimately sales in the UK home market and internationally as our machines have so many uses in so many different sectors whether it’s aerospace, automotive, medical, oil and gas or general subcontracting to name a few. We have to promote that to the market, so we are as well-known here as we are in regions such as the US, Russia and Asia.”

Manual traditions

With the precision needed for its external and internal thread grinders Matrix is a company that has to draw on traditional hands-on manufacturing processes (a refreshing change when we hear so much about de-skilling and automation). Machine bases are still hand scraped to give the sub-micron tolerances required.

“When the machine bases are delivered, we immediately inspect the ground slides via laser. We then hand scrape those slides. In the case of our 2250 external thread grinders, for example, those slide pairs can each be a linear distance of circa 5m which is hand scraped to within 5µm throughout its length. Naturally, as it is entirely a skilled manual operation; each of our engineers can visually identify their own unique distinct scraping marks so they can say what bases they have worked on.

“They take a lot of pride in their work which is what you need when you are manufacturing machines to these precise standards – and what is required when it comes to modern thread and gear making. “We also, as required, perform CPK and PPK test analysis (process capability analysis) once the machine has been built. This enables us to define the expected long-term performance, accuracy and repeatability of the machine,” Mr Gibbins explains.

And this level of precision and manual skill is one reason Matrix currently has a strong apprenticeship programme as there’s a necessity to pass on skills that can’t easily be replicated by software packages or robotics to a new generation of engineers.

Understandably, lead-times for a Matrix thread grinder can be prolonged with many clients requiring bespoke turnkey solutions and some machines requiring a high degree of modification for each customers’ specific requirements.

Test trials for machines, can on occasion – and depending on the application – run to a couple of months while machines are proved out and steered towards the client’s components and tolerances.

Growing the growth

However, with the addition of the new gear cutting and grinding machines from Taiwan that Matrix is developing, the long-established Coventry company will soon have every aspect of the gear manufacturing process in its portfolio of machines. And because of the ubiquity of gears for so many applications there is renewed potential for successful sales both in the UK and abroad. Perhaps the biggest reason Matrix’s new owners wanted to invest and revitalise the brand.

Mr Gibbins concludes: “Without the new investment we would not have been able to make the move into this new factory. We are one of the last truly home-grown machine tool builders in the UK and our name is known around the world.

“We believe our new gear cutting machines will not only be attractive to the market but along with our traditional external and internal thread grinding machines, give us better unfluctuating sales moving forward.”

Matrix Machine Tool will be exhibiting at MACH-2020 in Hall 20, Stand 530 between April 20-24 at the NEC.

Matrix Machine Tool (Coventry) www.matrix-machine.com
MACH-2020