Mills CNC becomes UK’s first accredited Heidenhain Training Partner  

Following an intensive auditing and training process, Mills CNC’s Training Academy has become an official Heidenhain Training Partner – the first, and only training organisation in the UK to have achieved this accreditation.

The accreditation process began back in October 2023, and involved, in the first instance, two members of staff – Karen Earley (training academy manager) and Darren Clarke (trainer) – visiting Heidenhain’s operation in Traunreut, Germany to undertake an intensive, week-long advanced training programme.

This was followed shortly afterwards by both individuals returning to Heidenhain’s facility to take three exams (theory and practical), culminating in both having to run specific and separate live training courses for Heidenhain training personnel. Having successfully passed their exams and the live training practice element, the official Heidenhain Training Partner standard was awarded to the Training Academy in March 2024. 

Karen Early explained: “We have always delivered Heidenhain CNC Operator and Programmer Training Courses to UK and Irish customers ever since the CNC Training Academy was first created back in 2010, but these courses, up until now, did not carry the official Heidenhain kitemark.

“Our Heidenhain accreditation means that anyone in the UK and Ireland, for example with a Heidenhain-controlled machining centre (i.e. iTNC 530, iTNC 640 and moving forwards, the soon to be released TNC7), no longer need to travel to Germany to become trained to Heidenhain standards.”

The Academy now has two fully trained instructors able to teach the new Heidenhain TNC7 CNC control system to customers, and as a consequence, is able to access and employ the latest Heidenhain software upgrades and updates within the courses it offers.

The new TNC7 control, which will be launched by Heidenhain UK at MACH 2024, is touchscreen-based and features a number of improvements over the older iTNC 530 and iTNC 640 CNC control systems such as graphical programming capabilities, advanced collision protection, on-board component and process monitoring for improved reliability, and optimised contour milling for greater productivity and process efficiencies.

As part of its new relationship with Heidenhain, the CNC Training Academy, and future course attendees, now have access to a digital twin of a DN Solutions’ DVF 5000 simultaneous 5-axis machining centre – one of Mills’ bestselling 5-axis models.

The digital twin facility, built by Heidenhain in close collaboration with Mills CNC, enables Academy 5-axis course attendees to create and run programmes on a digital DVF 5000 as if the machine was there in the classroom.

Mills CNC
www.millscnc.co.uk