Companies usually move premises simply because they outgrow their former facilities and Sodick was no exception: “We literally ran out of space in our old building in Coventry,” Peter Capp explains.
“We only had 15,000ft² at our disposal and we were spread out across two buildings – far from ideal from an operational perspective, but it also made it impossible to accommodate our future plans. Importantly, it didn’t reflect our market-leading position. It was fine 20 years ago, but not now.”
At 45,000ft² in the new building, Sodick won’t be running out of room anytime soon, but should that situation arise, there’s an additional 10,000ft² of land to cater for future expansion. According to Mr Capp, there are potential plans in the pipeline to undertake machine assembly at Warwick – possibly 15-20 units a month – so that extra space will no doubt come in handy. Final decisions will be made once the post-Brexit landscape becomes clearer.
There’s also extensive warehousing space to cater for the £2 million worth of spares kept at the Warwick site. This is such a large area that it also accommodates other functions such a machine refurbishment area and an inspection room.
With the former, EDM machines are refurbished to ‘as new’ condition for resale. Often these are machines that are taken in part exchange from customers against a new model. At the time of the visit three wire EDM machines – AQ1200L, AQ900L and AQ60L – were undergoing refurbishment.
The inspection room is used for checking the accuracy of machines and inspecting customer parts. It’s well-equipped, housing for example a Mitutoyo Quick Scope vision measuring machine and a Mitutoyo SJ-310 Surftest surface roughness tester.
Not surprisingly, more space means more capability and that inevitably means more people. Currently around 45 people are employed in the UK but Mr Capp is looking to employ a further 20 in the coming weeks and months. A real challenge if ever there was one.
In addition to Sodick’s latest range of EDM technology the new building is also showcasing the company’s recently announced plastic injection moulding machines and milling machines, both of which have specialist additional staff on site. There is also a dedicated production area for the OPM250L additive manufacturing/milling machining centre.
In Europe, 17 distributors serve more than 35 countries – reaching as far as Turkey and Russia. By making this major investment in Warwick, Sodick has demonstrated its belief in the UK as a key location in Europe and that, with or without Brexit, the UK, and particularly the Midlands, remains at the heart of advanced manufacturing.
36% market share on EDM equipment in the UK is pretty healthy, but with the new facility, Peter Capp is looking to increase this number: “The Japanese parent company will obviously be looking for a return on investment, but from my perspective, as my responsibilities cover all of Europe, I can see definite areas for improvement,” he says.
“In the UK, I think 40% market share is definitely achievable. In other European countries such as Germany, Italy and Turkey, we can definitely win more business. It won’t be easy, but now we have the infrastructure to really push the boundaries.
“Our dealer network across Europe is highly skilled and absolutely pivotal to our future success. Over the years we’ve built up some really close relationships with our dealers – they’re as much friends as they are colleagues and they do a fantastic job.”
“Our UH machines feature dynamic linear drives in all axes so the accuracy and finish achievable from these machining centres is excellent,” Mr Capp reveals. “The process involves rough and fine milling in a single operation using a small diameter rapidly rotating and traversing tool at fine depths of cut.”
This combination of high speeds and fine depth cutting are the main contributing factors towards the accuracies and surface finishes achievable. The UH650L LN4X features XYZ travels of 620mm x 500mm x 300mm, linear glass scale feedback and a Blum laser tool measurement system as standard. Spindle speeds are a rapid 6,000 – 40,000rpm and the machine can accommodate workpieces up to 150kg in weight.
“We’ve had the ALC 400G and ALC 600G wire EDM machines on the market for a while now and advances in digital smart pulse generator technology and Sodick’s linear motor system means these machines can hit impressive accuracies of 3-5µm,” he says.
“Now, with the release of the 400P and 600P machines, we’ve taken things to the next level. The machines fundamentally are the same specification-wise as the G series except for a different level of static accuracy. So the geometric pitch accuracy – on a series of holes for example – is ±1µm.
“Obviously to maintain those accuracies, the machine needs to be calibrated regularly. Also, for repeatability, the machine should be located in a temperature controlled environment.”
The ‘400’ denotes the X-axis movement. The ALC 400P means 400mm in X, 300mm in Y and 250mm in Z. Similarly, the ALC 600P has 600mm in X, 400mm in Y and 350mm in Z. The P machines use cross roller guides and linear motors as opposed to LN guides and linear motors on the G series. Also, copper cabling where possible has been replaced with fibre optic technology. Chris Hellyer believes that the P series of machines will be ideal for the extreme accuracies often required in machining medical grade parts.
ALC-P machines incorporate as standard an inverter-type dielectric chiller which monitors and maintains the dielectric temperature to within ±1°, minimising the thermal effect inside the work area. An additional thermal sensor is installed inside the work tank for even more accurate temperature control.
The CNC controller incorporates 2D pitch compensating software which automatically compensates pitch error in positioning every square of 10 x 10mm. In addition, cross-type roller guides provide super-high rigidity and accuracy and longer life. Even the door to the machine has been considered and is constructed of carbon fibre to minimise weight shift.
The icing on the cake is the cost. At around £170,000, considering its spec and integral accuracy, the ALC 600P is undoubtedly competitively-priced.
Sodick www.sodick.org