New horizons

Wellahead Engineering in Aberdeen has been working in the oil and gas industry for 18 years and has invested in a DMG Mori DMU 95 monoBlock 5-axis machining centre to offer a better service to its customers and enable it to diversify into new markets.

Managing director, Mike Coutts says, “We produce turnkey parts for downhole tools, wellhead and wireline equipment, working from a concepts supplied by our customers. Additionally, we offer a bespoke repair service. Investing in 5-axis machining will enable us to be more competitive in our core business and give us more opportunities in new markets.

“We are currently the only company north of Glasgow with a DMU 95 monoBlock; we ran an open day recently for our customers and they welcomed our new 5-axis capabilities. We anticipate that the machine will provide a big boost to our business.”

He continues: “We have owned two Maho MH800 machines for over 12 years which have provided excellent levels of performance and reliability. When we decided to invest in new equipment DMG Mori were top of the shortlist.”

During the decision making process, Wellahead was impressed by the knowledge of the DMG Mori sales and technical staff in helping make the right decisions: “Much of our work is cylindrical, so we specified a 26 inch three jaw chuck which has enabled us to cut down considerably on the fixtures we use,” Mr Coutts explains.

“This chuck, the 5-axis capabilities of the machine, the Siemens control with its special technology cycles and the on machine laser probe for tool setting has enabled us to reduce the number of operations down to a maximum of two and, halve setting and programming times.”

Previously parts had several turning, milling and boring operations on different machines. The DMU 95 monoBlock enables all processes to be carried out on one machine. “We went on a factory tour at DMG Mori and we could see that the engineering and build quality was excellent and we could really appreciate the versatility of the design. We could have invested in another 3-axis machine, but the capabilities of the DMU 95 opened up new horizons for us.

Rigidity is impressive with the machine able to take full depth cuts with a 60mm porcupine cutter with no vibration. As Mr Coutts affirms, the company’s older machines didn’t have the torque necessary for such heavy cuts.

“We buy quality tools and we are finding that not only is tool life longer, but we can cut faster as well. The high pressure coolant is excellent for through tool coolant enabling us to wash swarf out of deep holes with ease.”

For one component with 12 holes, previously it took seven minutes to peck through each hole. On the DMU 95 all 12 holes were completed in seven minutes with a U-drill straight through with no pecking and only using 11% of the machine’s power.

Transparency in its service performance is a high priority for DMG Mori and it has a team of hotliners to answer customers’ questions and resolve problems. Response and repair times are continuously and rigorously monitored – currently 96.75% of calls are returned within one hour and hotliners resolve 39.92% of problems over the phone free of charge. Service response for an engineer on site is 0.9 day for Mori derived products and 1.5 days for DMG products. More importantly, 58.75% of faults are fixed on the first visit. The performance target DMG Mori is working towards is one day or better for all products. In addition to high standards for aftersales service, the company also ensures that pre-installation logistics and training is carefully planned.

Wellahead employs highly skilled engineers and runs an apprentice programme to build its workforce. Two of its engineers attended the basic training for the DMU 95 monoBlock which was then followed up with extra training.

Sam Morson, one of the trainees says, “DMG Mori answered all our questions. Aftersales support is good and the people we have contact with are nice to deal with.”

Wellahead Engineering www.wellaheadengineering.co.uk

DMG Mori www.dmgmori.com

Company

DMG Mori

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