Offshore investment

However, one company is making a virtue out of staying true to its roots in the offshore industry and is continuing to invest for success.

Being over 300 miles from Aberdeen, High Wycombe is not an area closely associated with the oil and gas market. However, it is home to MSCM – a leading manufacturer of subsea products. MSCM designs, manufactures, assembles and tests a range of subsea hydraulic distribution equipment that is supplied to its clients in the offshore industry throughout the world.

Set up in 1999, the company specialises in everything from hydraulic couplings, through to ROV stabplates, and has extensive capabilities in design, milling, drilling, turning, welding, assembly and testing.

MSCM now manufactures around 98% of the products it provides to its oil and gas customers. However, it hasn’t always been this way: “Ten years ago, we were doing about 50-60% in-house, and the rest was being subcontracted out. We ended up waiting around for parts to come in, which created delays and made delivering orders with short lead-times, increasingly difficult for us,” says Neil Robinson, MSCM’s managing director.

Dissatisfied with the delays, the team at MSCM decided to invest in more advanced technology, and improve its in-house manufacturing capabilities. Mr Robinson continues: “We knew we had to stay competitive and to do this we had to become more flexible and reactive to our clients’ demands, by cutting lead-times.

“We were getting a big message from customers that if we could get the right product to them at the right time, which is a real challenge for the industry, then they were willing to commit to us.”

MSCM turned to Yamazaki Mazak, and the machine tool manufacturer has been integral to the upgrading of MSCM’s machining capabilities ever since: “We went with Mazak not only because they have such a wide variety of technology and can provide everything we need, but also because they are a UK supplier and work with us as a partner,” explains Martin McLintock, MSCM’s operations manager.

MSCM made its first of the more recent investments in 2012 following its relocation to the current larger facility and the company now has 14 Mazak machines in operation on the shopfloor. “We started off small, with a simple Quick Turn Nexus 250 MSY turning centre,” Mr McLintock reveals. “We quickly saw the advantages and efficiencies it could bring, with much reduced cycle times.”

One of the key products in MSCM’s portfolio is hydraulic couplings: “They were previously taking two or three machines and multiple operations to produce,” Mr McLintock adds. “What we really needed to do was to increase our throughput and flexibility. We turned to Mazak again, and invested in our first Integrex j-300 in 2015.”

He continues: “We initially had our concerns about moving into 5 axis machining, however we believed that we had the right calibre of people and, providing Mazak would support us where necessary, that we would successfully make the transition. Mazak throughout our early days supported us very well, which we expected due to our strong working relationship.”

He says that the machine shop is now producing couplings in one cycle, taking out multiple operations and setting up the job much quicker, enabling MSCM to be far more reactive, flexible and competitive.

It is this drive for efficiency that has motivated the company to continue to make further investments in its machinery, with a horizontal machining centre, the HCN-6000, joining the ranks. “It’s been a great success so far; we’ve had five different components through already,” says Martin McLintock.

One of the standout benefits of the HCN-6000 is the SmoothG control panel. Mazak claims it’s the world’s fastest CNC, offering a 38% improvement in cycle times, whilst delivering greater cutting accuracy, both of which made a significant improvement at MSCM.

“At first, the Smooth control was a learning curve for our operators, but now they’ve got to grips with it, they love it. New machinery takes time to get used to, but we’ve been really impressed with Mazak’s after service and customer care. Thanks to their training and support, our staff managed to get these machines up and operating efficiently within just a few weeks of having them installed.”

Going forward, MSCM has plans to take the business a step further: “The focus for us now is to look at the rest of the machines we have, and eventually refurbish the whole shopfloor,” says Neil Robinson.

“You’ve got to keep moving; you can’t stand still. We’ve seen what investment can do for our business, and how important it is to stay competitive in the oil and gas industry. I’d say we are bucking the trend and proving that oil and gas can still be a profitable sector to be in.”

MSCM www.mscmltd.co.uk

Yamazaki Mazak UK www.mazakeu.co.uk