Fast purchase of quick tools leads to business turn around

Citation

(2008), "Fast purchase of quick tools leads to business turn around", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 80 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2008.12780fab.003

Fast purchase of quick tools leads to business turn around

Article Type: Aerospace world From: Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal, Volume 80, Issue 6

Mike Ireland’s New Year Resolution was to turn around Quick Tools, a company he had acquired following just six weeks of negotiations, which were completed on 4 January 2008, with plans to develop its expertise into a low volume, high-technology design, development and machining operation. He was keen to make full use of the opportunity of its high-skill levels in toolmaking which he regarded as the company “treasure chest” and marry this capability with his own expertise and contacts from his previous job in the aerospace industry.

Within just five months, his dedication to transform the ailing business has been rewarded with turnover already tripled, but as Mike maintains: “This is the result of a totally focused attitude, the workforce’s help and willingness to move forward plus the return from up-front investment.”

For instance, he purchased a Dugard Eagle BNC 1860 CMC Multifunction flat bed lathe and an ex-demonstration Dugard Eagle 1000 VMC from C Dugard of Hove, a 3D portable measuring arm from Faro and new CADCAM software from MasterCAM and Delcam because he knew time was not on his side. His concern was to retain customers that had drifted away prior to, and during, clinching the sale.

Also, he could not wait for grant assistance he had been promised, because the machine tools were such an important part of his breathing new life into the business.

High on his priority list in January was to convince his 12 key staff that their support would mean a company with a future as he needed their skills to move the business into the next league. Here, the investment and the commitment to train them to further improve their knowledge was well received along with the withdrawal of redundancy notices.

Quick Tools was originally set up in 1962 by Paddy Langdon and taken over by his son Trevor and wife Jill, who decided last year they wanted to retire and sell the business. A management buyout then failed and the Langdons made the decision to close and conformed to the Law by issuing the appropriate redundancy notices. The company had been living off an impressive direct and indirect customer base of leading names in commercial and military aerospace and defence, F1 and industrial and commercial engineering companies with the supply of complete design and manufacture of jigs and fixtures, test rigs, mould and press tools as well as developing and building special purpose machinery.

It had also carried out fabrication, some sheetmetal work and produced composite tooling, some small batch turning and milling plus CAD design services involving prestigious projects such as Euro Fighter Typhoon, Boeing 787, Airbus A340 and EH101 Merlin.

Said Mike, who has a background in military engineering: “I heard from a close friend of the pending closure of Quick Tools and had just six weeks to prepare a rescue package. However, one of my main concerns was the number of customers that were drifting away but to my amazement since we revamped our way of working, over the last five months it is all changed like an incoming tide. Customers have returned with orders and we are getting progressively involved with long-term projects that are quite large for a small company and should provide us with regular work for up to a year. We have about 100 live customers on the books now with the top 20 providing the lions share of turnover – so we can’t complain.”

Even at this early stage of rejuvenating the business, Mike Ireland is not pausing to take breath. Having bought the new machines, software and measuring equipment, persuaded key staff to stay and presented his case to customers, he has also set up training courses with PETA, Portsmouth’s Training and Consultancy Services at the Skills Centre in the town, for his employees, and Train to Gain’ courses, with the Learning and Skills Council. A graduate apprentice has been taken on and the company is currently seeking three new people. Also on the cards is to locate a new 10,000 ft² unit as the current 3,300 ft² site at Farlington near Portsmouth is full to capacity.

Materials processed include aluminium, brass, copper and most steels including stainless, Duplex, Nimonics, armour plate and titanium as well as some composites and nylon which is why the Dugard Eagle machines were chosen. Mike left the decision on machine type and supplier to his workforce team to select the machines they wanted but he said: “I laid down the ground rules of rigidity and reliability, the ability to produce accurate work and that we felt comfortable working with the selected supplier.”

He reflected: “C Dugard was recommended by another company nearby which also saw the advantage of local support from Hove. But more importantly, Dugard ticked all the boxes with the team so we went for the flexibility of manual/electronic handwheels and the CMC capability of the Dugard Eagle Multifunction BNC 1860 flat bed lathe with Fagor 8055i control. For the machining centre the decision was made for a Dugard Eagle 1000 VMC with Heidenhain control. This Eagle 1000 was an ex-demonstration machine from the Hove showroom which was a very helpful factor with our budgeting.”

Often facing the turning of large shaft type parts, the BNC 1860 gave the added capacity of 1,680 mm travel in the Z-axis with 475 mm swing and 710 mm in the gap bed for fixture work. The machine also has the power of an 11 kW spindle that is ample for the type of work turned at Quick Tools. “A quick-change toolpost and a rear mounted eight-station turret, able to provide automated cycles on repeat components and batchwork, made the decision easier,” he said.

Meanwhile the Dugard Eagle 1000 VMC, replacing an aging Japanese machine described by Mr Ireland as “a bit tired”, has rejuvenated the small batch subcontract machining capability and is proving highly beneficial to tooling production. The machine is directly linked to MasterCAM and Delcam’s CAD software via the Heidenhain control. With a table size of 1,200 × 510 mm it provides a useful platform for the type of toolmaking operations carried out by Quick Tools and is also ideal for small batch production.

Axis travels are 1,020 × 530 × 510 mm and the 24 tool magazine with twin-arm changer provides sufficient tool capacity. Quite important for Quick Tools is the compact design of the machine that requires a floor space of just 2.8 × 2,08 m making it ideal for the size of the current workshop. But one of the reasons for seeking new, larger premises is to create enough room to enable expansion.

Details available from: C Dugard Machine Tools. Tel: +44 (0) 1273 732286, Web site: www.dugard.com

Quick Tools Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 2392 375718, E-mail: bobhorton@ dugard.co.uk, Web site: www.quicktoolsltd.co.uk