The perfect solution!
Kenard Engineering rent a new Doosan machine to fulfil short-term contract win
Leading precision manufacturing subcontractor Kenard Engineering Ltd is one of the first company's in the UK to take advantage of Mills CNC's 'SMART Options' machine tool rental scheme.
The new Doosan machine acquired by Kenard, and now installed at the Company's facility in Tewkesbury, is a high-performance HP 5100 twin-pallet Horizontal Machining Centre: (X-, Y-, Z-axis - 850 x 700 x 750mm; 22kW 14000rpm BT 40 spindle; 500mm x 500mm table size with full B-axis 0.001 degree index capability; and Fanuc 18iMB control).
The decision to rent the new Doosan (rather than purchase the machine outright or take it on a fixed finance deal) was made by Kenard after it 'won' a new, short-term manufacturing contract that could not, from a capacity perspective, be fulfilled by the Company's existing machine tools at either of its Tewkesbury or Dartford facilities.
Says Matt Cornford, Operations Director at Kenard:
'We estimated that we would need a dedicated machining centre to help us fulfil the new contract - and that the contract would be completed in 8 months or so.
'The problem we had, owing to existing commitments, and a general increase in our workload over the last 12 months, was machine tool capacity. We simply hadn't got a machine available to take on the new work.'
Rather than decline the work - Kenard chose to 'rent' a new Doosan from Mills knowing that at the end of the initial rental period (typically between 8 - 12 months), the following options would be available -:
. return the machine back to Mills
. extend the rental period for a further 12 months
. purchase the machine with all (100%) of the rental payments made
refunded against the original sales price of the machine
Continues Matt Cornford:
'Mills' 'SMART Options' rental scheme gave us the flexibility to acquire additional machine tool capacity without the long-term commitment.
'Furthermore, once we had agreed with Mills that the rental scheme was our preferred route - the machine we identified to do the work (a new Doosan HP 5100), was installed in at our Tewkesbury facility just a few days after we had signed the deal.'
'We are now 8 weeks into the rental agreement and the machine is working flat-out. It's too early to say what will happen once we have completed the contract (estimated to end around April 2010), but the expectation at this moment in time is that we will look to purchase the machine outright.'
The new HP 5100 machining centre is the latest Doosan machine tool acquisition made by Kenard in the last 4 years - the other machines being a Puma 700LM and Puma 600 (both large capacity lathes) and a Mynx 750 and DNM 650 (both large vertical machining centres).
All 5 Doosan machines are being used to manufacture high-precision complex parts (often high-value and high-integrity) for customers operating in the aerospace, defence, oil/gas and communications sectors.
Kenard has built its reputation in these sectors (and others) on manufacturing and technical excellence, and unrivalled customer service.
The Company provides its customers with a comprehensive range of services - concept/design to full manufacturing that also includes fabrication, assembly/sub- assembly, testing, powder coating and painting etc.
Kenard regularly invests in advanced technology machine tools, and is constantly upgrading and updating its manufacturing and production capabilities. A good example of this is at the Company's Tewkesbury site where 5 x high-speed machining centres have been integrated with a multi-level Fastems linear rack system.
This FMS cell ensures continuous machining and round-the-clock production, and is the largest and most advanced system of its kind ever installed by a genuine contract manufacturing company in the UK.
