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Agility and adaptability: the keys to business growth, success and longevity

TT1800SY Twin Turret Horizontal CNC Lathe at Standish Engineering

Standish Engineering Co (SEC), a family-owned engineering business celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is a widely-respected and successful precision subcontract specialist committed to continuous improvement and, to maintain its competitive edge, regularly invests in advanced machine tools and ancillary technologies.

Since the 1990s SEC has developed strong relationships with Mills CNC and, over the last 30-years, has acquired a number of its Daewoo, Doosan and, most recently, DN Solutions machines – the most recent being a twin-table vertical machining centre and a twin-spindle, twin-turret turning centre.

These machines, like all the 15 CNC machines SEC has in its machine shop, are helping the company respond to, and meet, customers’ changing needs and requirements…quickly, efficiently and profitably.

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of DN Solutions’ and Zayer machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied Standish Engineering Co Ltd., a precision subcontract specialist based in Lancashire, with a new DN Solutions’ twin-pallet vertical machining centre and a DN Solutions’ twin-turret, twin-spindle turning centre.

The machines, a VC 430 and a TT 1800SY, were installed at the company’s 16,000sq. ft. facility earlier this year, in May and October respectively, and are being put through their paces machining a range of high-precision, complex parts for customers in the rail, oil and gas, automotive, aerospace and food processing sectors – to name but a few.

Whilst all sectors are important to SEC it can be argued that business from the international rail and oil and gas sectors, and the company’s strong supply chain relationships with customers from both, have become increasingly significant to SEC’s continuing growth and success. Indeed, it was these ‘critical infrastructure’ sectors, back in 2020/21,that proved to be more than instrumental in helping the company negotiate its way, successfully, through the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

However, despite their importance, a key consideration for the company has always been to minimise potential risk by not being overly reliant on one or two sectors or industries and, as such, SEC is always looking to diversify its customer base and enter new markets.

The company’s regular and planned investment in advanced, flexible and multi-tasking machine tools and ancillary technologies help SEC become more agile and more adaptable, and better able to implement and capitalise on its diversification strategies.

Interior of a VC 430 Vertical Machining Centre

Machining focus

Parts machined by SEC are characterised by their tight tied-up geometric tolerances and super-fine surface requirements, and are machined in small, medium and large batch sizes, depending on customers’ order requirements.  

Parts, both large and small, can be machined from solid billet and bar as well as from castings and forgings, and materials machined by SEC also cover a wide spectrum and include aluminium, engineering plastics and mild and stainless steels, as well as numerous exotics and difficult-to-machine alloys that include Monel, Hastelloy, Inconels, Duplex and Super Duplex etc.

About Standish Engineering Co

SEC, established in 1950 and currently employing 38 members of staff, is a company committed to continuous improvement and, as such, regularly invests in its people, in its plant and equipment and in its systems and processes. 

The company is innovative, progressive and totally focused on its customers.

To improve its services to customers, SEC regularly monitors and benchmarks its performance against company KPIs to ensure that it consistently meets, and in many instances exceeds, the high standards it sets for itself regarding quality, efficiency, value and customer satisfaction.

A company-wide mantra that permeates throughout the whole organisation is that the “customer is king”. 

This message, or a business philosophy if you like, provides a clear, unequivocal focus that has resulted in improved customer loyalty, high retention rates and repeat business from existing customers, as well as the ability to win new machining contracts from new customers too. 

A real win: win situation.

“We are constantly adapting the business to meet customers’ needs more effectively, and always strive to be the best we can be.”

Nick Kindon, Managing Director at SEC

Nowhere is this more evident than in the company’s well-resourced machine shop where frequent and planned investment in new capital equipment (i.e., advanced machine tools, inspection and laser marking equipment etc.), help the company improve its machining capacity, its production capabilities and its machining processes too.

The VC 430 twin-pallet vertical machining centre

The new high-productivity and flexible VC 430 installed in May 2024 has replaced an older (Daewoo) ACE vertical machining centre that was acquired by SEC in the late 1990s.

“Although the ACE machine has served us well over the years, it wasn’t as reliable as it used to be. 

“Rather than jeopardise our machining performance with a potentially unreliable machine, and to avoid unforeseen production bottlenecks and scheduling issues caused by downtime, we decided to replace the ACE with a new machine.

“Initially, we were looking to replace the machine with a 5-axis machining centre but, having done our research, we realised that continuing with a new, next-generation twin-pallet vertical would, from a cost, machine availability, staff familiarity and process knowledge and integration perspective, be the best solution.”

Nick Kindon, Managing Director at SEC

SEC approached Mills CNC to discuss their requirements and were introduced to the VC 430 machine series.

VC 430 Vertical Machining Centre
 at Standish Engineering Co

About the VC 430

The DN Solutions’ VC 430 has a twin-pallet configuration enabling continuous machining of large and/or multiple smaller parts in a single set up.

The machine has a rigid design and build and is equipped with a powerful, high-torque spindle (18.5kW/10,000rpm/167.6N-m), two automatic pallets (712mm x 490mm x 2), each with a 300kg maximum load, up to 40m/min rapids on its X-, Y- and Z-axes, roller guideways and a fast 30-position automatic tool changer.

The machine supplied to SEC also featured through-spindle coolant capability (20bar), and a MH500 chip conveyor.

“The new VC 430 has slotted in seamlessly and as expected, is making a significant contribution to our productivity and performance. We are looking to replace our last (two) remaining ACE twin-pallet verticals in the near future, and it looks likely that we will be approaching Mills in the next few months to discuss trading them in for a couple of new VC 430 machines.”

Nick Kindon, Managing Director at SEC

About the TT 1800SY

The new, compact TT 1800SY, installed at SEC’s machine shop in October 2024, has replaced an older TT machine that was acquired by the company in 2007.

The 8” chuck/65mm bar capacity TT 1800SY is a productivity powerhouse designed for fast small parts processing and features twin-opposing spindles (22kW/5,000rpm), an upper and a lower turret (24-position each) with 5,000rpm driven tooling capabilities, and a +/-50mm Y-axis.

The machine supplied to SEC also included a MF500 swarf conveyor, a CRS66 collet chuck and, to ensure continuous production, a HydraFeed (MultiFeed 65) bar loader.

“Our first TT 1800SY served us well over the last 17-years, and could operate as a (de facto) self-contained, automated manufacturing cell. 

“We relied on its accuracy, flexibility and speed, so when the machine needed to be upgraded it was natural that we approached Mills to talk about their new, next generation TT1800SY series.

“Our new TT 1800SY has only just been installed, but we have high expectations concerning its performance.”

Nick Kindon, Managing Director at SEC

Summary

SEC continues to invest in advanced machine tools from Mills CNC, and the latest VC 430 and TT 1800SY machine acquisitions are cases in point.

“We like Mills CNC, they understand our business and are approachable and transparent. The depth and breadth of their machine tool portfolio is second to none, and the fact that they keep many models in stock at their Leamington facility, ensures their quick delivery and installation.

“This, in addition to Mills’ technical and logistical expertise combined with their responsive after-sales service and support operations, puts them in the box seat whenever we are looking to invest in new machines.”

Nick Kindon, Managing Director at SEC