MILLENNIUM ENGINEERING is a specialist manufacturer of critical components to the automotive, oil and gas, food and drink and machine manufacturing sectors. 

The Lancashire manufacturer machines everything from steel and stainless, aluminium and brass through to exotic materials such as titanium, inconel, duplex and a host of other materials that make every day an interesting challenge for the shop floor.

Maximising its productivity with the application of heavy-duty Doosan CNC sub-spindle turning centres, 3 and 4-axis Hurco machining centres and high-end CAD/CAM software, the company aims to maximise productivity levels whilst maintaining impeccable quality levels and productivity rates. It is here that cutting tools from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) complete the loop of high-end technology to maximise throughput.

Doubling tool life

Millennium Engineering's Mat Jackson observed: “With the previous inserts, we were rough machining 10 parts per insert edge, with the Widia CNMG-RH chip breaking inserts from ITC, we immediately doubled our tool life to 20 parts per insert edge."

With six high-specification CNC turning centres with live tooling on the shop floor and two CNC machining centres, Millennium Engineering’s emphasis had primarily been placed on turning activities. 

The company also manufactures scroll tails with twin threads for composite hose couplings. With the component batches varying from 10 to 300-off per month in sizes from ½" to 16" diameter, the parts required considerable turning with cycle times extending beyond 20 minutes. With support from ITC, the steel scroll tails had the cycle time reduced to just 5 – a 75% improvement. 

With significant improvements to tool life and subsequently cycle times, the ITC engineers were also invited to look at other applications throughout the business. This resulted in the ITC engineers reviewing the 6082 aluminium brake kits the company manufactures. With these incorporating of multiple aluminium components such as bells and brackets, the ITC team identified an issue with poor cycle times on turned parts.

"We were going through 3 to 4 aluminium turning inserts a week," Jackson explained. "This was a combination of using the incorrect inserts and not having the technical support from our previous tooling supplier. 

Encountering further efficiencies 

"ITC reviewed the process and implemented their Widia turning inserts and we now use their inserts for both rough and finish turning operations. As for the tool life, we have gone from using a box of 10 inserts every two weeks to an unbelievable tool life improvement. We bought a box of 10 Widia inserts from ITC back in September 2021 – we are still working our way through that first box of inserts we bought."

ITC was also able to help with milling challenges, and an immediate opportunity presented itself with 316 stainless steel pulleys and gears Millennium Engineering produced for fish farms in Scotland. 

"We machine 20 to 40+ gears twice a year for the fisheries and we were using two roughing tools, a semi-finisher and a smaller form tool for finishing the gear forms. ITC’s Jason Clark looked at this process and immediately identified a new selection of tool dimensions that would eradicate one of the three tools for stock removal," said Jackson.

"We reduced the process from four tools to three by using a larger and more robust form tool and higher quality end mills for the roughing process. The result was a cycle time reduction from an hour to just 20 minutes. 

"On the majority of jobs that Gary and Jason from ITC have reviewed, we have reduced cycle times by anything from 15 to 60%, improved tool life beyond 50-60% and reduced our tooling costs by a minimum of 15%," he concluded. 

Georgia Graves is director at ITC Industrial Tooling Corporation

For more information: 

www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Tel: 01827 304500