Customised polishing line

All material processed by PPS is within the scope of BS EN ISO 9001 2008. As the first UK free-issue polishing company to process wide sheet and plate via a 2000mm wide dull and satin polishing line, PPS has enjoyed continuous growth over recent years. The company sees investment in the latest production line technology as an essential part of future success and for this project the company contacted Wightman Stewart. Polishing is a delicate processes that has to consider many different variables to obtain a successful result especially when it is mechanised.

Trials were arranged at Costa Levigatrici's manufacturing plant in Italy and Kirsty Davies-Chinnock, MD of PPS, was very impressed. "We discussed our plans for investment with Wightman Stewart who in turn liaised with Costa to develop full proposals and arranged factory visits. The result is an installation that has met our expectations in full and gives us an excellent opportunity for us to grow to the next level, cementing our position as the UK's market leader in stainless steel mechanical finishing."

With assistance from Wightman Stewart, the machine for PPS was developed by Costa Levigatrici's engineers as a specialised, tailor-made solution. It features a heavy duty frame built from thick profiled steel rectangular elements and features a Siemens S 7-300 PLC control. It employs the latest generation 3D Cad Cam technology and the Costa Sanding Manager software has been developed to allow the control of every single machine function. A series of source programs has also been pre-installed to allow PPS to develop their own working programs.

Simon Fitton, MD of Wightman Stewart Waterjet, comments: "The Costa  Levigatrici range includes everything from a stand-alone machine manually fed for low volumes, through to the bespoke high volume, high performance systems required by polishing companies such as PPS.“