Malcolm Humphries, Helander’s business development director says: “We tend to specialise in producing difficult components in horrible materials, such as Inconel and other high strength alloys, with some components being composites of two materials, such as carbide embedded in high alloy steel. Due to the difficulty machining these parts and the demand from customers for improved lead times we have had a programme of investment over the years that has seen us producing more and more in house.”

This investment in reducing lead times has seen 30 CNC machining centres and multi-tasking machine tools installed across Helander’s four manufacturing facilities in Tewksbury in recent years. However, one area that had not been addressed, up until now, was that of grinding. Up until recently Helander had sub-contracted any grinding work that it needed doing, but this changed when it invested in a couple of second hand grinders to fulfil a contract for a customer in the oil & gas sector for components with carbide embedded segments.

“The success we had with this project led us to look at the potential for bringing more grinding back in-house, particularly longer length components of up to 3m length, which needed grinding to 15 micron diameter tolerances with exceptionally good surface finishes” says Mr Humphries.

After evaluating several machines and suppliers, Helander chose a Robbi Omicron 3000GE T5 semi-automatic external grinder supplied by Dartford-based RK International Machine Tools for this investment. The machine has a maximum distance between centres of 3450 mm, giving a grind length of up to 3100 mm with a maximum swing of 595 mm over the table.

“This was a significant investment for us in an area of technology that effectively was unknown to Helander, especially given the size and complexity of the components was concerned. We knew that grinding two materials at the same time would have an unusual effect on the grinding wheels and impact on surface quality, but by working with industry specialist we developed a robust procedure that has led to dramatic reductions in lead times, with a payback period on the investment looking very favourable,” says Mr Humphries.

The decision to bring this grinding capacity in-house allows Helander greater control of the process, and the flexibility to meet changing volumes and delivery demands by directly controlling labour resources. Another unexpected benefit of the additional capacity is that it can now look for new work.