The Tritech Group has been using DMG MORI machines for 16 years. It has three sites in Wrexham, two in Barnstaple and a further manufacturing site in India and specialises in the aerospace, defence, automotive and green energy markets. Initially it offered high quality casting services, but quickly developed its offering to include machining, surface treatment and assembly to meet the changing demands of its customers. Now, machining is the fastest growing part of its business. Turnover for the group grew from £16 to £24 million in 18 months, will reach £28 million in 2013, and is projected to exceed £30 million in 2014/15.

Primes in the aerospace market, which is around 80% of the company's business, need to work with partners that can deliver a complete solution and take responsibility for every aspect of a project. Jonathan Hunt, Group Sales and Marketing Manager explains, “We have a business model which pays particular attention to new part introduction. We get involved with the Prime at the bid stage before the drawings are sealed. We can then advise on the most appropriate manufacturing methods and suggest design changes which will facilitate economic production. That way we can deliver a complete project which only requires assembly with full quality approvals.” Tritech works with the customer to perfect the manufacturing process with casting and machining trials to ensure it can meet quality, dimensional and functional goals. Low volume parts or weight sensitive parts may be machined from solid, while high volume parts may take the casting and machining route. The whole process can take between 3 and 5 years to complete but the long term partnership working ensures that Tritech can win the majority of projects it is involved in. Jonathan Hunt says, “We have adopted this model for all our clients. We are currently working in the same way with a number of new customers and markets, offering a total manufacturing solution of casting, machining and treatment.”

The company still has its original Hitachi Seiki machines, which were purchased as they had the power to be able to mill and turn castings in a single operation. Some of these are to be replaced with a DMG MORI NTX2000 9-axis turn and mill centre. The machine uses DMG MORI's unique DDM (Direct Drive Motor), ORC (Octagonal Ram Construction) and BMT (Built-in Motor Turret) technologies as well as a symmetrical design to eliminate thermal distortion. Nick Stephens, Production Manager says, “We aim to streamline on our machining times with the NTX2000. This machine is more focussed to the needs of our products. We anticipate that we will soon have a new package of work which will fully utilise this machine, in which case we will be looking to invest in further DMG MORI machines. Our policy is to add extra capacity when we reach 80% machine utilisation.” The long lifecycle of parts in the aerospace industry encourages investment as development projects may last four years and then have a further 20 years plus of production requirement.

Tritech also has three DMG MORI NH4000 DCG machines with twin pallets. These were purchased to reduce idle time between jobs, so that parts could be loaded, unloaded and reset while machining continues. To establish exactly how machining processes can be optimised, the company videos the production process for each job. This is the responsibility of its continuous improvement team. Nick Stephens continues, “We have around 2000 parts going through the workshop at any one time. We always examine the machining process and use of manpower in great detail to arrive at the shortest possible cycle time and, as far as possible, eliminate manual tasks. The twin pallet NH4000 DCG machines have enabled us to cut out idle time very effectively and meet our customer's capacity requirements.” The company also uses standard sets of tools. This reduces the need for changes to the tool magazine and consolidates the range of tools purchased.

Sticking with DMG MORI machines was an easy decision for Tritech as the machines meet its needs to achieve micron tolerances and consistent positional accuracy, providing its customers with on time, defect free deliveries. Jonathan Hunt adds, “We carry out a regular maintenance program and the machines just don't breakdown. Where we have required spare parts these have been delivered within 48 hours - the service is excellent. In addition, the controls are compatible so we can move parts between machines very easily giving us the flexibility to accommodate a rush job.”