ADM Fine Machining is the result of two businesses, A.D.M Engineering Limited and Fine Machining Limited, coming together and combining their expertise and customer bases at the company's 12,000 sq ft facility in Littlehampton. Traceability is a key factor in all the products it manufactures for the aerospace and petrochemical industries.

Peter Howell, Business Development Manager for ADM says, “We are ISO 9000 approved and AS9100 approval is due in Q2 2017. Furthermore, we always work in partnership with our customers to develop the most efficient manufacturing processes for their high precision components. Business is buoyant at the moment and our investment in the DMG MORI NMV3000 DCG was an important step in further enhancing our 5-axis machining capacity. The manufacture of complex parts in just one or two settings without the need for costly fixtures is definitely the way forward.”

The NMV 3000 DCG has a 34 station pallet changer, a 12,000 rpm spindle and is capable of machining parts up to a 320mm cube. By using vices on each of the pallets, blocks of material can be quickly and easily located ready for machining, even while the machine is running. Parts can then be inverted, where necessary, and passed through the machine again to finish the back surface.

Peter Howell adds, “We chose the DMG MORI NMV 3000 DCG because of its speed, working envelope, tool carousel capacity, rigidity, small footprint and the logic of the Mitsubishi controller. We cut a lot of hard and exotic materials such as Inconel, Hastelloy and F51/55 and the machine cuts these with ease. For the more complex parts we produce, the DMG MORI 5-axis technology can eliminate many of the costly set-up requirements of 3-axis and 4-axis machining which can significantly reduce our time to market.

The NMV3000 DCG can run for 24 hours per day, 7 days a week and frequently operates unmanned. Probing on the machine and sister tooling ensure the minimum of disruption during machining cycles. Batch quantities can be very variable from just a few prototype components up to many 1000s in series production. The pallet changer allows ADM to adapt quickly to variances in customer demands or priorities. Programming for the machine is completed offline with the company's VISI CAD/CAM system working directly from customers' solid models, introducing techniques such as full depth trochoidal cutting with carbide tools, minimising machining times and maximising the productivity of the NMV 3000 DCG.

The aerospace parts produced by the company are mainly destined for cargo safety applications, while the petrochemical parts include metal to metal valves and motor activated needle valves, some of which operate at 2,500 PSI or at minus 200°C. As part of its service ADM builds complete and sub-assemblies for its customers, some of which can have upwards of 350 components. Traceability is crucial for all these applications and the company has robust systems to track parts right back to the material source. Peter Howell explains, “An important part of the traceability, as well as all the documentation and material testing, is the engraving of parts during the machining process so that there can be no mistake as to origin of the components we manufacture.”

“When the two companies came together to form ADM Fine Machining Limited it effectively doubled turnover. We are now looking to expand into other high technology sectors such as motorsport, defence, power generation and medical where our precision engineering expertise and traceability systems will be recognised as added value to potential new customers.”

“Our plan is to double turnover through diversification and, as part of that expansion, we will be investing in more DMG MORI 5-axis machines.”