Leipold (UK) uses eight Index 6-axis CNC lathes supplied by Geo Kingsbury, the latest two installed during May and June 2000

Six year old Leipold (UK), Telford, a subsidiary of a German subcontract group having five plants worldwide, specialises in the production of prismatically machined components and precision turned parts from brass bar up to 42 mm diameter for the electrical and telecommunications industries. All turning is carried out on eight Index 6-axis CNC lathes supplied by Geo Kingsbury, the latest two installed during May and June this year (2000). The majority of contracts are for large batch and mass production quantities.

Minimum order is around 1,000-off whilst up to 200 million of one type of terminal clamp or block can be produced on Leipold's own special-purpose machines.

A run of 100,000 turned parts from any of the six Index ABC lathes is not unusual; whilst the two Index 'G200 Compact' turning machines equipped with short bar magazines constitute Leipold's 'Express Shop' and are devoted to shorter batch, rapid lead time orders.

Said general manager, Kai-Uwe Schwagerus, who came over from Germany in 1994 to set up the UK operation, 'The challenge in our business is to achieve consistency over very large volumes of parts.

A customer might build a number of our connectors into a manufactured item so any percentage error in the components we supply is magnified several fold in the end product.

'Another characteristic of our work is the high level of cleanliness needed when parts are dispatched, as many of them are subsequently plated with precious metals.' Index machines were chosen after trials on three shortlisted twin-spindle lathes demonstrated savings of up to 20 per cent in cycle times when turn-milling two typical, relatively complex components.

Another point in favour of the G200s was the 14 tool positions in each of the two turrets, more than on the other lathes investigated, allowing Leipold to hold a greater number of cutters within the machine and so minimise tool changes between jobs.

Live tooling in both turrets and full C-axis for both spindles were selected to provide considerable flexibility for prismatic machining, although the Y/B axis option on the top turret was not considered necessary.

Much use is made of polygon turning to minimise changeovers from round to square or hexagonal bar.

All components are machined in-cycle on the reverse end; less than 5 per cent require a second operation on another machine tool, helping to minimise handling and the consequent risk of damage.

General tolerance is 0.05 mm total; tightest is 0.02 mm, well within the compass of the Index machines.

Electronic data interchange between Leipold's UK and overseas factories is a regular occurrence, as each centre specialises in the manufacture of particular ranges of components for the whole of the Europen market.

Two locations produce the same components for resilience of supply.

The database in each country is available to every factory, enabling pooled experience including drawing and cutting data to be interrogated by everyone.

Drawings are produced in Germany for all factories although programming is carried out locally.

The Telford plant already operates 24 hours a day, six days a week.

Work for the two latest Index ABC machines had been pre-sold well before their installation.

More machines will therefore be purchased later in the year.

By that time, Leipold will have nearly trebled its shop floor space following a move to different premises in Telford; and the group will have merged with another subcontractor in Germany offering parallel products as well as stronger capability in sliding-headstock turning.