Three new turning centres installed at a food industry valve manufacturer, not only replaced older machines, but swallowed an existing CNC lathe's capacity as well.

When Dairy Pipe Lines UK, a long-established hygienic valve manufacturer, wanted to inject additional CNC turning efficiency and capacity into its Saffron Walden (Essex, UK) facility, it selected a trio of Kia turning centres from Ward CNC of Sheffield. The three machines - an SKT28LB and two 21LMB turning centres - were installed primarily as replacements for older machines, but it was soon discovered that their high productivity levels would also swallow the capacity of an additional CNC lathe, and the opportunity has now been taken to re-locate this machine to a sister company site. With a history dating back to the 1890s, the company originally manufactured brass and gun metal valves and fittings for London's breweries and dairies.

Since its beginnings, DPL has developed an extensive range of hygienic valves for the food, diary, brewing and soft drinks industries, where quality of manufacture and confidence in product performance are of prime importance.

The company is also making inroads into the pharmaceuticals, industry where stringent hygiene standards are also a key concern.

The diverse nature of the modern fluids-handling market has led to the development of a range of innovative product types including seat, butterfly, ball, non-return, relief, plug and diaphragm valves.

DPL's policy of continuous product development also means that it has to constantly review its manufacturing processes.

'Valves and actuators continue to represent an increasing share of our manufacturing capacity and significant investment in CNC machines has enabled us to continually achieve more efficient production targeted at meeting market demands,' says managing director Steve Sharp.

'This is highlighted by the recent purchase of the Kia machines.

While they were partly bought as replacements for older machines, we were also looking for additional efficiency and to expand our manufacturing capacity.

Of course, commercial considerations were important,' he adds.

'We soon built up a good rapport with Ward CNC and it quickly became apparent they were prepared to go out of their way to assist us.' Complete with a C axis, live tooling, sub-spindle and a 65mm spindle bore, the two Super Kia Turn 21LMB turning centres offer a main 15/11kW spindle motor that produces 25 to 4000 rev/min, while the 3.7/2.2kW sub-spindle reaches 30 to 6,000 rev/min.

The 12-station bi-directional turret has a driven tool speed range of 20 to 4,000 rev/min generated by a 3.7/2.2kW motor.

According to manufacturing manager Mark Edwards, DPL wanted a value for money CNC lathe with live tooling specifically for the face drilling of flanges.

Most of the work undertaken so far on the Kias has been batch work on stainless steel forgings and billets.

The tough machining properties of stainless steel also led DPL to opt for high-pressure coolant delivery systems on the machines, which helps considerably to remove swarf from the machining zone.

With maximum turning lengths and diameters of 530mm and 255mm, respectively, the 21LMBs have a swing over the bed of 550mm.

Rapid traverse rates are 36m/min.

The 21LMB also boasts a series of high specification features as standard, including a torque limiter on the X and Z axes, a Q-Setter for quick tool compensation, 210mm three-jaw hollow spindle hydraulic chuck on the main spindle, as well as main and sub-parts catcher.

A Q-Setter is also present as standard on the SKT28LB, a high rigidity turning centre with 3,500 rev/min spindle, 305mm chuck, 80mm bar diameter and 1070mm turning length.

DPL is accredited to BS EN ISO 9001: 2000 and the importance of quality criteria is another reason for selecting the Kia machines.

'Surface finish down to half a micron is commonplace on components of this nature,' states Edwards.

'I'm pleased to say we don't see any rejects from the Kia machines.' All three machines were delivered in August 2004 and a knock on benefit has allowed the company to remove an existing CNC lathe to a sister company in the West Midlands, as the machine's workload had become absorbed by the highly productive Kias.

Part of DPL's mission statement highlights its ambition to be the UK's largest manufacturer of hygienic flow equipment.

With the three Kia machines now pulling their weight, there seems little reason to doubt that the company is well on its way.

'The machines are very reliable,' concludes Sharp, 'and overall the whole project has been a real success.

We did our homework and put a lot of effort into researching the market, and we feel we have got our rewards.'