Metaltech Precision claims to be one of the largest, and possibly the most versatile, metalworking sub-contractors in England's West Country. Established in 1973, the company's recently-extended 35,000 sq. ft premises in Chard Junction, Somerset, is home to a 50-strong workforce that can turn, mill, grind, fabricate, shotblast, paint, assemble and test, and does so for some very well-known names in the medical, aerospace, petrochemical and printing industries.

'Total manufacturing' is, in fact, ISO 9001-2000 accredited Metaltech Precision's forte and its success has been achieved through a combination of sustained investment in CNC technology and a willingness to diversify.

The company's plant list reflects this, with prismatic machining capacities up to 6000 mm by 1500 mm by 2000 mm and turning capacities up to 650 mm diameter allied to full fabrication facilities that include MIG/TIG welding.

The plant list features 40 CNC machine tools - a 7.5 kW XYZ VM 5000 three-axis bed mill and a 7.5 kW XYZ ProTURN VL 425 two-axis lathe being the most recent additions - that play an important role in the 'total manufacturing' mix.

The 1930 mm by 355 mm table size VM 5000 and the 480 mm swing-over-bed ProTURN lathe, together with a 5.75 kW XYZ VM 4000 bed mill installed in 2004, are dedicated to low volume work because, says Steve Hill, Managing Director, 'we are as happy dealing with single prototype requirements as we are with a batch run of several thousand components.' According to Danielle Grinter, Quality Manager: 'We machine anything from high precision sliding head work through to large fabrications in materials ranging from aluminium to titanium, Inconel, Hastelloy and 316 stainless, and in batch sizes typically from 1 to 5000-off.

So the machines we buy must contribute to a diverse business servicing a very demanding customer base.