CNC lathes and mill/turn centres are robust and handle big and heavy duty machining applications in difficult-to-machine materials - Inconel, SS, hard steels and nickel/chrome alloys.

Ayrshire,UK-based precision engineering company - Jigs and Fixtures - specialises in the manufacture of large, high-quality, complex components - predominantly for the oil/gas sector - which today accounts for over 60% of the company's annual turnover. The company, established 30 years ago, and now employing 92 staff (70 involved in production), has positioned itself as a prime mover and shaker within the oil/gas sector - and has focused its manufacturing skills and resources on the high, added value end of the sector. Said William Hyslop, Partner at Jigs and Fixtures: 'The sector is competitive - and to survive and grow within it - we have streamlined our manufacturing processes and systems in order to ensure that component quality, reliability of delivery and cost-competitiveness are never compromised.' An integral element to streamlining its systems (and addressing the above critical success factors) has seen the company make strategic and telling investments in the very latest advanced CNC machine tool technologies.

These investments have seen the company significantly strengthen its manufacturing capabilities in recent years - and in doing so has forged strong relationships with machine tool specialist - Mills Manufacturing Technology - based in Leamington.

Jigs and Fixtures has an impressive array of advanced Doosan Daewoo CNC machine tools supplied by Mills.

These include: Two Puma 400LM long-bed CNC lathes - (2155mm Z-axis, 116.5mm bar working capacity, 1014mm workpiece length, 12-station tool changer and 7.5kW 3000 rev/min milling capability).

Two Puma 700 LM CNC long-bed lathes - (3235mm Z-axis, 164mm bar working diameter, 3200mm workpiece length, 12-station tool changer and 11kW 3000 rev/min milling capability).

One Puma 2000SY 6-axis turning centre - (65mm bar working capacity, 510mm workpiece length, full C-axis on main and sub-spindle, 12-station tool changer and integrated bar-feeder).

Three MX 2500ST multi-axis Mill-Turn Centres - (255mm chuck size (both spindles), bar working diameter 76mm (both spindles), 1020mm workpiece length, 40-position tool changer, +/-120 deg B-axis and +/-80mm Y-axis, 18.5kW 10,000 rev/min milling capability).

The machine tool technology at Jigs and Fixtures' disposal provides the company with a number of business benefits.

The multi-axis machines mean that complex jobs can be setup and be completed more effectively and efficiently.

This 'one-hit' machining capability helps prevent the creation of production bottle-necks and, owing to reduced setups - part accuracy and manufacturing productivity (i e, throughput) are improved.

The Puma lathes are robust and are capable of handling big and heavy duty machining applications in difficult-to-machine materials - Inconel, Stainless, Hard steels Nickel/Chrome alloys etc They provide Jigs and Fixtures with high metal removal rates, rapid and responsive positioning and high-speed turret indexing all of which help improve cycle times for jobs that can take up to 80h to complete and require tight tolerances (+/-0.005in or better) across the part.

The milling capability and programmable tailstock on the Puma 400's and 700's extends the functionality of both machines still further - again reducing cycle times and increasing machine tool utilisation.

The skills and expertise of Jigs and Fixtures mean that the company is very much positioned in the high precision, added-value end of industry - and its 'blue-chip' customers reflect this.

Projects undertaken by the company, whilst still certainly demanding in terms of lead times, cost and quality, are not in the commodity, 'loss-leader' bracket - a situation many UK manufacturers without the requisite advanced technologies are now finding themselves confronting.

Concluded Hyslop: 'We can afford to be more selective with the work we take on thanks to the investments we have made.

We have the technology and the infrastructure in place to continue to grow - and that's exactly what we intend to do.''