Ellesco Polishes Up Bottlenecks for Sheetmetal Subcontractor

In the manufacturing industry, the buzzword around the sector at the moment is 're-shoring', where manufacturers are realising the benefits of bringing work back from foreign shores. For LL Potter & Sons, a sheet-metal subcontractor that specialises in the production of enclosures and associated metalwork products for electronic and communication applications, re-shoring is more than just a 'buzzword'. It has contributed to growth of 25% in the last 18 months.

Working with blue-chip clients from a variety of high-tech sectors, LL Potter has invested heavily in state-of-the-art technology to underpin this growth. In 2013, the Maidenhead manufacturer invested in an automated Amada C1 laser profiling & punching machine and more recently, this has been followed by a Timesavers 42 Series 1350RB (Rotary Brush) deburring and edge radiussing machine from Ellesco that was delivered in November 2014. This Ellesco investment was accompanied by the replacement of a 25 year old Grindingmaster graining machine with a newly refurbished Grindingmaster 2000 graining machine. Having celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, the capital outlay demonstrates why 45 employee LL Potter still has a hunger for innovation as it has also taken delivery of a new Safan pressbrake since Christmas.

As a company that works a single shift pattern, the ability to run its Amada C1 for over 16 hours a day unmanned has significantly increased productivity and capacity. However, the enhanced ability to cut laser profiles and apertures meant that the company needed to ensure that later departments capacity could absorb the increase in work.

Taking up the reasoning behind the Ellesco acquisition, LL Potter’s Commercial Director, Mr Julian Fox says: "The Amada machine immediately increased pressure on our deburring and graining departments for two reasons. Firstly, our throughput of work increased and secondly the variety of materials we used had previously resulted in a high degree of labour intensive hand deburring. We had two full-time staff either hand deburring, using a Vanco belt machine or our ageing Ellesco Grindingmaster graining machine. The new Timesavers 42 Series 1350RB has completely revolutionised this quality conscious department. The 42RB has improved quality, consistency, capacity and reduced labour input. Our enclosures encase electrical wires and PCBs, so eliminating burrs is critical from a health & safety standpoint and often from a functional point of view for our customers. In addition, after 25 years of non-stop service, Ellesco also replaced an old machine with a refurbished model that has improved the consistency and quality of our current graining process."

Why Pick Ellesco?
For LL Potter, the reason for initially considering Ellesco was down to a longstanding relationship that has seen the Thames Valley subcontractor purchase surface finishing equipment from Ellesco for almost 40 years. This long term relationship has stood the test of time due to impeccable service and consumable support, machine reliability and longevity. However, in the real world productivity and component quality stands above all else.

From this perspective, LL Potter reviewed competitor machines and in particular a machine being used by a customer. Trialling a number of customer parts on the 42RB machine, LL Potter significantly improved the surface finishes and edge quality and were able to test a range of materials and complexity of parts before finalising the correct machine specification to best suit the needs of their wide ranging customers requirements.

Cost Savings
LL Potter can now run 90% of its work through the Timesavers 42RB machine using just one operator. This has immediately freed one member of staff to be allocated to a different department. Furthermore, the remarkable productivity of the 42RB machine sees it only running for 30% of the day. This saves time, energy consumption, labour input and also improves the through-flow of work.

From a consumable perspective, the savings are also impressive. As Potters Operations Director, Mr Dean Bailey comments: "Prior to the arrival of the 42RB, we were spending upward of £10,000 per annum on consumables such as files, linishing belts and extraction filtration. Added to this, our staff were conducting regular belt changeovers that inevitably slowed production. We have calculated that we will save over £5,000 a year in consumables and that doesn't include elements such as time savings through reduced changeovers. Our labour savings are currently being analysed but we already know the results are going to be very positive."

From a changeover perspective, the 42RB Series has 8 rotary brushes that remove burrs and put a fine radius on all edges, internal features and punched holes as well as smoothing the surface. LL Potter has two sets of brushes. One set is for finishing its mild steel, stainless steel, Zintec (zinc coated mild steel) and poly-coated (plastic coated) steels whilst another set of brushes are kept for the processing of aluminium parts. The clean down and brush changeover takes just under 20 minutes and this enables LL Potter to better schedule its workflow around material types and batch sizes that range from prototypes to batches in the thousands.

Improving the Throughput
For LL Potter, the overall process from material procurement through punching, laser profiling, deburring or graining, forming and then in house powder coating, painting and silk screening; a lead time up to four weeks is an average. Whilst the acquisition of the Amada and the Ellesco machines have not compressed lead-times that are constrained by external subcontractors, they have undoubtedly improved workflow and relieved pressure on downstream processes. The ISO: 9001 accredited company processes sheets on its Amada C1 up to 2.5m by 1.25m with typical thicknesses ranging from 0.7 to 5mm. This sheet size caused an issue for the finishing department with a Grindingmaster graining machine capacity that was only 600mm wide. Another reason for specifying the Ellesco Timesavers 42RB Series was its ability to accept sheets and components up to 1.350m wide - a perfect complement to the Amada machine capacity.

Material Flexibility
One particular feature that significantly assisted the investment decision was the ability to process a wider variety of materials. As Mr Fox continues: "We manufacture a lot of Zintec parts and using a graining process is not possible as the pressure involved will remove the zinc coating, leaving us with only the mild steel below. The gentle nature of the 42RB machine ensures it removes all edges and burrs whilst just 'tickling' the surface, so not to remove the zinc coating. Additionally, materials such as polished stainless steel that are purchased with a protective polythene coating can also be processed and edges smoothed without damaging the poly coat that we want in place during the rest of the manufacturing process."

Increased consistency of quality is credit to the automated settings of the Timesavers 42RB machine. This allows the operator to adjust the height settings of the rotary brushes and also the feed rate of the vacuum table. Having these features at the control of the operator ensures that each feature and edge on every batch of parts is consistently finished and not left to the mercy of a potentially heavy handed operator.

"The longer we use the machine, the more we are realising its potential and the benefits. For example, our deburring department are also responsible for the weekly removal of dust particulate that is extracted via ventilation and captured in water tanks as sludge. In its first month, the dust particulate capturing system and the extraction system fitted by Ellesco to the 42RB didn't need cleaning. This is because the machine consistently removes minimal amounts of material and therefore minimises dust particulate whilst the high powered extraction system is providing a cleaner and healthier workplace with better air quality."

Concluding upon the purchase, Mr Dean Bailey confirms: "We are delighted with the machine and also the refurbished Grindingmaster 2000. The 42RB has only been running for a couple of months and we are already witnessing the benefits that we expected following the trials that Ellesco and TimeSavers supported us with. We bought the machine to relieve the pressure on the deburring and graining departments whilst also improving the quality and consistency of our processes. Our expectations have not only been met but surpassed."