🎧Going for sustainable growth

Barrs Court Engineering has recently invested in a new DN Solutions’ DNM 6700 vertical machining centre from Mills CNC to increase its in-house milling capacity and capability.

The Hertfordshire precision subcontract specialist has acquired a DN Solutions’ Siemens 828D controlled DNM 6700 at the company’s 11,500sq/ft facility in Rotherwas in June 2024. It is being used to machine complex parts in low volumes for a range of customers in the marine, renewables, nuclear, steam, automotive and yellow goods sectors. The DNM 6700 is also being used to finish machine fabricated parts prior to assembly.

Barrs Court Engineering, established in 1983, regularly invests in new, advanced machine tools as part of a rolling, company-wide continuous improvement programme to increase productivity, performance and process efficiencies across all of its machining operations, and is no stranger to technologies supplied by Mills CNC.

In 2001, Barrs Court Engineering invested in its first Doosan lathe, a Puma 300 and it has also acquired a sub-spindle, Y-axis turning centre from Mills CNC to strengthen its in-house turning capacity and capabilities. The DNM 6700 is, however, the first milling machine the company has acquired from Mills in its 41-year history.

Almost 12 months ago, Barrs Court Engineering began a strategic process of rationalising and streamlining its business by creating three discrete machining areas in its machine shop – each one focused on a specific production model designed to meet different customers’ machining needs and requirements.

Explains Toby Kinnaird, Barrs Court Engineering’s managing director: “The new manufacturing strategy is focused on growth, and has imposed a discipline across all our planning and production operations. We analysed our existing business, including what our customers expected and demanded from us and identified three different production ‘models’ which would direct how we would organise our machine shop and manufacturing operations.”

Barrs Court Engineering has at its disposal several dedicated machine tools with integrated automation for its low mix high-volume manufacturing operation which is predictable and is characterised by ‘scheduled’ repeat business. Manufacturing bespoke, high-quality components in small batches has always been a particular strength of Barrs Court Engineering, and is perceived as a high growth area for the company.

Often requiring a ‘turnkey’ approach with machined parts characterised by their high precision, complexity and long cycle times, the company specifically acquired the new DNM 6700 machining centre to strengthen its performance in this high-value production area.
“To increase our high-mix low volume machining capacity, we decided to invest in a new high-performance machining centre to replace two of our older machines that had limited capacity”, remembers Toby Kinnaird.

“We were particularly looking for a machine with a larger X-axis to handle bigger parts which had been out of our reach.”

Barrs Court Engineering compiled a ‘must have’ technical checklist for its future machining centre investment and visited the MACH 2024 Show in April to identify a suitable machine. Continues Toby Kinnaird: “We visited Mills CNC’s stand on the first day of the show, and discussed our requirements with their sales staff. They provided details on the DNM 6700 that was in stock at their Leamington facility and would be available for immediate delivery. After a short while negotiating the deal, we placed the order for the machine later that week.”

The model acquired by Barrs Court Engineering is equipped with the 828D Siemens control with ShopMill software and features an 18.5kW directly-coupled spindle, a 1500mm x 670mm worktable and a 40-tool position ATC.

Says Toby Kinnaird: “Our new DNM 6700 is powerful, fast, accurate and flexible. The Siemens Control is intuitive and easy to use, making programming and job setups quicker and more accurate. The integration of the 4th-axis table enables us to machine complex parts with intricate features in a single setup, avoiding the time and cost involved in re-fixturing operations and the potential for losing accuracy, and the inclusion of Renishaw workpieces and tool probes improves process efficiencies.