MACHINING & MACHINERY EHRT FLEXPUNCH
HV WOODING
FlexPunch machine arrives as HV Wooding completes £ 1.5m investment push
One of Kent ’ s fastest growing precision engineering specialists has completed a £ 1.5m investment drive with the installation of a new EHRT FlexPunch machine .
HV Wooding , which employs over 100 people at its Range Road Industrial Estate factory in Hythe , has taken delivery of the new technology , which comes equipped with three CNC controlled axes that virtually guarantee perfect accuracy on production parts destined for electrical switchgear , data centres , electric vehicles , and energy markets .
The latest cell represents a £ 400,000 spend and offers an immediate 40 % increase in ‘ punching ’ capacity , which will enable greater flexibility and faster lead times .
It follows a concerted investment programme that has seen the acquisition of a high-speed Bruderer BSTA 25H press , Xpert 80 Bystronic and a Trumpf TruLaser 3030 that can produce thin gauge laminations and busbars for use in electric cars , lorries , buses and commercial vehicles .
Matt Lacey , Sales & Marketing Manager at HV Wooding , commented : “ Since the pandemic has eased and we ’ ve got back to a more normal trading environment , we have seen monthly sales increases of between 15 % - 25 %.
“ This is being driven by our ability to take on complex projects from prototyping through to volume production , taking in multiple manufacturing methods , including wire erosion , laser cutting , presswork and tooling , assembly and electroplating .”
He went on to add : “ These capabilities make us a very attractive proposition for companies involved in developing new components for electrification and we wanted to cement this position with the £ 1.5m investment in four different , but complementary technologies .
“ Our quality team has been really pleased with the parts produced on the new FlexPunch and we ’ re looking forward to taking on more projects that utilise its accuracy , repeatable quality and speed .”
HV Wooding , which has enjoyed strong export growth over recent years , is also investing in the skills of its workforce to help it meet the surge in demand from within the UK and overseas .
A new Buyer and a Systems Development Engineer are the latest recruits , and they will soon be followed by six more staff spanning a range of positions from Production Manager , Production Supervisor and Technical Team Planner to Process and Project Engineer and two Quality Inspectors .
This will give the company the strength in depth it needs to push the boundaries of its manufacturing activities , including its involvement in a Faraday Battery Challenge project to develop a new powder coating process for the insulation of Busbars destined for electric vehicles , energy storage and battery applications .
Supported by Innovate UK , the initiative has involved HV Wooding engineers working with materials and engineering researchers from the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre ( Nuclear AMRC ) and the University of Sheffield to improve the quality of the busbars it can produce .
Matt continued : “ Current fluidised bed and spraying coating methods are not effective for insulation coating of conductive materials . An aspect of this innovation is to design and upgrade the fluidised tank with new dipping mechanism features , and nozzles to blow off excessive powders . “ We will also optimise the spraying facility for manufacturing high quality insulated busbars with complex geometries required by various battery OEMs . By semi-automating the process we can also reduce operator risk and further minimise the product failure rate , which can be as high as 25 %.”
He concluded : “ The project will produce best practice testing methods for manufacturing quality assurance . These new standard testing specifications and methods will benefit customers , manufacturers and trade associations by improving the efficiency of design , manufacturing and procurement in the battery manufacturing supply chain .”
For further information , please visit www . hvwooding . co . uk or follow @ hvwooding on twitter
108 PECM Issue 55