Heller

The largest producer of Horizontal Machining Centres (HMCs) in the UK, Heller Machine Tools, has supplied a large, heavy duty machine to GKN Aerospace Filton, near Bristol, to rough titanium aircraft components. It was installed on budget and ahead of schedule during the latter part of 2017. 

More than £2m has been spent upgrading the Heller Machine Tools manufacturing plant and headquarters in Redditch, UK. The administrative and applications engineering departments have benefited from a comprehensive makeover, a new customer area for machine demonstrations has been added, and production output of horizontal machining centres has risen by 30%.

Transforming efficiency and repeatability, two Heller 5-axis machining centres have been installed, on with turning capability. This mainly benefits the way marine components are machined at an offshore equipment manufacturer and refurbishment centre in the UK. Previously, the process for machining cast steel components was labour intensive, involving highly skilled machinists setting up each part 16 times on manual mills, drilling machines and lathes.

Manufacturer of braking systems for rail vehicles is the specialism of Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems UK. Its patented EP2002 distributed brake control is what the company claims to be as the best in the world and is the de-facto standard on all new trains for London Underground as well as metros in Bangkok, Dubai, Manila and throughout China.