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Precision engineering firm invests in British-built 5-axis machinery

By Yamazaki Mazak Ltd on

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JWA Tooling has reaffirmed its commitment to high-quality, high-accuracy production by becoming one of the first to invest in Yamazaki Mazak’s new, British-built CV5-500 simultaneous 5-axis machining centre.

A leading Leicester-based precision engineering company has reaffirmed its commitment to high-quality, high-accuracy production by becoming one of the first to invest in Yamazaki Mazak’s new, British-built CV5-500 simultaneous 5-axis machining centre.

JWA Tooling (JWA) is a specialist provider of high-precision manufacturing solutions to some of the world’s largest blue-chip companies, with capabilities including precision CNC milling, turning and wire EDM.

The company had previously invested in a Mazak VCN-530C vertical machining centre to meet customer demand for larger batch sizes. Since its installation in November 2019, the machine’s reliability and speed has proved vital to JWA’s day-to-day operations, freeing up its highly skilled workforce to take on more complex tasks.

To build on the success of their previous machine, JWA has now invested in another VCN-530C, and purchased one of Mazak’s first state-of-the-art 5-axis CV5-500 machining centres. Conceived, designed and built in the UK, the CV5-500 is unique in its category due to its high-rigidity bridge construction with a fully supported trunnion table that travels in the Y-axis direction under the bridge, ultimately delivering an extremely accurate and compact machining solution.

The CV5-500’s 5-axis capability will enable JWA Tooling to increase the manufacture of high-quality parts and reduce the amount of operations required for job set-ups.

The CV5-500’s 12,000 rpm spindle is capable of a peak performance of 18.5 kW and 119.4 Nm, making it suitable for the wide range of materials JWA works with. Its rapid traverse rates of 36 m/min in the X-, Y- and Z-axes also allows for highly agile performance, and it can process work pieces up to Ø500 mm x H320 mm, and up to 200 kg in weight.

This 5-axis capability will enable JWA to increase the manufacture of high-quality parts and reduce the amount of operations required for job set-ups. Additionally, the CV5-500’s compatibility with a wide variety of automation systems will allow the company to implement ‘lights out’ machining, further expanding its overall production capacity.

Peter Wood, Operations Director at JWA, comments: “In order to take that next step as a business and take on larger orders, we needed precise, automation-ready machine tools that could operate with minimal manual production. With these aims in mind, it was clear that Mazak were the first choice.

JWA Tooling had previously purchased a VCN-530C machining centre from Yamazaki Mazak in 2019. The company has now also bought another VCN-530C to build on the success of their previous machine.

“We were really impressed with the first VCN-530C we purchased – it was a clear step above everything that we had used so far. Previously, when customers asked for increasingly accurate machining within five microns or less, we achieved those tolerances by constantly tweaking our old machine, but now we don’t have to do that with our new units.

“We’ve been very impressed with Mazak as a company, and liked what we saw when we went to the Open House event at their Worcester HQ in December last year. It was here we saw the new CV5-500, which caught my eye immediately. Frankly, it’s just a great machine – it’s well-built, and the best 5-axis machine I’ve seen at that price point by far, so we thought we would take the plunge. We’ve certainly got high hopes for it going forward.”

Alan Mucklow, Managing Director UK & Ireland Sales & Service Division at Yamazaki Mazak, adds: “JWA Tooling is a fantastic example of a British business using high-precision machining centres to increase output quality and volume. We are very happy to have seen the transformational effect the VCN-530C has had on their day-to-day operations, and are extremely confident our new CV5-500 can deliver a further step-change in productivity.

“As the latest in a long line of Mazak machines to have been fully designed and built in Britain, the CV5-500 breaks the mould for the compact, fully simultaneous 5-axis machining category. Because of its easy integration with ancillary automation systems, we have every confidence it will deliver the ‘lights out’ machining capability JWA require to take their business to the next level.”

For more information on JWA Tooling, please visit: https://jwatooling.co.uk/.

For more information on Yamazaki Mazak’s new CV5-500 machining centre, please visit: https://www.mazakeu.com/cv5-500/.

Yamazaki Mazak Ltd

Yamazaki Mazak is the world’s largest manufacturer of computer controlled (CNC) metal-cutting machines. With over 260 different models, the Mazak product range includes CNC lathes, machining centres, multi-tasking machines and flexible manufacturing systems as well as laser processing machines.

Visit our website +44 (0) 1905 755755

Machine tools are called “Mother Machine” because they relate to the manufacturing of almost every product around us and are very important in supporting the base of “world manufacturing.” Our mission as a machine tool maker is to enrich people’s lives and contribute to society by developing and providing high performance machine tools that can produce high accuracy work in a short time.

We were among the first to start foreign production as a Japanese machine tool maker. Following the establishment of Mazak Corporation in the USA, we expanded our production base worldwide to include the UK, Singapore and China, as well as further expanding our Japanese manufacturing operations. We are the only machine tool maker to have established a global production system. With these local plants, we have been able to provide high quality service and have built strong relationships based on mutual trust with customers from all over the world.

True to the Yamazaki principle of supporting the customer locally, Mazak’s European Manufacturing plant, in Worcester UK, opened in June 1987 and was immediately recognised as the most advanced machine tool manufacturing plant in Europe. The factory has expanded three times since then and now offers over 29,000m2

This is a complete machine tool manufacturing plant. Mazak machines the components that go to make its spindles, turrets, tool magazines and Mazak even manufactures its own sheet metal covers. As with all Mazak manufacturing plants, the most rigorous practices and Kaizen programmes ensure continuous improvement.

Serving all of Europe’s markets, more than 80% of the machine tools built in Worcester are exported from the UK into Europe. More than 17,000 Mazak machines have been manufactured here so far and this number continues to grow every day.

Mazak European Manufacturing Plant is recognised for its factory automation, technology and overall management practices. Selected as one of the “Top Ten Companies in the World” by the Swedish Royal Academy of Science and Technology underscores this worldwide reputation.

As with all Mazak factories, this facility comprises a variety of flexible manufacturing systems, consisting of machining centres, multi-tasking CNC lathes, and a sheet metal FMS – all designed for unmanned operation.

The plant benefits from highly skilled employees who are committed to continuous improvement through the 25 “Kaizen” teams in operation.

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