HEL Performance acquired Hose-Equip in 2000 as a strategic means to compete in the performance fluid-transfer marketplace. The name became Hose Equip Limited, shortened to HEL, and the HEL Performance brand was born. With established experience in the hydraulics market, Simon Lane and Chris Porter launched HEL Performance’s new approach to motorcycle brake lines. Now, HEL Performance designs and manufactures its entire range of mainline stainless steel high-performance motorcycle brake line fittings in-house and its mobile Race Lab features at the Isle of Man TT, the NW200, the World Superbike and British Superbike Championships every year to support its portfolio of sponsored winners with a fast-expanding range of high-performance braking technologies.
The company has long been a turning shop that has expanded into milling to manufacture a complete array of parts for braking systems. Simon Lane says: “We have Brother milling machines, 14 Star CNC turning centres, we have a carbon fibre 3D printer and also a couple of plastic printers and we are just getting into 3D scanning as well. There is a lot of technology available to us now.”
The company has recently invested in a Lang RoboTrex automation system and alluding to this, Simon continues: “There are some parts that we have always done on the Star machines where you load the bars and the parts are dropped into the bin overnight and this allows us to run 24/7. We wanted to replicate that if we could in our milling department. So we looked at a robot to load machines through the night for us.”
The RoboTrex automatic handling system which operates the machining centre from an automation trolley that also serves as a storage medium for the vices. Depending on the part size, the trolley can store up to 42 vices on a RoboTrex 52 and 16 vices on a RoboTrex 96. Both systems also offer the capability of using up to four trolleys, which means that the storage capacity can be increased to up to 168 vices. Referring to why the company selected a Lang automation system, Simon says: “The decision was always based on what we felt – the holding of the part would be the most important. We have always worked with Lang with their vices, they are top quality gear. So, we decided to speak to them about their robot and also spoke to a couple of other companies. Lang came back with a price that was in the middle, but it was the best solution for the job. The programming of the robot is straightforward and Lang did all of that for us. They sent two guys in and they showed us everything and set the pendant up so it would do exactly what we wanted. We were then allowed to use that for a few days to see how it would work. One of the guys asked if we could turn the part over after it had been machined, just to empty the coolant off the part and into the machine rather than on the rack, so everything is clean and tidy.” “We will run this automation out across the workshop. We will get another Brother milling machine with a robot fitted and eventually the plan is to get a robot on another two machines as well. It gives us so much more flexibility and reduces manufacturing times. We are getting so much throughput, and we need that to keep up with the demand that we have at the moment for our products. It’s a misconception that it will put operators out of work, as automation has created more work. We now have another guy that needs to come in to finish all of the parts before they are sent out for anodising and we have another guy that fits all the products into the machines for the automated cell, but it means that his hours are spent programming and making money for the business rather than being stood in front of the machine. So, we have actually increased the number of people in this department by two in the last six months since the robot has been installed.”
“Automation is something we have wanted to do for a long time and we have seen more of it coming into the industry. It just takes all the problems out. The machines are now running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It comes with two trolleys, so we can fit all of the aluminium billets on. The parts are pre-stamped with a Lang stamping machine so we know they are in exactly the right place. All you have to do is turn the lights out at the end of the day and come in, in the morning and collect 70 completed parts,” concludes Simon.