
When Warrington-based Jones Nuttall reviewed the overall service and support from its supply chain partners, cutting tool vendors were under the microscope. This forensic review opened the door to the perfect supply chain solution – UK cutting tool manufacturer, Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC).
Located in the North-West, Jones Nuttall is a subcontractor with more than 60 employees that supply more than 30,000 different parts to over 250 clients every year. Clients includes names such as the London Underground, Network Rail, the Linde Group, ScotRail, Bombardier and countless others in the rail, energy and offshore sectors. The versatile machine shop has over 12 CNC Hurco milling machines, and 8 CNC lathes including Mazak, Hurco and Cincinnati.
Producing everything from 1-offs and small batches up to runs of 1000+, the company utilises everything from solid carbide and indexable tools for turning, milling, drilling and threading. When the company was witnessing indifferent service from its regular vendors, a situation created from staff changeovers, and extended product supply lead-times from overseas – it turned to ITC.
Supporting Jones Nuttall, ITC Technical Sales Engineer, Chris Fairbrother says: “We understood the issues faced by Jones Nuttall and introduced ITC product ranges. To emphasise the quality of the ITC tools, we first manufactured special form tools for hydraulic components used in the fluid control industry. With supply chain issues from its previous vendor on special tools, we understood the requirements, providing technical support and then manufacturing special tools with a rapid turnaround time. The tools performed exceptionally well, and this laid a foundation of trust and confidence in the ITC brand.”
With the relationship rapidly blossoming, Jones Nuttall incrementally introduced more ITC solid carbide end mills and drills to its shop floor with impressive results. As ITC’s Chris Fairbrother adds: “Initially, the performance of the ITC solid carbide end mills reduced tooling costs by more than 20% at Jones Nuttall. Reaching beyond the reduced tooling costs, we also demonstrated impressive productivity gains. This has been achieved in many instances by introducing the BIG KAISER back-ends to improve rigidity, stability and runout. By combining the Widia VariMill Xtreme end mills and BIG KAISER back-ends, we have delivered some exceptional results.”
With such impressive results, ITC has now installed a vending machine at Jones Nuttall and the extremely diverse range of ITC, Widia, BIG KAISER, BASS and Kemmler products are all suppliers to the subcontract manufacturer.
ITC proved its value when trialling tools on clevis connector components for the rail industry. The company machines over 1000 clevis components from EN8 steel each month on its large bed Hurco machining centre. With a cycle time of 30 minutes per part, ITC’s Chris Fairbrother initially introduced the Widia VariMill Xtreme solid carbide end mill for machining an 18mm wide slot. By combining the Widia VariMill Xtreme and BIG KAISER back-ends, the 45mm deep slot was machined in four passes with a DOC of 11.25mm at 175m/min spindle speed and 0.06mm feed per tooth. Producing two slots per part, the Widia VariMill Xtreme extended tool life from 40 parts to 120 parts whilst slashing cycle times from 30 minutes to 12 minutes.
After seeing the significant productivity gains achieved, unbelievable tool life and high material removal rates, ITC was invited to trial the Widia Varimill Xtreme on a clamping screw component. Once again, the results proved impressive with the cycle time reducing from 5 minutes to 30 seconds. This set a precedent, but the ITC engineer could see the potential to go further.
ITC was given the opportunity to continue trials on the clevis parts. With a discount and special offer on the Widia TopCut 4 indexable drilling line, the Widia TopCut 4 was successfully trialled and implemented on the longstanding clevis components. Moving from carbide-tipped HSS drills to the Widia TopCut 4, Jones Nuttall once again witnessed improved process reliability, productivity and cost reductions. Drilling to a DOC of 44mm with a 20mm diameter Widia TopCut 4, the cycle time was reduced from 1 minute to just 8 seconds.