Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of DN Solutions’ (formerly Doosan) machine tools and a major automation systems’ provider to UK and Irish component manufacturers, has recently supplied leading precision subcontract specialist, Lenane Precision Ltd., with a new, best-selling DVF 5000 simultaneous 5-axis machining centre.
The machine, the third DVF 5000 to be acquired by the company in as many years, was delivered and installed at Lenane’s modern production facility in Shannon, County Clare in September 2022.
The new DVF 5000 has significantly increased the company’s machining capacity and capabilities and is being used at this moment in time, to machine a range of high-precision, low volume complex components (primarily prototypes, one offs and pre-production parts etc.), for its aerospace and medical device customers.
These components, made from aluminium, stainless and titanium etc., are machined to tight tolerances and exacting surface finishes. They are often characterised by their intricate features that can only be machined, or can only be machined economically, by using simultaneous 5-axis technology.
Jim Lenane, Managing Director at Lenane Precision said “machining prototypes and First Article components for the highly regulated aerospace and medical sectors mean that there is little room for manoeuvre or discrepancy from product design to production result: parts need to be right first time… every time.”
A telling investment
The new DVF 5000, the first machine tool investment made by the company since the outbreak of the pandemic, is significant for a number of reasons. It provides tangible evidence that the aerospace and medical device sectors, severely affected by the pandemic, have now ‘bounced back’, and that demand (from these sectors) for high-quality machined components has returned (or is returning) to pre-Covid levels.
It also demonstrates, unequivocally, that Lenane’s commitment to continuous improvement and its attendant investment strategies, designed to improve and upgrade its plant and equipment as well as its processes and systems, are now being implemented by the company with renewed vigour.
“The new DVF 5000 has been deliberately positioned adjacent to the flexible automated manufacturing cell that was delivered and installed in March 2020. The new DVF 5000 complements and works in tandem with the cell,” says Jim Lenane.
The automated cell - a sophisticated, complex and modular turnkey solution designed by Lenane in conjunction with Mills CNC - comprises two DVF 5000 machining centres and a Fanuc industrial robot integrated by a robot positioning track that runs between both machines to enable fast, efficient and reliable part loading and unloading operations to occur.
