New Doosan 5-Axis Machine Tool Investment Pays Dividends

Significantly reduced machining operations leading to reduced part cycle times, improved operational efficiencies and new business wins are just some of the benefits Baker Engineering is experiencing from its latest Doosan 5-axis machine tool investment.

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied Baker Engineering Ltd., a leading precision toolmaker and engineering subcontract specialist, based in Derby, with a new, high-performance Doosan DVF 5000 (5-axis) machining centre.

The machine was installed at the company’s new, purpose-built 8,000 square foot facility in April 2020 and is being used to machine a diverse range of high-precision components, as well as specialist tooling, jigs and fixtures for its growing UK and international customer base.

The DVF 5000 is the second Doosan machine tool Baker Engineering has invested in recently; the first being a new DNM 6700 vertical machining centre which was acquired in February 2017.

5-axis machine tool investment: rationale
Baker Engineering is a family-owned business established in 2008 that today employs 15 members of staff.

The company is ISO 9001: 2015 accredited and is committed to continuous improvement making regular investment in the latest machine tool and ancillary manufacturing technologies to maintain its competitiveness and strengthen its preferred partner relationships with its customers.

Baker Engineering has a number of CNC machines at its disposal; these include machining centres with integrated 4th-axis units, lathes with bar feeders, and wire EDM machines.

In addition to offering precision subcontract machining services the company also has specific strengths in manufacturing aerospace component tooling (i.e. jigs and fixtures for ground support maintenance); tooling for the measurement and inspection of railway tracks; and tooling used in the power generation sector).

As a forward-thinking company the decision to invest in the latest 5-axis machining technology was a natural one for Baker Engineering to make and had begun, in earnest, earlier in 2019.

Explains Director, Adrian Baker:
“Multi-axis and multi-tasking machine tools help manufacturers improve their productivity. Because we are a company that’s looking to constantly improve we had done our homework into the technology and could see that an investment in a 5-axis machine tool would deliver significant performance benefits.

“In addition, the investment would send the right signals, externally and internally, that Baker Engineering was focused on the future.”

The key advantages from investing in 5-axis machine tool technology were immediately apparent to management and staff at the company and included:

• the ability to machine complex shapes/parts in a single set-up.
• the added benefit that ‘one-hit’ machining has on reducing the time and costs involved in fixturing.
• the ability to improve/maintain part accuracies owing to a reduction in work handling.

Says Adrian Baker:
“Since the DVF 5000 machine’s installation we have experienced all of these benefits.”

A demonstration of the machine’s capabilities, and its impact on Baker Engineering’s performance, can be seen in the following example.

Component case study
A customer electrical housing-type component was machined, prior to the arrival of the DVF 5000, in five separate machining operations with a cycle time of 2.5 hours. When machined on the DVF 5000 the number of operations was reduced to two, and the cycle time was 0.75 hours.

Comments Adrian Baker:
“The above is typical of the results we have been able to achieve since we invested in the machine”.