Subcontract Manufacturing
Based close to the M3 and M25 in Woking, Surrey, Electron Beam Processes Ltd (EBP) is Europe's most experienced Electron Beam Welding (EBW) specialist. The company's years of experience and expertise within the application of EBW enables it to solve many of the production problems of its burgeoning customer base.
Raf Engley, EBP (Chief Inspector) explained, "Although a relatively mature technology, many people do not appreciate the technique's potential. In essence EBW is a pure fusion welding process that uses a focused beam of high-velocity electrons that is directed at the materials to be joined. Upon impact, the kinetic energy of the electrons is transformed into heat and the joining surfaces melt to form a weld. To prevent dissipation of the electron beam the process is carried out within vacuum conditions.
"The advantages of the process include the ability to Weld machined parts with minimum distortion. Even at High Speeds, the process delivers exceptional quality and repeatability. EBW is able to accommodate difficult and dissimilar materials, resulting in deep narrow welds that are close to Parent Metal strength. The efficiency of the EBW process results in reduced lead times, lower component weight and substantial cost savings."
Prompted by customer demand for total manufacturing solutions, over several years, EBP has considerably expanded its range of services and now provides a comprehensive design input and manufacturing service. The all-inclusive nature of EBP now includes the manufacturing and quality control of the whole production cycle from the development stage, through prototyping, and on to production.
The popularity of EBP's all-embracing services resulted in a 25&per; growth in turnover in 2011, with similar results anticipated this year. To help keep-pace with growing demand the company made a recent large investment in additional Multi-axis CNC machining centres and mindful of the company's quality ethos - an advanced Axiom too CNC CMM from Aberlink Innovative Metrology.
Raf Engley continued "As the quality of our output is of paramount importance to us, we make regular investments in the best available material testing and quality control equipment. A couple of years ago, in an effort to improve the efficiency of our DEA Swift CMM, we had demonstrations of retrofittable CMM software from several providers. Eventually we purchased Aberlink's easy to use 3D software, as it gave us all of the enhanced features that we required. Not only did Aberlink's software improve our measuring capability, its ease of use enabled our skilled machine operators to check their own work.
"So impressed by the CMM software and the excellent service provided by Aberlink, when the need recently arose for an additional CMM, our decision were a very easy one. We purchased the CNC version of Aberlink's popular Axiom too CMM.
"Now in regular use, the speed and accuracy of the Axiom too is enabling us to keep pace with our growing levels of production. In addition to measuring one-off parts, the machine's CNC capability enables us to recall a part programme and measure multiple components with minimum intervention."