Investing in hard milling

Westminster Tool Inc.’s injection mold department has grown consistently faster than before in response to a roughly 10% increase in demand for molds for medical devices. For the Plainfield, Connecticut-based company, that meant investing more than 10% of revenue in updating, replacing and expanding equipment across the shop to improve efficiencies and keep up with demand.

The area that saw the largest enhancement was the hard milling department, which previously included a single Mikron HSM 500 machining center from GF Machining Solutions LLC in Lincolnshire, Illinois. To increase its milling capacity by more than 400% when machining workpieces as hard as 62 HRC, Westminster Tool added a three-axis Mikron Mill S 500, a three-axis Mikron HSM 500 Graphite and a five-axis Mikron HSM 400U LP with automated palletization. The three- and five-axis machines have a maximum spindle speed of 42,000 rpm.

“We had a general capital expenditure plan, and about seven years ago we put that on hold so we could invest solely in our people,” said Ray Coombs, president of Westminster Tool. “Once we established that, we wanted to give them the best tools possible, so we made it a priority to budget for that technology. Now that we have a rock-solid training foundation, we’re better positioned to actually apply the technology.”

He said hard milling, especially five-axis milling, requires a high level of skill to perform effectively.

“The first five-axis we had had a pallet pool but was running nonstop, so we couldn’t train on it,” Coombs said. “Now that we can train on the use of palletization, it’s going to revolutionize our approach to setups and running lights out. You just can’t be competitive without lights-out capacity.”

He said justification for the investment didn’t come from any specific contract or interest in market growth.

The hard milling department at Westminster Tool is shown. Image courtesy of Westminster Tool