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In a Q&A session, Alan Mucklow, managing director UK, Eire and national distributors at CNC machine tool and laser processing machine specialists, Yamazaki Mazak UK gives Aerospace Manufacturing the lowdown on the company’s latest news.

Having recorded a successful year for machine sales in 2023, including its largest ever machine order and an open house event that attracted more than 700 visitors over the four days, it’s fair to say that leading CNC machine tool and laser processing machine supplier, Yamazaki Mazak UK is on the up.

The company has made a series of investments at its European manufacturing facility over the past five years to improve its machine production capabilities. This includes additional cylindrical grinding machinery to support the precise grinding of a wide range of components with demanding geometric and surface finish specifications, such as spindles.

It follows a multi-million-pound investment in a twin-pallet VERSATECH V-140N/280 and two automated INTEGREX i-series cells, and Mazak is also in the process of installing new laser processing and automation cells in the sheetmetal area. As you can see, the company believes in the quality, efficiency and reliability of the machines it produces and this is why it uses them throughout its factories.

From a team point of view, it has been a very busy 12 months for Mazak. The company implemented a new sales structure in the North and South of England to ensure it is as close as possible to its customers and has recently hired a new area sales manager for Southwest England. Mazak’s Scottish distributor, ScotMaz, has also strengthened its presence by appointing a new sales manager.

Q) What are the types of machine tool performance demands placed on your company by today’s aero customers?

Overall, I think aerospace companies are looking to us for solutions that can meet their demanding material and tolerance requirements, coupled with outstanding aftersales and application support.

The ability to integrate automation has also become increasingly important to our customers in the aerospace industry. Both our UK-designed and built CV5-500 5-axis machining centre and our most recent INTEGREX Multi-Tasking range, the i-H series, have been designed to allow for easy integration with automation systems. For companies working in the supply chain or on prototyping and R&D work, we have had significant interest in our VARIAXIS i-300 with Auto Work Changer, which is intended to support high-mix/low-volume manufacturing.

Reducing material wastage also remains high on the industry’s agenda and we’re very conscious of the need to support our customers with ‘buy to fly’ ratios. Mazak has heavily invested over the past decade in its hybrid machining portfolio, which includes machine tools with both additive and subtractive capabilities, and more recently our new FSW-460V friction stir welding machine, which was unveiled to the European market at EMO Hanover last year.

Q) What are the key benefits of supplying UK-built CNC machine tools to your aero customers?

The biggest benefit of having a manufacturing facility in the UK is it allows us to understand and get closer to our customers. There’s also that level of confidence that comes from having a manufacturer in the market, rather than a distributor-based sales organisation. It means we can reflect the manufacturing processes our customers require in our products, which is invaluable from an R&D perspective.

A key example is our VTC series – particularly the SDR models. The range was designed to combine 5-axis machining with large trunnion capacity and optimised swarf extraction, which is ideally suited to the machining of large structural components such as those used in the aerospace industry.

The CV5-500 also stands out in this respect, having been designed to provide a compact, fully simultaneous 5-axis machining centre for use throughout the supply chain. The fact three of the four product ranges built here were UK designed really speaks for itself.

Q) What kinds of aerospace-related components are your products used for?

Our machine tool portfolio enables us to support both OEMs as well as tier one two and three suppliers. We have customers who touch on pretty much every aspect of the aircraft, from engine components and control parts to aerostructures and landing gear, as well as interior products, such as seating.

Q) Any thoughts on rising popularity of additive manufacturing and do you plan to launch your own machines?

Aerospace is ever evolving, with the industry constantly looking for ways innovate. Additive manufacturing is a very attractive proposition to aerospace manufacturers, especially when it comes to de-weighting components and improving ‘buy to fly’ ratios. We offer three INTEGREX models and one VARIXIS model, which deploy a laser metal deposition head alongside a high-rigidity spindle for true ‘done in one’ hybrid manufacturing. These machines can also enable both OEMs and suppliers to remanufacture high value components in a cost-efficient way.

Q) Would Mazak consider launching a CNC machine tool specifically focused on composites machining?

While most of our customers focus on more heavy-duty machining, we do have several UK customers who operate in the ceramics and composites industries given the tight tolerances our machine tools are able to work to. This typically involves the use of a graphics package, which is effectively a filtration and exhaust package that allows the user to take away material at the point of cutting. Outside of this, our machines are also used in composite-adjacent applications such as producing the patterns that are used to lay up the composites themselves.

Q) Is there a particular aerospace customer or component machining success story you can briefly talk about without breaking NDAs?

Two particular projects come to mind which display the breadth of our aerospace capabilities. Firstly, we worked with a vintage aircraft restorer in Eastleigh, Kennet Aviation, which had traditionally run into scarcity issues when sourcing parts to refurbish historic planes. Until we supplied them with Mazak machinery, the Kennet team didn’t have the facilities to make their own parts without engaging expensive subcontractors. Now, they can produce all parts in-house to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) standards and even have the capacity to pick up added general subcontractor work.

Another very different success story was our work with Beverston Engineering, a precision engineering company manufacturing safety-critical aerospace parts. We implemented an Industry 4.0 network connecting all its Mazak machines and providing real-time data. Being able to see all machine information in the office and factory floor has really helped the company improve machine utilisation, while also markedly reducing setting time and downtime. These savings undoubtedly add up, and Beverston has been able to pass them on to their customers.

Q) Has the knowledge and expertise you’ve gained through working with customers proved to be invaluable, particularly as it can be used to solve challenges in other applications within the industry?

Yes, I would agree. Yamazaki Mazak works across multiple sectors that cut very similar materials to companies in the aerospace sector - to a similarly high level of precision – for example, the medical and autosport industries. There is undoubtedly an advantage in supplying machinery to so many fields. We can take learning not just from our wider work in aerospace, but apply knowledge gained from these other industries to support our aerospace customers too.

Q) What do you feel are the most important assets of a company?

It is important to mention that Yamazaki Mazak is family-owned. This enables us to work towards a defined, long-term strategy focusing on customer centricity and continuous investment in both technology and people.

A good example of this is our ongoing work with the company’s apprenticeship programme. We have trained over 250 apprentices at our Worcester plant alone, many of whom have gone on to hold senior positions within the company and have long been recognised as one of the top employers in the county.

This long-term view also informs our investment in the Worcester plant itself.  We are constantly looking to the future, and improving our own machining capacity and capabilities is very much a part of that. Our ownership model has allowed us to further expand production of a diverse range of homegrown machine tools, which will be vital to meeting the aerospace industry’s future needs.

Q) What differentiates your company from the competition, and why should a customer use you over your nearest rival?

Again, Mazak’s ownership model differentiates us from our competition, as we can work to a long-term strategy in a way our competitors sometimes can’t. The fact we are a UK-based manufacturer is also a key differentiator. This proximity to our customer base has obvious R&D benefits, as having such immediate feedback available is clearly beneficial when it comes to developing new products.

Alongside this, we also operate the industry’s largest UK-based service and support team to assist our customers at the point of purchase and beyond. Complemented by our European Parts Centre in Belgium, we can ship the vast majority of parts on the same day, which is absolutely vital to keeping industry moving.

Q) What kinds of machine tool developments will we be seeing in the future?

I am expecting more machine tool developments around added value servicing, which is a key aspect of our current strategy. For instance, like most sectors, the aerospace manufacturing industry is looking to decarbonise operations and implement sustainable and environmentally aware manufacturing. 

This why we are continuing to promote our ‘Mazak Go GREEN’ activities to reduce carbon emissions throughout the lifecycle of our products. The Go GREEN initiative can be seen in all aspects of our operations, from machine design to the creation of energy saving tools and technologies.

The ongoing skills shortage is also sure to inform future machine tool developments, and manufacturers need to update their service offering to reflect this. With this in mind, we have developed the Mazak iCONNECT system for remote servicing and analysis from our engineering team.

We are also making use of software to transition required skills from the person to the process. This can be seen with our new MAZATROL DX software, which automates previously manual, time-consuming processes, such as quotations and machinery set-up.

www.mazakeu.co.uk