The SP10040GL, complete with Renishaw probing, includes a 36 kW two-axis automatic positional angular head, a right-angle positional head and an extension head. The machine, which also features automatic head changing, horizontal and vertical tool changers as well as high spindle motor torque and axis motors, was supplied and installed by the manufacturer, ZOPO Intelligent Equipment Company Limited together with the Durban branch of its local agent, WD Hearn Machine Tools.
Together with the civil works, the R35-million project is the single largest asset expenditure at Bell Equipment’s Richards Bay factory and was primarily motivated by the need to machine the draw bar and circle frame for the company’s motor grader range. Bell Equipment’s Executive Manager of Manufacturing, Clive Hodgson, explained: “These two parts require intricate machining. We were using our existing boring mills, but these are dedicated to our articulated dump truck (ADT) production and any increase in grader production would have put these assets under stress.”
Although the machining times are comparable to those of the existing boring mills, the DC MC offers great efficiencies in terms of reduced setup times, improved precision and higher machine utilisation. “The machining centre can machine in various planes, so the accessibility of a part is significantly better than what we currently have. And with the machine having XYZ travel of 10 m x 5,5 m x 1,7 m, we can be machining on the table while setting up the next job. In theory, the machine never has to stop, and the utilisation will be significantly higher.”
The operation of the DC MC is “not that complicated” and is similar to Bell Equipment’s other production assets. However, it has introduced the company to new technology through its full simulation capability using Mastercam with CIMCO advanced milling and machining simulation features. “We can now take a drawing of the part we want to machine and simulate how we would machine it, to see what would make the most sense and what tooling heads we’d need to use.”
According to Clive, Bell Equipment chose the ZOPO DC MC based on WD Hearn’s aftersales support, including access to spares and technical backup in nearby Durban. The importance of this partnership was highlighted by Bell Equipment Group Technical Director, Justin Bell, at the official handover last week: “Today marks an important milestone in Bell’s journey towards the future of manufacturing with this significant investment. We started our journey with ZOPO some two years back with a smaller double column machine. We were guided by the absolute confidence shown by the WD Hearn team in ZOPO and its products and we have since added more ZOPO machines to our asset register, with this imposing arrival being our fifth unit.
“We have much to learn to extract the full value from this machining tool but have trust in our strong relationship the team at WD Hearn that we will walk this path together and make a great success of it, something our two companies have done for the past 28 years.”
The ZOPO and WD Hearns teams spent 75 days installing and commissioning the machine. Head of WD Hearn in KwaZulu-Natal, Myles Crosthwaite, thanked both teams for the “serious hours” they dedicated to the project and praised the Bell maintenance team and wider Bell community for the camaraderie and support during the project implementation.
ZOPO Regional Sales Manager, Amber Zhu, expressed appreciation to WD Hearn for the successful delivery and the backup support that they provide and said she was confident the machine would deliver increased production for Bell and economic benefits.
