CASTROL/OPTIMUM PARTNERSHIP EXTENDS SUMP AND TOOL LIFE AT GARDNER GROUP
Optimum Oils Limited is a specialist lubrication company working with Castrol to provide service and support for medium sized metalworking businesses. Since taking over the Gardner Group’s Basildon site two years ago the combination of Castrol product expertise and Optimum service has resulted in greatly extended coolant life and a 50% saving in tool life. It has also convinced Gardner to repeat the success at its other manufacturing sites.
Gardner manufactures aerospace components and structures for a number of the world’s leading gas turbine and airframe manufacturers and their tier one suppliers. The company currently employs over 800 people operating from six sites in the UK and one in Poland. Its aero-structure products range from small detail components to large leading edge and stretch formed assemblies. Gardner also manufactures performance critical components for gas turbine engines involving particularly complex manufacturing processes. Major customers include Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bombardier, GKN, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, Raytheon, Spirit Aerosystems and Vought.
Gardner’s Basildon division employs 135 people and its machine shop specialises in production of small, medium and large airframe components such as flanges, brackets and ribs, as well as machined components for aircraft camera pods and laser guidance systems. Two years ago the machine shop, which operates fifteen machines, was experiencing a serious problem with the sump life of a cutting fluid in three of its CNC machines. Castrol was asked to suggest an alternative and recommended Hysol XF, a coolant that was specially formulated for its global aerospace manufacturing customers.
Taking up the story, machine shop general manager Steve Elisha explains: “We are an environmentally approved site so the problem was a serious one. The coolant from our previous supplier was only lasting about eight or nine weeks and by then it was producing bad odours, which meant a lot of time was spent emptying, flushing and cleaning machines. And even when the supplier treated the coolant with chemicals it would still only last ten weeks.
“So when Castrol promised a longer sump life from its Hysol XF, we agreed to run a trial in the worst of the three machines and in a new one we had just acquired. We also told them that if they could extend sump life to at least six months, we would change the fluid in all the machines.”
With a minimum of disruption, the two machines were drained and cleaned, and Castrol engineers took samples and ran environmental checks before re-filling them with Hysol XF.
Reporting on the results, Steve Elisha says Hysol XF easily passed the six month trial and now all machines at the Basildon site are running Hysol.
“Since then we have not needed to drain and clean a single machine, or change the coolant in a single sump, and that includes the two original trial machines that were filled more than two years ago.” He says.
Even more impressive was an unexpected bonus: since the change to Hysol XF tool life has increased by 50% on the mix of metals machined, which includes mainly aluminium with some titanium and steel.
He is also complimentary about Optimum’s service, which plays an important role, as they make regular monthly visits to monitor machine sumps, carry out health checks on the coolant, and advise operators if they need to dilute or concentrate the Hysol XF in order to maintain performance levels and extend its life.
Commenting for Optimum, area manager Jeff Durrant says: “Castrol’s experience with other aerospace customers has shown that Hysol XF doesn’t need changing for two to three years or longer, so we were confident that it would solve Gardner’s sump life problem.”
With machine maintenance and downtime also significantly reduced, Castrol estimates that combined savings from extended coolant and tool life mean that Hysol XF, which is now also being specified for non-aerospace machining application, can achieve overall savings of between 40 and 50%.
Convinced by the results achieved by the Castrol/Optimum partnership at the Basildon site, Gardner Group supply chain manager Neil Broad has now adopted Hysol fluids for Gardner sites at Ilkeston and Nuneaton.
Says Jeff Durrant: “When we were awarded the contract for Nuneaton, Neil Broad asked for the change-over to be carried out between Christmas and New Year. Fortunately, a small Optimum team was able to empty, clean and refill two-thirds of the machines in the workshop with Castrol Hysol during the festive holiday, and we were back early in January to finish the job.”
Optimum also recommended Hysol XH rather than Hysol XF for the Nuneaton and Ilkeston plants, due to a difference in water hardness identified during a plant audit. Both plants are now also benefiting from improvements in tool life.
Ends
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