Precision engineering firm JJ Churchill has announced a six-fold increase in the size of its Tool Room Division to ensure quality and remove bottlenecks.
The factory has a range of state-of-the-art and traditional equipment to design and produce from first principles some of the most complex fixtures in a new, purpose-built facility.
Fixtures are a key bottle-neck in the production of many aerospace components. JJ Churchill has invested heavily in this capability in order to have more control and guarantee quality in this highly technically demanding field.
The facility has a range of equipment, which was recently enhanced with a 3D printer, enabling the division to slash prototype designs and production from weeks to hours. Other capabilities include CNC mills, lathes and EDM wire erosion. As well as milling and turning, the division also puts each jig through a CMM to control quality, with automated part marking.
This initiative has freed up a lot of space which is now being devoted to the production of aerospace components, including the £70million contract with Rolls Royce announced at last year’s Farnborough Air Show.
JJ Churchill Design Engineer Matthew Smith said: “The most technically challenging problems in machining can be found in the design and production of fixtures for complex aerospace parts. And that’s what we do at JJ Churchill – we focus on ‘sticky niches’, problems where the first reaction is ‘that can’t be done’. But we do it day in day out, producing fixtures that enable the company to hit our manufacturing schedules. We are continuously ramping up to meet the needs of our growing business.”