Almond Engineering has purchased a second Hurco 5-axis machining centre with swivelling B-axis spindle as it invests to keep pace with new medical sector orders.
The company purchased the first machine, a VMX42SRTi, in 2016 when it doubled the size of its premises.
Managing director Chris Smith favours this style of 5-axis machining centre over the trunnion-mounted rotary table arrangement due to its versatility for tackling a greater variety of work, including 4-axis machining of large components.
Last year saw the arrival of a Hurco VMX30i, purchased with a 4th axis rotary table to speed set-ups, increase production efficiency and reduce delivery times, plus a larger 3-axis VMX60i with 1,525 by 660 by 610 mm working volume that significantly extends the size of component that can be machined on the Livingston site.
Overall spend in 2018 exceeded £400,000 and half that figure is due to be spent again this year, including on new software.
Driving this level of investment was 25 per cent growth in 2016/17, a further increase in turnover the following year and a predicted 19% rise this financial year. It is a pace that Mr Smith describes as "almost too fast" in view of the perennial difficulty in hiring skilled staff.
Much of the growth has come from winning new business from the medical sector in Scotland, such as the assembly of lines for producing contact lenses and the machining of parts for operating theatre equipment. The industry now accounts for 8% of the company's revenue by value.
Semiconductor firms across the central belt of Scotland are the other main sector serviced, while contracts are also received from the ever- resilient aerospace and defence industries. A hallmark of the subcontractor's service is significant design input into the mechanical engineering aspects of the contracts it undertakes.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its inauguration this year, Almond Engineering now operates eight Hurco machine tools, a TM8 CNC lathe with 8-inch chuck and seven machining centres. The latter form the vast majority of prismatic metalcutting capacity on site, the only other machining centre being a Bohner & Koehle bought in the 1970s.
Organic growth at the Livingston company has resulted in the number of employees rising from 24 in 2011 to 37 currently, including three apprentices taken on recently. Much effort is put into training the existing workforce and cooperating with local schools to promote engineering and STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects with an eye to future recruitment of employees.
Most recently, in June 2019, Almond Engineering completed its first company takeover by acquiring the trade and assets of another Livingston company, Multex, which will see turnover increase by a further 16 per cent. Established in 1991, the firm designs and manufactures test equipment for electronic circuit boards and has a number of customers that are common to those of Almond Engineering.