Precision subcontract specialist Machined Component Systems (MCS) has set out its commitment to achieving sustainable machining, with two new, multi-tasking turning centres helping it to achieve its green objectives.
Supplied by Mills CNC, the two DN Solutions machines are a 10” chuck Puma 2600SY II sub-spindle, Y-axis lathe, and an 8” chuck TT 1800SY twin-spindle/twin-turret turning centre, both supplied with high-productivity Hydrafeed MSV80 bar feeders.
MCS is currently undertaking a significant re-branding exercise and will soon launch a new ‘sustainable machining’ initiative into the market designed to achieve organic growth from existing customers and attract new business from EV, energy, renewables, water industry management customers etc.
The move, brought about in no small part by Managing Director Warren Gray’s passion for our rivers and seas, and witnessing first hand, the environmental damage to the earth’s natural resources from sewage, pollution and single-use plastics, will see MCS launch a new environmentally-aware website devoted to sustainable machining – providing a platform for the company to promote its ‘green’ credentials.
The company has already invested £250k in solar panels, which now generate 30% of its electricity requirements and are proving instrumental in reducing the company’s carbon footprint. Investment in energy-efficient machine tools and equipment, MCS also helps MCS to position itself as a sustainability ‘champion’.
Warren Gray said: “Climate change, energy consumption and conservation, and sustainability are already key business drivers, and will become more important in the future.
“Many companies (domestic and international) are developing ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) standards detailing how, for example, they will achieve their own net-zero targets and reduce societal impacts.
“As a Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier to many blue-chip companies, we are conscious that customers’ ESG frameworks will be used to screen future supplier chain partners.
“As a consequence we have adopted a proactive and transparent approach to sustainability from both an ethical and an energy conservation perspective, and our new website will provide details of our practices, policies and metrics used to benchmark our performance.”
As far as new technology procurement is concerned, MCS’s recent investment in DN Solutions’ multi-tasking machines tools which feature all-grease lubrication systems, eco-friendly LED lighting, high-efficiency coolant motor pumps and inverter-controlled chip conveyor motors, in addition, to the integration of high-performance mist extraction systems provide evidence of the company’s continuing commitment to sustainable machining.
Warren added: “Sustainability is a journey, not a destination. There are always improvements that can be made to manufacturing methods and processes, and in addition to investing in energy efficient machine tools, we have already made significant investments in automation (i.e. creating autonomous robot cells which may not consume less energy, but do more with the energy consumed), and the application of dry machining, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and eco-friendly cutting fluids where practicable and viable.”