Lathe & Mill

Last time I made a comparion (at a ME show), the Warco and Chester lathe/mills were not identical: hence the choice of the Chester.

After five years, there is hardly a mark on my Chester Lathe/Mill paintwork, and it gets used almost daily.

Behind all this is a committment to quality, right from top management.

The decline of UK manufacturing is due to the lack of both understanding and committment to quality by UK management. How else can Japanese firms make cars in the UK when the British-owned/managed firms can't?

There was a lot of government grants and tax breaks involved in both Nissan and Toyota's setting up of new factories. Honda seems to be the only one that didn't get a huge handout and continued assistance.

Starting out from scratch is always easier (as has already been mentioned) than continuing with old plant and factories.

GM spent a mint at Luton, but the car (Vectra) just didn't sell, so they closed the car side completely, but the van side (IBC) seems to be doing OK producing Renault, Vauxhall and Nissan vans.

Peter

I am currently working in production test for a Japanese company, and the degree to which Statistical Process Control is employed is amazing. They are deliberately seeking out any aspect of production and production test where the C(pk) is less than 2.0, because in the long-term (P(pk)) it saves money. I've never had to revise so much statistical theory in jobs over the last 35 years!

I once worked for a disreputable manufacturer of railway signalling equipment in the UK whose attitude to an item of equipment missing out on final inspection was, "Send the paperwork anyway, no-one will no any difference".

That attitude has finally caught up with them, and there have been widespread redundancies there.

That's not the whole story. There will always be some deviation that is not under your control, even if it is the (for this NG) the wear on the tool. This causes a statistical deviation from your ideal.

This is covered in Statistical Process Control and the "Six Sigma"/ "C(pk)=2.0" philosophy for each parameter that you are measuring as a guide to your own quality.

The essential point about quality that escapes UK management is that maximum quality equates to minimum cost. Once you get the product design right for the market and then make it to that design without deviation, all costs go down. The right product sells; you don't throw away loads of scrap; and you don't need massive customer services resources to pick up the bits afterwards. Most UK management spends much of the time they don't use promoting their careers to cleaning up messes.

Problem is that a business can't maximize quality in isolation. It needs quality supplies and customers who appreciate quality products. If your customers' attitude is 'never mind the quality, what's the price?' and your suppliers try to slip in rubbish with every batch, you are spitting into the wind.

That's true of all the automotive industry these days.They all work to basically the same standard. Although good for quality, it does make it impossible for a small/medium sized company to be a tier one automotive supplier as they simply cannot afford the cost of suitable quality accreditations.

Regards

Kevin

Not at all. The statistical analyses that I have discussed are put in place to help ensure that not only is the desired quality achieved today, but that it will continue to be achieved in the future.

That, unfortunately, is where we are with a lot of customers these days.

Peter

There are specific techniques for coping with the effects of tool wear.

The SPC criteria you have just discovered have been standard in many companies for the last 25 years to my certain knowledge and that's only when I discovered them. Your are falling into the usual trap of inventing excuses for not achieving the required quality!

There have to be breaks because working in the UK (low quality) environment means that it is difficult to approach the same quality levels as those achieved in the (high-quality) environment in Japan! Tax breaks and subsidy don't improve quality: just the opposite, in fact. Look at the defence industry!

That is the difference between your company and the Japanese company in which I am currently working, perhaps?

The statistical analyses you have discussed date from WWI. The 'Six sigma' catch phrase dates from the 1980s. Neither has ensured the desired quality, not today, not yesterday and they won't tomorrow with major changes in senior management culture.

Statistics, methods, and catch phrases are irrelevant unless and until the CEO and the rest of top management become truly committed to quality as the primary tool for achieving a company's objectives. Without that, the rest is just show for the ISO9000 certification (and that usually becomes invalid at

While quality is just something top management try to dump on the workforce before going out to play golf, and junk is shipped out to make up the end-of-month figures, all the quality training is wasted. Why? Because not only is the CEO the role model for his subordinates, especially those trying to climb the ladder, but the majority of decisions that affect quality are made at the top.

Actually, I am the CEO of my company!

In message , Kevin Steele writes

It was perhaps sad to see a new and unregistered Morgan in a showroom, as I did, a few days ago. Whatever happened to that four year waiting list which was always held up to show that they were doing it right?

Mike

I`m in a similar situation as I`m saving up to buy a Mill. I`ve been to Chesters and the 626 seems a good buy for the price. I also like the look of the Lux Geared head machine

One last Question - What is the advantage of R8 over MT spindles?

Thanks Paul

Large availability of tooling, R8 is the standard taper on Bridgeport turret mills so there is lots of tooling around -which means it is cheap. It also releases more easily, morse tapers are self-locking wheras R8 isn't (although anyone wh has got an R8 collet stuck may disagree!).

Regards

Kevin

These machines are supplied complete and crated. In my case, this meant having to help the delivery van driver unload the thing and dump it on the pavement outside my house. Then I had to figure how to get it up the drive and into the workshop. This was despite assurances from Chester that the delivery crew would have facilities to put the machine where I wanted it.

Yeah, that was my experience, they delivered and told me it would arrive on a tail lift truck... Did it hell, I couldn't hold my end of the crate, so it crashed to the deck. At least the crate was so tough, no damage to the machine, but I wasn't impressed.

Joules