Samsung, the same technology, the same performance, 30% less expensive…
The leading sub-contract machinists company Hyspeed CNC was founded by brothers Barry and Gary Francis back in November 1993.
Over the subsequent couple of decades, they both went about successfully growing their business whilst, in the process, gaining themselves a deserved reputation within the industry for providing quality CNC machining to a diverse range of customers.
Clearly any company performing at the upper-end of quality, efficiency and profitability is likely to find themselves becoming a ‘bid-target’ on somebody’s acquisition radar … and so it was to prove for the brothers Francis. Eventually, in 2009, the prospect of adding this well equipped and well versed CNC machining company to their Group proved irresistible to Universal Steels and Aluminium Limited – in fact, they liked Hyspeed CNC so much … they bought the company!
The acquisition was an ideal-fit for both companies and the combination of Universal’s client base and Hyspeed’s impressive CNC capacity list, provided a great recipe for success.
Operating out of an 18.6k sq. ft facility in Southbourne, West Sussex – it’s easy to see the attraction to Universal in acquiring this innovative machining company. Hyspeed boast an impressive array of machining capability with:
- 19 x CNC Milling Machines
- 7 x Vertical Machining Centres
- 11 x horizontal machining centres
- 2 x CNC turning centres
and Hyspeed attribute a lot of their knowledge and success to their policy of forming relationships with the right machine tool suppliers and operating and buying the right machine tools. In conversation with Managing Director, Gary Francis he explains just how Hyspeed developed themselves into a leader in their field:
Gary said, “we are firm believers in embracing technology and using modern and reliable machinery to grow our service base. We’ve been investing in modern machine tools for many years with our principle supplier being Dugard Machine Tools – based in nearby Brighton. We’ve always found their range of CNC equipment to be comprehensive, backed up by both their technical knowledge and service support.
Over the past decade we’ve bought 18 x machining centres, most of them from Dugard and all of them are put through their paces on a regular daily basis. Most recently we have purchased a new Samsung Multi axis turning centre from Dugard. This machine has both a sub-spindle and a Y axis which is a significant leap in capability for us. It means that we can now machine very complex parts in one-hit and this machine will be deployed specifically on machining pipe fittings for the Aerospace industry.”
Gary explained further, “our selection of the Samsung machine, derived from our in-depth investigation into available sub spindle turning technology. The type of parts we would be turning would be from varying materials including the likes of Inconel. As every engineer will recognise, this type of material invites fairly tough machining and cutting conditions. Therefore there were certain vital features we required in any turning centre solution we selected: these included; a cast base with plenty of weight, a box guideway construction assisting in dampening any cutting vibrations, a powerful spindle not only on the main but on the sub-spindle, as well a heavy duty turret that would remain stable when performing both milling and turning functions. For us the Samsung machine ticked all the boxes with all these features at a very competitive price thereby ensuring that this machine would be our No. 1 choice!”
In conclusion Gary remarked, “during our period of evaluation we reviewed a lot of new turning technology being marketed by machine tool companies: and whilst a lot are certainly designed for high speed, small cuts on aluminium parts, any others that did meet our technical specification were at least 30% more expensive than Dugards Samsung Solution.”