Design and Manufacturing PhilosophyE-Shop is the umbrella in house name for the Seymour Design and Manufacturing Philosophy encompassing R&D and continuous improvement.
In 2002 Seymour formalized a strategic policy looking forward and taking into account the perceived future economic climate. The strengths and experience of the Seymour Directors and Design team were evaluated along with the expected development of the manufacturing and Engineering sector as a whole.
Some of the Seymour Design Team and Company strengths;
- A long history of experience in the machine tool industry
- Witnessed the rise and fall of many Engineering companies
- Lots of experience in Service and Spares
- Worked on many machines around the World
- Extensive retrofit experience
- Extensive Refurbishment experience
- Extensive Re-Engineering and improving machines experience
- Extensive experience in CNC, NC, Servo control and motion control
- Good working relationship with high technology suppliers
- Qualified and more importantly relevantly experienced in Engineering Design
- Proven Mechatronics Background
- Good Customer base with many repeat customers
Some of the expected future economic developments and external commercial pressures;
- Efficiency savings would continue to be essential and increase in market relevance
- Legislation changes would continue with their impact increasing
- The economy would continue to go through cycles both locally and globally
- Individual market sectors would grow and shrink and new sectors emerge
- Cheaper manufacturing bases in new and developing economies would continue to put pressure our local customers
- Companies that standstill would, as always, loose market share and shrink away
Some of Expected Manufacturing and Engineering Sector Developments;
- Technology would continue to change with new products and approaches
- Automation would be a key to many companies efficiency savings
- Automation and safety requirements would continue to de-skill many processors
- Energy saving would increase in relevance
All of the above should be viewed as opportunities for Seymour. Understanding the Economic Environment would help to drive the business into the future.
In order to capitalize on Seymour's strengths and technology changes as well as protecting against the expected changes in the market, focus on Seymour designed and manufactured products and diversification into other Engineering Industries was the obvious strategy to take. This was to be achieved through investments in R&D, seeking new and developing opportunities and reducing design and validation times.
Keeping an eye on technology changes and new products and looking to utilize appropriately where ever possible would be essential to keeping Seymour at the forefront of Engineering and Technological progress. This approach would reduce the possibility of falling behind and becoming less relevant as had been witness with many other Engineering companies over the years.
Economical design and manufacture and Efficiency of power use, time and components used ensured reduction in costs for manufacture for both Seymour and our customers.
Mechatronics is a key feature of the E-SHOP strategy. Mechatronics is the multidisciplinary study of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering fields, and importantly the application of a holistic approach to design and problem solving. Designing with this holistic approach coupled with a first hand practical experience of the maintaining and operating the machines and products is essential to good design and application.
The development of Seymour Re-Engineering and innovation with an aim to building New machines was an obvious choice and the E-Mill program was born with a lot of Seymour concepts and proven technologies fitting into this immediately. An old Elgamill T-Type, which we had in stock could be utilized as a development machine. This machine had electrically failed and the ram had serious damage, other areas had long term wear, To return this machine to the original, out of date, specification would require many components. The machine was re-engineered with some of the key developments as follows;
- The milling head was re-build with the Seymour improved strengthened design
- The Gear-less Ram concept was developed and implemented removing all the original gearing form the Ram
- A complete new compact Electrical panel design was implemented using efficient design to reduce the number of components
- The machine was converted to CNC
- The new servo motors were coupled to the ballscrews without the need for the usual keyed shafts
- Servo motors and drives were optimized for size and power to reduce energy usage without reducing performance
- New Guarding facilities were introduced ensuring compliance with the machinery directive and CE marking requirements
- New cutting technologies were tested with an aim to optimize performance, reduce the production costs for the machine user and speed up cycle times.
This machine was completed and immediately a new forward thinking customer that was developing a new area of its business approached Seymour for a machine. The requirement was for a machine for Iconel, a very hard material. The newly re-engineered E-Mill development machine fitted the requirements exactly and the machine was sold. The E-Mill program had proved it's value and another machine was started to continue developing the concept. The first machine proved to be excellently suited to the work and our new customer was expanding the business. They needed another machine for the same work, the second improved machine was sold and the E-Mill development continued. The New Customer became a continuing customer and Seymour have continued to maintain and service these two machines and others in the company to the current day.
The Concept was developed and quickly expanded;
- Turning, examples are the Kolomna, Webster Bennett and DSG Projects.
- Grinding, examples are the Butler Newall CNC3000 and Centreless Grinder Projects.
- Planer Control, examples are the Rail and general planer Projects.
- Numerical Control, examples are the Planers and Wire Wrapper Projects.
- Positioning Controls, examples are the rotary Fixtures projects Projects.
- Machine Tool Specific Guarding Systems.
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Email:- info@seymour-eng.com |
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Siddal Hall Works, Phoebe Lane, Halifax, ENGLAND, HX3 9AS | |
| TEL:- +44 (0) 1422 362 135 | FAX:- +44 (0) 1422 322 511 |