Following the hi-profile launch of Mitutoyo’s CRYSTA-Apex V range of CNC Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs), the Basildon, Essex based ESL Group recently became the first company in Europe to take delivery of one of the advanced CM Ms. Founded in 1962 as a specialist, sub-contract gear-cutting business, ESL Engineers Ltd quickly gained an excellent reputation for its technical expertise and for the quality of its output. Impressive levels of organic growth over several decades and strategic company acquisitions, has allowed the progressive company to considerably increase its production capacity and to significantly expand its range of manufacturing specialities.
Having added the ability to produce a diverse range of precision machined components to its renowned gear-cutting proficiencies, the ESL Group has consolidated its numerous activities into an impressive, 30,000 sq ft manufacturing facility and can now be truly regarded as a single-source, precision engineering sub-contractor. Accredited to ISO9001 and AS9100D and boasting many aerospace approvals, the ESL Group has developed partnerships with many leading aerospace companies and has applied its strict aerospace manufacturing and quality standards to other equally demanding sectors.
As a long-time, loyal user of Mitutoyo CMMs, to enable the company’s busy quality department to maintain its exacting quality standards and to speed-up its inspection work, the ESL Group recently purchased a newly launched Mitutoyo CRYSTA-Apex V CNC CMM model.
ESL Group Quality Engineer, Dave Humphrey explained “The ESL Group have used Mitutoyo CMMs for over 20 years and have been very impressed with their ease and speed of use, also their reliability and accuracy. In addition, we always receive excellent service from Mitutoyo UK”.
‘As Mitutoyo continually develops its CMM technology, to stay at the forefront of inspection advances, periodically we have replaced our older Mitutoyo CMMs with the latest models. This policy has allowed us to take advantage of the most up-to-date advancements in CMM technology and has helped us to uphold our meticulous quality standards.
“Recently, the need to further increase our inspection capacity has occurred. Having installed a Mitutoyo Apex S CNC CMM less than two years ago, on contacting Mitutoyo UK it was interesting to hear about the technical improvements made to the brand new Mitutoyo CRYSTA-Apex V CMM range.”
‘Although we considered that progresses in areas such as software enhancements means that the new CMM represented a further step forward for Mitutoyo, before committing to purchasing an CRYSTA-Apex V machine we followed our normal commercial practice of considering the merits of other CMM brands in terms of their capabilities and price. As previously, the new Mitutoyo CMM proved to be the most attractive option and an order was placed.”
“So new is the CRYSTA-Apex V range, we were the first company in Europe to take delivery of the advanced CMM. Our new CRYSTA-Apex V CNC CMM and our existing Mitutoyo CNC CMM are now located in our environmentally temperature-controlled quality department. As the new machine is an evolution of its predecessor, it was easy for our three quality department staff to quickly become accustomed to its operation, and already they are able to swap from machine to machine with ease.”
“Our CRYSTA-Apex V and our older Mitutoyo CMM are the mainstays of our quality provision, we use them to perform 1st off, in-process and final inspection routines and a multitude of other high-precision measuring and inspection tasks, such as the generation of full F.A.I and SPC reports. When required we are able to supply these reports to our customers and to archive all traceable inspection data. In addition to inspecting one-off parts, it helps that we can load multiple smaller components onto the CMMs’ beds, recall the relevant programs, then perform fully automated CNC, mass inspection routines.”
‘As we anticipated, given its accuracy specification and rapid action, we have found our new Mitutoyo CRYSTA-Apex V CNC CMM to be a great asset in speeding-up our inspection routines and in maintaining the premium quality levels that our customers expect.”
A wide choice of Mitutoyo Coordinate Measuring Machines are available in a range of sizes and accuracy classes, enabling practically all precision 3D measuring applications to be covered. Drawing on the technological expertise of a world leader in metrology, each Mitutoyo machine represents an excellent investment in terms of productivity, versatility, quality of construction and not least, training and service support.
As the successor to the popular Mitutoyo Apex S CMM’s, the new CRYSTA-Apex V machines are able to perform very accurate measurements at high speed. In addition to use in quality departments, as the advanced new CMMs have a high resistance to environmental conditions, they are equally suitable for use on the shop-floor.
Given the advent of Smart Factories and the arrival Internet of The Internet of Things (loT), the forward-thinking CRYSTA-Apex V CMMs are equipped with Mitutoyo’s recently introduced Smart Measuring System (SMS) technology. SMS allows the online monitoring of CMMs’ operational status and the capture of records related to key parts.