WDS expands UK production capacity

Image courtesy WDS

The increased manufacturing capability that includes two additional CNC machines reinforces WDS’ stock guarantee programme that supports the availability of standard parts and components. The additional production capacity also services OEMs with rapid availability for high volume orders. Further investment in manufacturing is also planned in the near future to expand WDS’ capabilities.

The Leeds based manufacturer has commissioned two additional CNC automatic lathes, used to manufacture high volumes of popular smaller diameter components such as studs. The new machines boost WDS’ state of the art, lights-out manufacturing capacity and have effectively doubled the production of high-volume parts up to a maximum machining diameter of 32mm or M12 thread size.

The two new Citizen M32 sliding headstock CNC lathes can automatically manufacture a completed product, for example by cutting threads at both ends of a stud, as opposed to requiring two separate processes. This also removes the delay of a manual product change-over.

Set-up time to manufacture each component has also reduced from around an hour to just 15 minutes. As the machine itself is also compact, this means shorter distances for work pieces to travel, resulting in faster machine cycle times.

13-axis motion control to high precision and tight tolerances also ensures optimum product quality. The machine’s reliability also ensures high repeatability, providing exacting consistency across the production run.

The new CNC machines are supporting the expansion of WDS’ stock guarantee across the company’s product range. The stock guarantee backs up in-stock availability for same day shipping of large and small order quantities and includes a 10% price discount if it doesn’t hold the specified item in stock for the quantity required. Over 4500 products are included in WDS’ stock guarantee programme with additional products added on a regular basis. Expanded production capacity also means WDS can respond to OEMs for urgent, high volume order requests.

WDS’ production expertise includes a team of qualified engineers with experience across CNC as well as manual machines. The majority of WDS’ standard parts and components are designed in-house, and parts are manufactured using the highest grade materials. High volume production and wide supply flexibility also ensures that WDS can provide competitive prices.

“Our continuing investment in CNC machinery for our Leeds based manufacturing facility enhances our ‘Made in Britain’ offer to our customers,” said Adam Broughton, Production Manager, WDS. “On-site manufacture by our skilled workforce increases the quality and consistency of the products we can deliver, and it also means that we maintain very competitive prices.

“The new machines mean that we can make more products, faster, at a very high quality. The result is high availability for same-day supply across a wide range of products, as well as the capability to respond to high-volume OEM requests. This level of flexibility also helps WDS to achieve the most effective pricing structure across all standard parts and components.”