INDUSTRY 4.0
BEVERSTON BRING ISMART FACTORY™ TO LIFE R
od Wah, Owner and Managing Director of Beverston Engineering, says “We have always been a company that has looked to adopt cutting- edge practices to increase our machining capacity and efficiency.”
Based in Knowsley, Merseyside, Beverston specialise in the prototyping and manufacture of state-of- the-art engineering components. The company manufactures safety-critical parts to a wide range of industries, including aerospace, pharmaceutical, and oil and gas from 16,420 sq. ft. premises. Established in 1974, Beverston has been a Yamazaki Mazak customer since the 1980s following its move from toolmaking and workholding fixture production into CNC machining. Looking to expand into this exciting new market, Rod explored his options and was soon struck by the quality of the solutions the machine tool supplier could offer.
“I took over at Beverston in 1981 and as the decade
progressed it became obvious I needed to invest in CNC machines, simply because they were so much better and so much quicker than what we had used up to that point,” Rod explains. “Originally, when I started looking for models that might suit, I had certain ideas in mind – mainly centre lathes with software packages that had been converted into CNC machines. I was not really aware of Mazak at the time, but when I saw the machines that they had available, they were far superior to anything else that was on the market.”
“I went away and considered my options, but soon concluded the Mazak systems were so good, and so suitable to a subcontracting business like ourselves, that it was an easy decision. In fact, it has been one of the best I have ever made – as soon as we began installing Mazak machines, we could improve productivity and make parts more cost-effective, and things soon escalated from there.”
A precision engineering firm that prides itself on investing in state-of-the-art technology has transformed its workshop with iSMART Factory™ solutions from Yamazaki Mazak, providing a digitalized Industry 4.0 network connecting all of its machines.
The Beverston-Mazak relationship endures almost 40 years later with Rod’s commitment to quality machining resulting in the machine tool supplier providing 23 different machines as the business experienced continued success. Indeed, the longevity of this partnership can be seen in the company’s first purchase, a QUICK TURN 8, which remains in operation on Beverston’s factory floor to this day. However, Rod’s commitment to innovation – and keeping his business ahead of the curve – meant he was always looking for ways to make Beverston more competitive. When he was introduced to the possibilities of Industry 4.0 by a Liverpool City Region project, LCR 4.0, and how it could make processes more efficient and reduce waste, he was understandably intrigued. As a result, a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project, funded through Innovate UK was formed in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University to drive Beverston’s
Yamazaki Mazak engineers upgraded Beverston Engineering’s network with SMARTBOX™ technology to ensure the highest possible levels of network security.
44 MARCH 2022 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
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