the customer’s price point while leaving LCP a comfortable profi t margin.
“The QTN 350-II MSY completes a sonar part in minutes as opposed to hours and reduces the production cost by al- most 90%,” added Lafferty. “We simplifi ed the design, which then made machining it much easier and faster and less expensive. A savings we passed down to the customer.” “The QTN 350-II MSY lets us produce the sonar part com- plete in one operation for job cost effectiveness,” explained Lafferty. “A second-spindle machine is not always the best way to process a job. Sometimes processing the parts on our other turning centers without second spindles—having one guy run two of them—is the more productive and cost-effec- tive route. It all depends on a part’s geometries and complexity along with job volumes as well as set up and run times.” For instance, a low-volume short-running job, for LCP, is better done with the two-machine cell approach. So, one ma- chine would do the front end work, while the second machine performs the backwork.
LCP continues to take on additional amounts of high-vol- ume jobs. And as it does, Lafferty foresees the need for more dual-spindle “done-in-one” machines like its QTN 350-II MSY. LCP’s fi ve-axis VCUs make it possible to access, in one setup, all of the part surfaces that need to be machined. The shop also achieves extremely tight customer-required, true perfect positioning tolerances. These must be held among multiple part features in relation to one another. For a fi eld-soldier personal communication systems com- ponent, the Mazak fi ve-axis machines transformed a barely profi table job that used to run on three-axis machines into a huge moneymaker. Plus, according to Sean Lafferty, presi- dent at LCP Machine Inc. and Edward’s brother, the shop has had several such successes with other jobs as a result of its continually expanding Mazak fi ve-axis machining capabilities. “Small footprints and the fact that they are true fi ve-axis machines is what really attracted us to the Mazak VCUs,” said Lafferty. “We don’t need big machines for our size fi ve-axis parts—at least not yet. For us, being limited to only machines that are too big for our parts proved challenging in terms of small part access and clearance issues. So, we were thrilled when Mazak came out with the VCU machines that deliver cost-effective fi ve-axis performance and capabilities.”
Skilled, Experienced Workforce Most of LCP’s 22 machinists have between 20 and 30 years of experience and practically all of them can program, set up and run their jobs. Plus, LCP believes in keeping its employees well compensated. And according to both Lafferty
LCP makes the majority of its parts from aluminum, stainless and nickel alloys. Tolerances can range from ±0.025 to 0.005 mm.
and his brother Sean, this is the reason the shop has never had a machinist quit. According to Lafferty, the shop quotes as much as $40 million worth of work per year and currently runs many of its Mazaks lights-out, but minus any full-blown automation. On its vertical machining centers, for instance, the shop loads multiple parts and those with long machining times that will then run overnight, while certain turning centers are equipped with bar feeding capability. However, Lafferty wants to even- tually automate to allow machines to run nonstop regardless of individual part machining times. “We specialize in medium- to high-volume short-run pro- duction work and actively pursue long running contract work to further grow the business,” explained Lafferty. “And to win and cost effectively run those types of jobs, we will rely more heavily on automated, lights-out operations.” As a precision shop in the production of aerospace and defense components, along with those for the oil and gas and other industries, LCP’s customers continue to demand higher quality and lower prices. And both Edward and Sean said that LCP, in turn, expects the same from its machine tool suppliers. “We constantly need new machining technology, but most importantly, we need it backed by excellent service and support. And that’s what we get with Mazak,” commented Lafferty.
This feature was edited by Senior Editor Michael Anderson from information provided by Mazak Corp.
67 — Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing 2015
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