NTG has put its first machine into a new facility in Gateshead and at the same time has increased its 5-axis machining capacity.
The subcontract manufacturer remains on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead, but has massively increased the size of its premises, up to 45,000 sq ft, from 18,000 sq ft.
The first machine into the new facility was a new state-of-the-art Mazak VARIAXIS i-800 NEO, a move that is designed to both increase NTG’s 5-axis machining capacity and enable the company to enter new markets.
Mike Hutchinson, Group Managing Director at NTG Holdings, says the investment in both the new facility and the new machining technology opens up opportunities for his company.
“Our 5-axis capability has become a bottleneck due to demand from customers for this type of complex work. The new machine will enable us to offer shorter lead times by reducing the restrictions around our 5-axis work.”
The VARIAXIS i-800 NEO is a 5-axis vertical machining center that delivers advanced high-speed multiple-surface machining in an exceptionally large machining area that enables the production of larger diameter parts.
The VARIAXIS becomes the first machine into NTG’s new facility and will be followed by another 50 machines that will be transferred to the new facility in the coming weeks, including Mazak turning center, INTEGREX multi-tasking machines and vertical machining centres.
Mr Hutchinson says the new facility offers further growth opportunities for NTG. “We’ve increasingly diversified the business from its roots as predominantly a tooling and oil and gas focused supplier. We now operate across defence, food production, energy, subsea, electric vehicles and renewables. The new facility will give us the footprint to be able to continue to grow and service all our sectors, whilst also giving us the footprint to introduce more capacity and new technologies in the future.”
Mazak has been a long-time partner for NTG helping the company make the move into complex 5-axis work more than a decade ago. “When we purchased our first 5-axis machine, the INTEGREX, it was because we wanted to be an early adopter of the latest production technology to maintain the highest levels of quality and productivity for customers.”
He continued: “Bringing in the new VARIAXIS allows us to take that capability to the next stage, opening up the potential for us to machine larger and more complex components. We are operating in a number of sectors, including defence and electronics, where we can now offer another level of capability and quote for work that was previously beyond our existing technology.”