A new machine order for Wittmann Battenfeld (WIBA) UK has been helping ISO 13485 qualified injection-moulder Thornbury Manufacturing Limited (TML) make further advances in its medical sector markets.
Wittmann
The Plymouth-based TML business celebrates its 30th anniversary next year and has grown from strength to strength since foundation. The company now employs some 30 people operating on a site footprint of nearly 20,000 sq feet, operating a fleet of vertical and horizontal moulding machinery.
TML’s medical and healthcare work in particular has been steadily expanding to the point where the volume now comprises some 44% of total business.
TML founder-owner Dick Walsh requires the same qualities of fail-safe detail, repeatability and consistency in all the company’s suppliers and business partners. This has been a key factor in TML’s sourcing of Wittmann injection moulding machines throughout the company history.
Most medical business requires stringent audits and process validations of one kind or another: Walsh notes that ‘in these circumstances we have found that the repeatability of the new Wittmann machines are so good that any variation whatsoever on part dimension, for example, can be attributed to operator measuring error rather than machine variation.’
The latest Wittmann machine to join the TML fleet is a SmartPower SP120-525-35mm AK, together with a Wittmann WP80 3 axis robot with guarded chute & S3NET loader. The injection moulding machine also has the additional option of mould close from gate close, supplied with a semi-automatic operation.
Adrian Walters, WIBA UK sales manager said: "we are both pleased and proud to be a part of TML’s continuing success. Moulding for medical markets is a demanding business. Dick’s technical requirements are therefore rightly stringent and here WIBA (UK) we are more than happy to be tasked with meeting them."
Investment in new Battenfeld injection moulding machinery and other equipment has helped TML to raise its production volumes in recent months. "We value our partnership with Wittmann Battenfeld UK," notes Walsh. "Our customers and clients expect continuous and fault free engineering and production from TML – and these are the qualities that we also find in our growing fleet of Battenfeld injection moulding machines."