| Oasis Engineering & Total CNC Products - Turning the World - 16 Mar, 2009 Oasis Engineering in Tauranga is proving how New Zealand businesses can compete internationally. Picking up the Bay of Plenty Exporter of the Year award last year, Managing Director Andy Cameron has shown manufacturers that by focussing on quality and innovation in a niche market, New Zealand companies can be successful worldwide. Oasis Engineering started 1983, initially providing support services to bottling plants. In the 1980’s when the government introduced schemes to promote LPG and CNG to the vehicle market, Oasis were instrumental in adapting the existing technology to suit New Zealand’s specific requirements. New valves were designed for both the vehicles and dispensing network to safely handle higher pressures, increased flow and to prevent freezing. The work done by Oasis established them as a world leader in gas valve quality and technology. This range of niche products has led to exports to over sixty countries including Brazil, Thailand, Iran, Sweden and China. Experience in the precision machining of stainless steel and titanium also gained them work from companies throughout New Zealand. Andy, who purchased the company five years ago says, “The Company has always been a technology leader that has consistently made investments in both R & D and technology. We were one of the pioneers of CNC machinery and have upgraded four of our machines in the last five years.” Oasis has aimed at growing their business by focussing on quality, innovation and service. When the time came to replace one of the older CNC lathes, Andy looked at replacing it with a “lights out” machine that could process a part from start to finish without operator intervention. A bar feed option was considered but as many of the parts were already supplied pre-machined, it would not be versatile enough to work unmanned on many of their key products. The solution was a twin spindle lathe with live tooling fed by a robotic loading gantry. Although Oasis ran exclusively one brand of Japanese CNC machinery, Rob Bennett, Business Development Manager for Total CNC Products had been calling on them for twelve years and built a good relationship with the company. He thought that a Victor machine from Taiwan would be perfect for the job but he needed to convince Andy that they could deliver a machine that would satisfy the demands of both him and his staff. To assure Andy, he came up with a package that included delivery, installation, set up, training and product trials. Based on the package, Total CNC won the order. During the build of the new machine, Total CNC arranged for Oasis’ workshop manager, Mark Swetman to visit the Victor factory in Taiwan for a tour of the facility and to fine-tune the specifications of the machine. Doug McCracken, Total CNC’s service manager accompanied Mark and suggested several modifications to the gantry loading system to improve rigidity and billet handling to cope with the specific products that Oasis wished to make. Meanwhile, with the lathe under construction, Andy had an increase in orders and needed to urgently purchase a new vertical machining centre. He called Rob who told him that the Victor factory had a Vcenter-70APC ex stock. The twin pallet design suited Andy’s needs perfectly, so a second Victor machine was ordered and arrived within three weeks. With the machining centre installed and the lathe still a few days away, the machine the new lathe was intended to replace became unserviceable, leaving a gap in production capability. With this in mind, Total CNC installed, commissioned and had the lathe producing parts within a week of arrival. Doug from Total CNC stayed on at the factory for another week, training staff on the new controller and helping fine-tune the machine to produce product quickly and reliably while unmanned. Andy had allowed four weeks to start producing parts, so getting the machine running quickly got them back on track and their orders were fulfilled on time. Doug, who is highly experienced technician, was easily able to explain the difference between the old and new machines and allayed any issues the staff may have had about adapting to an unfamiliar controller. Since commissioning, the Victor Vturn II-26Y lathe has performed faultlessly, working around the clock for up to 2 weeks at a time. The machine is fitted with a Rennishaw tool-setter that can compensate for tool wear so the only interventions are to change tools and unload and reload the pallets every ten hours. The lathe has live tooling on its twelve-station turret and the Y axis movement enables complex parts to be machined in one operation. The lathe is an impressive machine with a sturdy gantry robot mounted above and a cage containing the pallet changer on the left hand end. In operation, the robotic arm will pick and load a billet into the primary chuck then retrieve the finished item from the sub spindle. The robotic arm moves the finished part through a measuring beam before placing the finished part on the out-feed pallet. Using a robot to place the finished items eliminates the damage caused by traditional parts catchers and conveyors. Despite the sophistication of the operation, the change around time for manufacturing different products is surprisingly fast. The Victor Vcenter-70APC twin-pallet machining centre allows finished product to be unloaded and fresh billets secured while the other pallet is being machined. The compact footprint makes efficient use of the factory floor space that is at a premium in the Birch Ave factory. Since the installation of the new machines, the average turnaround time for orders has reduced from nine days to six. Andy is delighted with the performance of his new machines and has full confidence in both Victor and Total CNC. Rob sees Total CNC as a perfect fit for clients such as Oasis Engineering. “We are not just a sales driven team, we offer a complete package of quality brands backed by industry knowledge and experienced service support.” He adds, “ Selling capital plant is about establishing a relationship of trust and credibility. We all have industry experience in operating CNC machines and speak from experience not just the sales brochure.” While the impact of the recent global financial shock has not entirely passed Oasis Engineering by, Andy is looking to the future by offering customised valves and developing products to improve the life and serviceability of CNG valves. The extra capacity of the new machines also given Oasis the ability to do more work for New Zealand based customers and he is keen to hear from anyone who requires high precision machining of stainless steel and exotic alloys. With the potential for huge growth in the alternative fuels market and Oasis Engineering at the forefront, Total CNC should not be surprised if their phone rings with an order for some more sophisticated machinery.
Andy Cameron
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