The company became part of the Hydro Group in 1993, acquired for the unique manufacturing method – the HAFT process – that the company had developed for the production of solid dies.
Dies made with the HAFT process have been shown to have better dimensional accuracy and repeatability, and closer support and control of the bearing aluminium profile than dies made conventionally. The company produced solid dies in this way from 1993 to 1999.
In 2000, after moving to its current address, the company further developed the process to include hollow die production. Additional space was required to accommodate extra equipment, and production and staff increased. In fact, following the investment, staff numbers tripled, mainly due to the introduction of the design and manufacture of the hollow dies.
Site manager Gwyn Powell explains that “as we only supply dies internally to Hydro companies, not much is known about our activities externally, in part due to the confidential nature of what we do.
“Our design philosophy is to apply the latest bearing profile technology, developed in cooperation between ourselves, Hydro’s research and development specialists and our extrusion plants. Our mission is to produce a fully machined die with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability, combined with an exceptional level of service.”
He says the company is serving customers with on-time-delivery performance of 98 percent, and credits the strong result to “strict adherence to key performance indicators and a multiple-shift system that offers virtually 24/7 production.”
Time-consuming, yet accurate
Die accuracy is critical. HAFT dies boost extrusion productivity by optimising three vital factors:
• Die life
• The shape of the extruded aluminium profile
• The actual speed of the extrusion
Although the HAFT die has always been recognised as an exceptional process for die making, the process is a time-consuming operation. Consequently, the company explored other manufacturing methods to try and improve delivery times to customers.
They succeeded. With software support, internal macros and close cooperation with a cutter manufacturer, ADV milling was developed.
“This enabled us to machine dies in a hard condition using high-speed milling technology, and to maintain the high degree of accuracy we have come to expect from the HAFT process,” he says, adding that 60 percent of their dies are now machined using this method.
Furthermore, the advanced technique has allowed Hydro Aluminium, Gloucester to increase its production capability to around 2,000 dies per annum, covering both hollow and flat dies.
