1 July 2007
HNC Ltd win CHAS Accreditation!

Over the past few years more companies have recognised the importance of health & safety at work, none more than Halifax Numerical Controls Ltd! Right at the outset, when Mike Diskin & Tim Price formed the Halifax based specialist machine tool builders and refurbishers, heath and safety was a major consideration!

Nine years on, with an annual turnover of in excess of a million pounds and customers in both the public and private sectors, safety is perhaps a bigger issue, particularly with many of their own staff working at customers premises.

This is why they sought CHAS accreditation, short for Contractors Health & Safety and developed by the Health & Safety Executive, the scheme covers many aspects in the assessment including working practices, risk assessment, safe use of equipment and so forth. Most local authorities, government departments and in the private sector, major employers like BAe and Rolls Royce
now stipulate this accreditation before allowing contractors to operate on their sites.

Mike Diskin, adds “safety is something that has always been close to my heart and an engineering machine shop can be a dangerous place and needs to be treated with respect, we have always encouraged safe working practices in our Halifax facility but have been pleasantly surprised to have been assessed and awarded compliance accreditation at our first attempt.”

10 March 2007
Order received from Cummins Diesels Ltd.
HNC have recently received an order from Cummins Diesels Ltd in Daventry for the mechanical refurbishment of a KTM 2500. The machine is to fully refurbished and extensively modified to increase the Z-axis traverse and Column height by 500mm to accommodate the new rotary table. This is the third KTM 2500 we have refurbished for Cummins and shows a continuing trust they have in HNC. Siemens retrofit department are to fit the new Siemens equipment to bring the machine up to date with the latest CNC technology.

01 February 2007
Lathes for Broadbent Stanley.
HNC completed the commissioning of two LC50 Broadbent Stanley lathes. We carried out the electrical / PLC design, commissioning for fitting GE Fanuc 18i TB CNC control systems to two large Broadbent Stanley lathes. These machines are for the machining of large 21 inch diameter pipes for the oil industry and are to be installed in Saudi Arabia, where they will be fully integrated to a automatic loading system.

12 January 2007
HNC refurbish Giddings and Lewis VTL
HNC have won a substantial order from Weir Minerals in Todmorden Halifax. The order is for the complete Electrical and mechanical refurbishment of a Giddings and Lewis VTL with a 60 inch diameter table. The CNC control system to be fitted is GE Fanuc 18i-TB with new digital servo motors and drives. HNC fought off stiff competition to win the order by having the necessary skills, expertise and facilities to complete the job to a high standard within a competitive budget.

01 January 2007
HNC visit Triumph motorcycles
Mike Diskin from HNC along with friends and associates from the machine tool industry visited Triumph motorcycles who are based Hinckley, Coventry. We had a two hour tour of the factory looking at all aspects motorcycle manufacturing, from the machining of engine components to final assembly of the bikes. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves and was inspired to see a British company manufacturing motorcycles at such levels of expertise and such large volumes in the UK ! The visit was arranged with Mike Dawes of M A Rubicon, sales and marketing consultants.

People on the visit included the following:
David Andrew (Sales Director of Hardinge Bridgeport).
Malcolm Smith – MD of Heidenhain GB.
Colin Grainger – Editor of Machinery Market Magazine.
Brian Wadsworth – MD of ISDS Business consultants.

HNC. 01 January 2007

Nigel Hattersley joins HNC
Managing director, Mike Diskin announced that Nigel Hattersley has joined the team at HNC as an expert Engineer. Mike sees this as an important step in the development of his company’s growth with Nigel becoming involved dealing directly with customers on a range of complex projects. This will benefit our customers with better continuity and throughput and reduced response times.

Nigel brings with him a wealth of experience in software writing for machine tools. He worked for Butler Machine Tools for over 20 years writing software for the Elgamil range of machines. After leaving Butlers he worked for a number of companies gaining in depth knowledge of woodworking / automation systems. He is an expert in his field and has experience of Heidenhain, Siemens and Bosch range of control systems.

HNC. 1st January 2007