Fix up, look sharp

Fabricators – did you know that your machine tool costs can be slashed by as much as 75%? So says Adam Jones, director of the UK’s leading toolmaker, Jade Engineering, as the company launches its sharpening service.

There is a lot written and talked about in every information channel you can think of, including (I am told!) the social media viewed by young people, about waste.

Not just packaging and plastic bottles…but actually disposing of valuable items such as clothing, which are thrown away after being worn just once. As someone that can happily wear a polo shirt until the colour is pretty much washed out of it, I find that extraordinary, but the reality is that in every walk of life, excess is being questioned.

And I believe that we must also now include machine tools, something that we at Jade do know something about.

I am proud that the majority of windows, produced in PVC-U and aluminium, are manufactured using machine tools produced by Jade Engineering. When I tell you that fabricators may extend the life of the machine tools that invariably we will have supplied, by anything up to three or four times their usual life cycle, you may think that is counter intuitive. But let me explain…

Sharpening and reconditioning machine tools used to be the norm in fact, but perhaps fuelled by the healthy state of the market, even boom conditions, in recent years, even machine tools have become disposable. And despite Jade enjoying a healthy order book as a result, the waste of such highly engineered, precision products offends my inner engineer. And so, we have decided to launch our sharpening service.

It simply makes sense: the vast majority of tools out there can be re-sharpened for around 25% of the cost of buying a brand new one. And a refurbished tool will offer all the precision of a brand-new one, whilst significantly extending its life.

And whilst the benefits in terms of cost are obvious, with fabricators coming under increasing strain with sales dipping and overheads soaring, there is also a temptation to extend maintenance cycles.

To do this with machine tools is the ultimate false economy, because using a tool past its recommended cycle, even for a further 100 frames, will eventually cost big bucks. In addition to product quality suffering, there will be damage done to expensive CNC machines, as worn tools set up imperceptible vibrations that increase wear on bearings, spindles and other components.

In financial terms consider this. Machine tools are one of the highest overheads of the frame making process. An operation producing around 400 frames a week will change tools every six months or so whilst a high-end business will be changing every three or sooner. Sharpening tools will slash the cost by 75%!

But even if the economics alone are not compelling enough, the environmental and social elements are enough, surely. We all have a responsibility towards reducing our impact on the environment. And even though I already extend the life of my clothing, encouraging our customers to allow us to re-sharpen the tools we made for them in the first place, allows us to do our bit for the planet in a significant way.

All that is required effectively is a change of routine within the production maintenance cycle. All fabricators have replacement tools as standbys for when the replacement is due; instead of the old tool being discarded, simply send it back to us and we will sharpen and clean it up, and return it to you.

Surely, you are thinking, this is counter intuitive for us at Jade Engineering. But to save you looking for an angle, whilst clearly we will sell fewer tools as a result of this initiative, this service enables our customers to make a choice…to continue with existing routines or to use this service and make the savings.

From my point of view, it is simple: it offends my instincts as an engineer to discard tools that are made with a such care. But for all of our sakes, we simply have to stop throwing valuable things away.