July-August 2021

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS technical teamwork hand in hand with the Vixen design team to ensure the correct solution is provided.” Metal Work’s UK technical team, headed up by technical manager Scott Webb, arranges suitable site visits or Microsoft teams meetings with a dedicated Metal Work technical support engineer to detail all the application and project details. From mass movement requirements and detailed move profiles, Metal Work then produces the drawings on its design software, and size the cylinders accordingly, along with providing a full system control solution by bespoke sizing the related drives, programs and servomotors. “We have to work closely with the electrical section of the Vixen team to ensure we meet all their machine design requirements,” states Turnbull. “Vixen have recently incorporated our innovative E motion control system for the control of electric cylinders simply and intuitively, using a stepping or servo motor of any size and capacity, which is connected to the relevant drive with a step/direction interface. It is such a simple yet effective solution to support the machine control requirements and offers large commercial benefits to the company.” Italian connection: Innovation, product training and quality inspection During 2019, a team compromising of commercial and technical employees from Vixen visited Metal Work’s manufacturing facility in Italy to gain a better understanding of the level of quality prevision involved in the company’s design and manufacturing processes, with a keen focus on development products Metal Work can support the company on around technology advancements on Industry4.0 technology, electric actuator and sizing/control solutions. This visit proved a major success and further bolstered the confidence Vixen has in Metal Work as a supplier and design partner. Approved supplier support and specification agreements On occasion, Vixen customers require machinery to comply with very rigid regulations and insist that Vixen’s materials, parts and equipment suppliers are on their own approved supplier list. Vixen always work under strict confidentiality agreements and follow guidelines, but with a recent machine design of high complexity, thought it would be best to request Metal Work are considered for the equipment supply due to the engineering and equipment support capability for such a machine. A case in point last year was a leading blue chip German company in the aviation industry specified alternative suppliers to Metal Work. “This all worked out very well, if we had to use an alternative supplier to Metal Work, the potential complete redesign and increased costs of manufacture would have been huge, so we worked closely with the UK sales manager Neil Turnbull and began dialogue with our client,” says Jordan. “Metal Work had to comply with our client’s strict specification agreement requirements, from certification requirements of ISO 9001 Quality Management System, Integrated environmental and health and safety management system: ISO14001 – ISO 45001, to agreed B10d certification and machine safety parameters to meet PL e certification. Our knowledge of the Metal Work team, guided by Neil Turnbull, along with the inspection visit of the Metal Work manufacturing facility gave us great comfort of approving Metal Work for the project. Within a short timeline Metal Work was added to its list of approved suppliers.” Industry 4.0: Vision of Vixen Vixen is now pushing the envelope in terms of automation, to the extent that the company is now fully committed to putting in place a state-of-the-art Industry 4.0 regime. Jordan explains that Vixen is currently at the R&D phase for putting in place an industrial internet of things (IIoT) methodology for its systems and processes. “The main part of our developing IIoT roadmap comprises a data cloud that holds 50 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS July/August 2021 www.hpmag.co.uk