Everything from a single source

Before using Tebis, Brickles and his team relied primarily on the teach-in method, just like other companies in the industry. Every product underwent several modification iterations during this process. He explains: "At the time we didn’t know any different, and we thought we were quite efficient with our processes. But the advantages offered by implementing the Tebis system have far exceeded our expectations. In some cases, manufacturing components using Tebis is 75% faster than using conventional methods. Products assembled from multiple parts now just click together perfectly the first time, because we’re using the customers' own CAD data. Another obvious benefit is that we don’t have to stop the machines to program them any more.”

Brickles adds: "In the old days we would always question the accuracy of the end product, especially if it was a very complex component. There was a lot of trial and error in generating a perfect NC program, which meant that there could potentially be a lot of scrap. Invariably, we would courier a product to be inspected by the customer and await approval to continue. Sometimes we would wait a week to receive the product back with the modifications required. This would play havoc with tight deadlines. All of these headaches have gone away since we’ve started using Tebis: now we just take the CAD data from our customer, generate the vacuum clamping device using the Tebis wizard and clearly define the component position. This produces a perfect toolpath the first time, every time. We trust our end product. And our customers share this trust. Using Tebis has made the whole process easier, faster, more cost-effective and more accurate, and we are gaining new business from large Tier 1 OEM suppliers based on our reputation for quality work. These customers would not have used us in the past.”