New tooling from MSC helps DaceCrown cut cycle times by 90%
3 Mins
Published in Tooling
Longbridge-based DaceCrown Ltd has long established itself as a specialist supplier of precision components to the bottling and packaging industry. However, after 25 years of operation, a new generation of engineering talent has taken over and plans on pushing the company to new horizons. Albeit with a little help from tooling supplier MSC Industrial Supply Co UK.
“Over the years, the company built a strong reputation among global brewing, beverage and pharmaceutical brands for tackling the toughest packaging and handling challenges,” begins Tom White, Co-Owner at DaceCrown Ltd.
Tom White, whose background is in applications engineering and technical sales, bought DaceCrown in 2023 with business partner and Operations Director, Jake Harley-Arliss. In less than a year they took DaceCrown from a fully manual workshop to having three Haas machine tools: a VF-9 large-capacity vertical machining centre, a VF-2 vertical machining centre and an ST10 turning centre.
“The previous owners did most of their production work using manual lathes,” he continues. “It was highly skilled but the talent pool for that kind of work is only getting smaller. We wanted to transition to more modern methods of production to futureproof the business while also growing our customer base. This change in approach very quickly opened the door to winning more jobs for high-value components with complex machining requirements, such as sharper tips, better corner radii and finer screw threads. You simply couldn’t do that work at scale on manual machines.”
However, with business growing, the DaceCrown team soon realised the tooling on their Haas machines was still potentially holding them back from reaching their true potential.
“Traditionally, the company made its own tooling in-house,” says Tom White. “It kept costs down, but it didn’t take into account the time and resource to do so.”
To help bring the company’s tooling in line with their ambitions for growth, DaceCrown turned to MSC Industrial Supply Co UK. MSC application engineers visited DaceCrown over several weeks to immerse themselves in the business and gain first-hand experience of the tooling challenges facing Tom White and his team.
The trials also coincided with the testing stage of MSC’s newly-launched MSC Edge range of multi-purpose solid-carbide hole-making and milling tools. In turn, DaceCrown acted as a vital field test site providing critical performance data to MSC throughout the testing process.
A variety of materials and tool paths were tested during the trial and following its completion, DaceCrown was supplied with a set of 4, 8 and 12 mm MSC Edge end mills, which have enabled the team to handle a wide range of materials and applications without having to regularly change tooling.
“It was an instant game changer. We went from a 1 minute 50 second cycle time to 10 seconds. It was a case of plug and play: put the tool in, set the speeds and feeds and press go. We’ve used them on stainless steel, mild steel, structural steel and aluminium. We can do pocket milling, milling into holes that were drilled too small, and we’ve also done some profiling work.”
He adds: “The best thing is, we can keep them in the tool magazine, which reduces our set up times. And, even though we’re running at higher speeds and feeds, we’ve found MSC Edge tools to be very durable, so we don’t have to replace them as often as with our previous supplier. This means we not only complete jobs faster and turnaround work for our customers quicker, but also keep our own tooling costs down.”
Having unlocked new levels of productivity, the future of the business is looking increasingly bright for DaceCrown.
“We’ve always strived to deliver the best possible quality for our customers,” concludes Tom White. “The parts we supply touch the end product last, so if we make a mistake then the whole line can do go down. Quality is everything for us and our customers, therefore if it’s not right, it’s not leaving our facility. We’re always looking at ways we can push the boundaries of what is possible. We don’t want to be just another supplier, we want to be partners that add value, much like MSC has become for us.”
