T O O L S
“We were confident it was a good product,
but no amount of in-house testing can match
trying it out in the real world. We learned so
much from these tests which allowed us to
identify areas of further improvement.
“A test we did with a customer in France
involved machining a titanium-bearing,
austenitic, chromium-nickel, stainless steel.
It is an extremely tough and ductile material.
It requires a powerful machine, capable of
heavy feeds and slow spindle speeds.
Jan says they put it up against a competitor’s
high feed milling tool with similar features to
the SBN10.
“After machining three-parts the cutting
edge of the competitor’s insert was worn,
forcing the operator to index the cutting
edge to proceed production. After machining
eight parts with the SBN10 cutter and BNGX
inserts, the cutting edge showed minor flank
wear and was still in a good condition to
continue cutting.
“In addition to significant longer tool life,
the metal removal rate was 20% higher. The
customer was so impressed, he immediately
bought one cutter and pre-ordered seven
more by early 2018.
“We did more than 20 tests with customers
in France, Brazil, Poland, China, Italy, Czech
Republic and Germany. Altogether, five of
these tests did not match our expectations,
so it allowed us to go back and look at what
needed improving. This is an important
process and can only help improve product
performance and reduce limitations,” she
says.
“The crucial part is to react quickly during the
testing process, speed is crucial. Any issues
need to be eliminated and the design of the
tool improved as soon as possible, before
putting it back in for more tests.
“In July 2017, we returned to Germany to a
customer where one of the tests did not go
as well as the others. Going back to the same
location meant we could perform the exact
same trial in the same conditions as before. This
was important to verify if the improvements
we made had worked. The application ran
very successfully and it was great to show the
customer the new and improved version!
“We realised at this stage, we were ready to
launch the product into the market. We had
further discussions with IP to make sure
our patent was in place and everything was
prepared.
“This led to meetings with production to ensure
enough inserts were manufactured for the
time of launch and liaising with marketing and
communications department on creation of
all the support material, such as brochures,
images, videos, press releases and online
content.”
LAUNCHING PRODUCT TO
MARKET
Dormer Pramet launched its range of BNGX
inserts and SBN10 cutters in November 2017,
almost three years after the initial design brief
was prepared.
During 2018, the company will manufacture
more than 30,000 BNGX inserts, comprising of
different sizes and chip breakers, alongside 450
cutters, in three different variants; end mills with
threaded shank, end mills with parallel shank
and shell mills.
Jan adds: “Product development is very much
a team effort. There are many people from
around the world involved in the creation of
new cutting tools. From product management
to design, to the technology team, production,
testing, through to sales and marketing.
“Each department is not independent from the
rest. We are all connected and one area cannot
be successful without the support of the rest.
They all must work together to get a product to
market.
“Also, any new product created will become
the future work for our production department.
Sometimes we can be focused on today and
what is new now, but it is our job to look at the
future and what will be important in five to ten
years’ time.”
For more information regarding the high feed
milling SBN10 and BNGX range, visit.
https://tinyurl.com/dormer-millingcutters
• TECHNICAL CUTTING TOOLS DISTRIBUTOR
• SPECIALISTS IN DORMER PRAMET & SANDVIK COROMANT
• EXTENSIVE NZ STOCK-HOLDING
• AVAILABLE NZ WIDE DIRECT & THROUGH LEADING DISTRIBUTORS
17 MARYLANDS PLACE
MIDDLETON, CHRISTCHURCH P: 03 338 4169 E: admin@southerncut.co.nz
NZ DISTRIBUTOR
SOUTHERN CUTTING
TECHNOLOGY LTD
44 September 2018
/dormer-millingcutters
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