Machining centres Viking turns to Mazak to create a dedicated turning facility

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With a 1.6 million pound investment in a new, dedicated turning facility, Viking Precision Engineers is expanding its machining capabilities and deepening its long-standing partnership with Yamazaki Mazak.

Viking Precision Engineers has invested 1.6 million pounds in a dedicated turning facility equipped with four Yamazaki Mazak Quick Turn 250 lathes. The new facility is built on the strength of Viking’s customer relationships, which include long-standing contracts with London Underground and its track record in the aerospace sector.

The four turning centres, which are the latest investments in Viking’s near 36-year partnership with Mazak, join the existing Mazak machines at the company’s CNC milling machine shop at its Middlesex headquarters. The first facility has ten machines, including a Variaxis i-500 5-axis machine, two VCN vertical milling machines and three FJV machining centres that were acquired to manufacture large aerospace workpieces.

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The new dedicated turning shop has been built to help Viking diversify its machining capabilities into smaller turned parts, says Richard Bec, Viking’s Production Manager: “The Quick Turn machines were purchased to grow the business into high volume, smaller component work that requires a turning solution. We’re now running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Many of these smaller, high-precision components are tribology-based parts used in advanced testing equipment for lubrication and friction systems. These intricate components play a key role in solutions that support innovation in the sustainable and reusable energy sector, an area of growing importance and strategic focus for Viking Precision Engineers.”

The Quick Turn series of industry-leading CNC turning centres is manufactured at Mazak’s European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester. Known for their high-rigidity construction and built-in motor spindle, the machines deliver exceptional precision and reliability. Viking Precision’s new Quick Turn 250 MSY models further enhance capability with integrated milling, a second spindle, and Y-axis functionality, enabling complex, multi-tasking operations in a single setup.

Viking’s decision to make Mazak its preferred supplier has made the move into high-volume turning work much easier. Richard continues: “We have one machine supplier and one control software, which means operators can go from one machine to the next. Operators on our 4-axis and 5-axis Mazak machines can quickly go into the new facility if we need help there. Everybody can support a consistent workflow because they are familiar with the Mazak operating system.”

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Alex Turner, Works Manager at Viking, says the Mazak machines are a real selling point, particularly for the aerospace sector. “Aerospace customers have been to the facility and seen the Mazak machines, which gives them peace of mind that we can do the job. We can do the larger sections in our original facility and then over in our turning shop we can machine much more intricate parts with really tight tolerances. We’ve got real flexibility with the bigger Mazak machines and the smaller turning centres.”

He concludes: “Mazak have looked after us and we’ve been loyal to them. We’ve been able to grow and add capability over time, with 4-axis machines, large workpieces, long shaft workpieces and now turning. The breadth of the Mazak range means they’ve got a machine for practically every application.”

Alan Mucklow, Managing Director UK & National Distributors at Yamazaki Mazak, added: “Viking are one of many valued customers who have built a long-standing relationship with Mazak, reflecting years of collaboration, trust and shared commitment to engineering excellence. It is fantastic to see four of our UK-made turning centres helping another British business succeed at the very highest level and we look forward to working with Alex, Richard and the wider Viking team for many more years to come.”

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