British diecaster MRT Castings reports it has doubled the size of its assembly operation in response to demand from customers that have ‘outsourced’ their manufacturing operations. MRT recently expanded its product assembly operations into a new, dedicated technical facility to meet that growing demand.
With a metalcasting operation at Andover, Hampshire, MRT noted it has always offered a complete, single-source of supply to buyers of nonferrous castings. It produces parts in zinc and aluminum by high-pressure and gravity diecasting, and also offers sand casting and toolmaking. Its services extend to CNC machining and finishing, through to complete product assembly. In recent years, however, MRT indicated it has been taking on increasingly complex, turnkey manufacturing projects for clients.
“Electro-mechanical assembly” has now become one of the fastest growing areas of its business, the diecaster indicated, and MRT assembles, packages, and ships products on behalf of an increasing number of its clients.
"We are moving further up the supply chain, doing all the engineering design, manufacturing and stock holding for our customers,” explained MRT managing director Phil Rawnson. "They know that outsourcing all the engineering design and manufacturing work to us means they can concentrate on design concepts and marketing.”
Rawnson noted that his operation is a "single-source supplier,” offering completely finished products and services, from design to delivery. “We can carry out every stage of the process," he said.
Among MRT’s larger projects are manufacturing and assembly of high-specification designer lighting fixtures for homes and hotels. The supplier of those products entrusted the project to MRT because it needed a U.K. metalcaster capable of meeting the exacting demands of the premium lighting market by providing precision-engineered and finished metal parts, and able to source high-quality electrical components cost-effectively. Also, the supplier wanted a foundry or diecaster able to perform product assembly and maintain high quality control, and to do all these things together with design-for-manufacture and engineering expertise.
MRT’s other projects include casting, finishing and assembling pumps for wet room showers designed for people with disabilities. Also, MRT is building pressure-tight electronic enclosures that combine machined diecastings and extruded aluminum components.
The new, larger assembly operation that MRT invested in follows the installation earlier this summer of a new extractor robot for its largest pressure diecasting cell. The Bühler 530-metric ton cell is serviced now by a robot-controlled ladle and die spray equipment, making aluminum diecasting completely automated now.