Reducing coolant usage
May 1st 2006 Castrol's Hysol Excel metalworking fluid is estimated to be saving CAV Aerospace, Consett £100 000 a year by reducing coolant usage, system downtime and waste and disposal costs.
The company's plant at Consett, County Durham is dedicated to long bed component manufacture.
The workforce of 150 produces high-value Airbus wing spars and stringers that are machined form vast billets of aerospace-grade aluminium using sophisticated multi-spindle, multi-axis CNC machines. Two 70 000-litre bulk tanks deliver coolant for the continuous machining operations.
While the company wasn't experiencing any actual machining problems, the metalworking fluid supplied by CAV's previous coolant manufacturer was deteriorating quickly, and both bulk tanks needed to be emptied and cleaned on a regular basis. The overall cost, including new coolant, disposal costs and machine downtime while the systems were not operational, was becoming prohibitive. There were also some fluid maintenance concerns, including poor dilution control that caused smoking and misting.
At this point Mike Eggleston, head of programmes at Consett, contacted Castrol, who had already been awarded a contract to supply its Hysol Excel cutting fluid to CAV's Llantrisant plant, where similar aerospace components were manufactured on similar machines.
Castrol introduced Hysol Excel into both systems and in the twelve months or so since then, neither of the 70,000-litre bulk tanks has needed its fluid changed.
Commenting on cost savings Mike Eggleston says that simply not having to buy and change 140 000 litres of coolant has provided substantial savings, but when the virtual elimination of waste, related disposal costs and machine downtime are taken into account, the true value of the cost reduction is estimated at £100 000 a year.
CAV Consett now outsources machine maintenance so Castrol works closely with the contractor, visiting the site a couple of times a month to monitor the pH levels, concentration and so on of the coolant. More articles from Castrol (UK) Ltd: | 
