One-man show manages three CNC automatic lathes - running largely unmanned - and is growing his business quickly, thanks to competitive pricing and responsive service.
David Malin is a man with an active determination to succeed! Working alone he set up DJM Precision Engineering on a small industrial estate at Litchborough near Towcester, UK, in August 2003 by remortgaging his house to buy a new Citizen L20 CNC sliding head auto from NC Engineering of Watford. Devoting all sorts of strange hours to his work and with only himself for company, within six months he purchased a fixed head bar fed CNC lathe and, with the business growing fast due to his competitive pricing and willingness to service customers, he bought a second Citizen L20 in April 2004. From his desk in the office on the mezzanine floor over the machine shop, Malin can look through a patio door to proudly survey a very neat and tidy machine shop where his three CNC charges run mostly unmanned, including through the night on selective jobs, producing a wide range of connectors, shafts, spindles, special screws and valves in batches varying between 250 and 40,000.

He was first introduced to metal cutting at age 14 when between school hours he swept floors and performed general duties at a local subcontract machine shop.

At age 16 he progressed to being a cam auto apprentice.

A reflection of his determination and focus on the business is the fact that DJM Precision Engineering obtained ISO 9001 - 2000 accreditation within just nine months.

'I always wanted to be my own boss,' he maintains, 'but the only person I ever get to boss is myself.

OK,' he admits, 'My wife helps me with the books at home and my mother, as mothers will, comes in to clean the office and mop the floor.' That is why the well-painted workshop and office is spotless.

He also has a retired police sergeant who will deliver components if he is busy setting a machine.

Malin can set and run all three machines with a high degree of confidence, and such is their repeatability and accuracy they require very little attention.

This means he can go upstairs and prepare quotes, program the next job, order materials and tooling, prepare inspection reports and delivery notes, and perform all the general duties involved in running a business.

'When I need to see customers, the machines are well able to be left to run unmanned and with the NC Engineering-developed Alarm Alert, if there is a problem, the two citizen machines will automatically call my mobile and I can make a decision on whether to stop the process, come back to sort it out or let it carry on.' Indeed, Malin can often be seen making his way to the industrial estate at 2 or 4 am in the morning to rebar a machine, change tools or even start a reset.

'It is totally up to me, and as long as my customers are happy then I am in control of my destiny,' he maintains.

Malin opened the door to his small unit with not even an Allen key to his name.

Prior to setting up he worked with a local subcontractor on fixed head lathes and was involved with buying a Citizen L32 and secondhand Citizen L20.

'They frightened me to death,' he admits when he first had to learn how to set them, but quickly realised that the machines were 'the future' for small part mill/turning.' In the first week of trading, Malin ordered a compressor and a Citizen L20-VIII to which he enthuses about the support NC Engineering gave him.

He says: 'They gave us very good advice and helped set up the funding for our first machine.' To this day, he maintains the NC Engineering application engineers are more than willing to give advice over the phone on a job or steer him around a tricky programming routine.

When he ordered the machines he opted for the Remote Diagnostics package which also enables the application team at NC Engineering to assist directly with a difficult set up, a programming problem or any service or software problem on the machines.

The Citizen L20 is the middle of the range of Citizens available in the UK with the capability to simultaneously machine with two tools from its 21 tool capacity.

It has 20 to 10,000 rev/min, 3.7kW main spindle and subspindle with a 1.5kW and 8,000 rev/min drive.

Five tools are reserved for turning, seven driven tools are available for front machining and three for internal, back and front operations as well as back internal cutting from the subspindle.

On DJM's machines, by simply turning the three driven tool spindles through 90 degrees they can be interchanged with three front face cutting tools.

In addition, added flexibility for Malin's setting skills is available by using a special Citizen adapter unit to utilise a cross-spindle for turning.

The driven tools are powered by 1kW motors able to accept tools up to 8mm diameter.

As he is often on his own or the machines are running while he is out, he included an automatic workpiece conveyor that enables components to be off-loaded from the working area rather than drop into an unload chute and both machines have integral swarf conveyors and oil mist extraction units.

In case of any problems both machines are equipped with automatic fire extinguishers.

Malin even relates to the image and functionality of NC Engineering's premises in Park Avenue, Watford.

'I have tried to set out the workshop and office to reflect the same standard of neatness and tidiness.

Even though I have only myself to satisfy, I have to have a good working environment with clean machines and everything laid out 'just so'.

I am proud of what I am doing and only too pleased to have customers here, and why should not they be able to walk onto the shopfloor wearing their suits.' Customers are based across the UK and now range from automotive suppliers, tooling industry, brewing and a beverage machine maker which provided the first order won by DJM Precision Engineering.

Most jobs tend to be new which means setting takes two or three hours and Malin admits tooling can be a challenge at times.

Cycle times tend to vary between 18 secs and 90 secs in a whole range of materials.

When specifying the Citizens, he took the option of the long part adapter which enabled him to win an early contract for a range of shafts up to 500mm long.

'The 1degree indexing facility on the Citizen subspindle also gives greater setting flexibility when milling and producing cross features within the same cycle on a component,' he maintains.

Malin describes how most suppliers and customers have been very understanding and, he says, all profits go back into the business.

For Christmas he was able to treat the business to a GBP 5,000 shadowgraph that is already proving a great help when checking profiles and blend radii.

On his wall is a DJM Precision Engineering's calendar, on his desk a very nice A5 desk diary embossed with the company name with matching pen.

Malin wears a fleece and polo shirt sporting his company name and his new white van has signwriting that incorporates a line drawing of a Citizen as part of his logo, name and address.

'This is my marketing - customers will always recognise and know I am around - while the machines 'back at the ranch' are steadily churning out the work,' he concludes.