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Lontra Ltd
Engineering and manufacturing company Lontra has designed operations at their new smart factory from a blank canvas. Lontra needed the capability to manufacture and globally export their revolutionary Blade Compressor® technology, developed to counter the most common compressor design flaws.
Every detail of the South Yorkshire-based factory has been taken into consideration to enable Lontra to produce the best quality products with consistency alongside a lean and efficient manufacturing mentality. A conscious effort was also made to source local suppliers, bolstering the local economy alongside a sustainable business approach. Lontra consistently works with high-calibre partners who, like NIKKEN, are the leaders in their field, which ultimately reflects the quality and prestige of their own products and ethos.
In 2022, Lontra received a £7m grant and loan from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, which was matched with private investment to open a smart factory in Doncaster, UK, to produce their flagship product; the LP2 Blade Blower. The game-changing LP2 Blade Blower is the first product to be produced onsite at Lontra’s new, large-scale, smart factory and will be exported initially to North America and then globally.
With a desire to ensure greater tool life and absolute accuracy, Lontra wanted to control the tool run out to better than 5 microns. This would guarantee the required quality and consistency across their components. Furthermore, with products like the Slim Chuck providing greater gripping force due to an 8-degree collet, the tool pull-out risk is negated while offering increased rigidity.
After investigating how the business could reduce cycle times and control accuracy, Lontra turned to NIKKEN. Adrian Pratt, Manufacturing Engineer at Lontra, led the process to source tooling for the new smart factory and was delighted to receive instant support from NIKKEN. Following discussions with NIKKEN business manager Jack Varley, Lontra was supplied with numerous NC spindle tooling range products to cater for both HSK to MBT50 tool shank types, alongside a Tool Presetter and Elbo-Controlli NIKKEN’s TiD and TP32 software solutions. NIKKEN and Lontra have subsequently developed an effective and close working relationship. Lontra has also received added benefits, including access to NIKKEN Innovation Centre near Sheffield to host off-site training.
Since employing NIKKEN’s industry-leading tool holders, Lontra has been impressed with its reliability, tool life, accuracy, and performance. The combination of high-quality and superior NIKKEN tooling and Elbo-Controlli NIKKEN tool Presetter has enabled Lontra to machine core components of their LP2 Blade Blower - including their patented air-end technology, the Blade Compressor®, whilst also benefiting from improved tool life, increases in sustainability, reduced machine downtime, and reduced waste. The tool Presetter itself has significantly contributed to these reductions by providing the ability to pre-set tooling offline and, in turn, increase the efficiency of their production process with TiD data transfer eliminating human error and speeding up the manufacturing process.
Discover more about Lontra and the LP2 Blade blower.
Check out this video on YouTube about Lontra- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhNgG3QDS-g&feature=youtu.be.