Having the in-house ability to wire erode, spark erode and fast hole drill not only means Merc can complete the job rather than sending it back to the customer for completion, but it has allowed the firm to quote for, and win new work, even though the EDM content is in some instances quite minimal.

The EDM machinery purchased by Merc has been supplied to high specifications, with toolchangers, 4th axis indexers and 3R macro tooling all helping to reduce set-up and changeover times as Merc rolls out it's lean manufacturing program.

There are currently several aerospace jobs running through the factory, that are being turned and milled on the Citizen sliding head CNC lathes, and in the spirit of 'one-piece flow' are moving immediately onto the CNC fast hole driller where offset radial holes of 0.46mm diameter by 7mm depth are drilled, and then onto the CNC wire eroder for completion.

In other instances, when the company is manufacturing hardened components such as machine gun spares, the ability to harden the components prior to machining, alleviates the need to anticipate and build in allowances for distortion and growth during the heat treatment process, resulting in excellent product quality.

Merc's EDM machining capability is already entrenched in the Company's precision machining portfolio and will assume a greater role as new machines are added.

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