From supplier to manufacturer with Mazak machine technology

Published : January 21, 2010

Formed in 1952 as a specialist plastics moulding company, Barrowford, Lancashire-based Standel Dawman has more recently focused on the supply of products to the major manufacturers of golf trolleys around the world. “Our association with the world of golf began back in 1978,” says Production Director, Gary Dawes. “It was then that we manufactured our first wheels for an electric golf trolley. Since then we have worked with a number of different OEMs helping to develop a range of products for that market that includes gearboxes, clutches, speed controllers and axles.”

The numbers are staggering with over two million wheels, one million clutches, 200,000 gearboxes and hundreds of thousands of other components, including axles and speed controllers, being manufactured at the company’s 30,000 ft2 premises. The thought of manufacturing its own golf trolley range had been around for many years, but while Standel Dawman still supplied components to many trolley manufacturers worldwide, there was never a need to take this path. This allowed time and energy to be spent bringing new developments to the world golf trolley market, but never on a Standel Dawman branded product.

However, an influx of cheap products from low labour-cost economies lead to the demise of some Western trolley manufacturers, some of whom were customers for Standel Dawman components. So the company took the major decision to begin manufacturing its own brand of electric golf trolleys, now called Greenhill, using high quality precision engineered components.

“Many of the components used in the manufacture of trolleys are sourced in the Far East, China in particular,” says Gary Dawes. “Our experience told us that to be competitive and quickly gain a presence in this market we had to be different, so we took the conscious decision to become self-sufficient, so we design and manufacture as much as possible in-house, hence the requirement for the investment in the Mazak machines, which we are using both for component manufacture and the machining of mould and dies for the plastic mouldings.”

The latest Mazak machines to be installed are two Mazak VERTICAL CENTRE NEXUS 410A-II vertical machining centres. These machines feature a 900 by 410 mm table that is large enough to accept the mould tools Standel Dawman needs to machine, while the 36 m/min rapid traverse rates and 12,000 revs/min, 18.5 kW spindle are ideal for the volume manufacture of components such as hinges and various other components found in the construction of Greenhill golf trolleys.

The majority of these components are programmed at the machine using the Mazatrol conversational programming language contained in the Matrix Nexus control system. Offline programming is only used for the more complex mould tools. “We find the control system extremely easy to use and it allows us to get parts into production very quickly,” says Gary Dawes.

These two VERTICAL CENTRE NEXUS 410A-II machines are among a total of six Mazaks that are helping Standel Dawman to remain competitive and address the challenges posed by low-cost manufacturers. Being a UK-based manufacturer is seen as important in the growth strategy of the business, and the investment that the company has made will ensure continuity of manufacturing at the company’s Barrowford site. It also provides reassurances to customers around the world, and ensures that Standel Dawman can maintain the quality expected of products for the golfing industry.

“We are targeting a 10 per cent share of the global market for electric golf trolleys within the next two to three years,” says Gary Dawes. “Achieving this will be testament to our decision to manufacture here in the UK and to the investment we have made in our manufacturing facility, with the Mazak machines playing a major part in that success.”

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