£400,000 high-speed press investment

Image caption: (L-R) Shawn Batten and Ian Mackinnon (Batten & Allen) with Adrian Haller (Bruderer UK).

A specialist in stamping, plating and the assembly of high precision parts is celebrating its 50th birthday in style after announcing a new £400,000 investment. Batten & Allen, which employs 120 people at its factory in Cirencester, UK, signed a deal at the MACH 2022 exhibition in the UK to purchase a new Bruderer high-speed press that can produce six million components every day. The company signalled its intentions to use the 28-tonne BSTA 280-75B2 press to stamp precision parts for use in electrical applications across automotive, aerospace and consumer goods.

Fitted with a high-precision mechanical feeder, the machine offers a 750mm bed to accommodate complex press tools and comes with the latest control technology to provide benefits such as Automatic Ram Shut height adjustment at micro adjustments, while the press is under acceleration, and decelerated loads. This, said Bruderer, guarantees process stability and pinpoint reliability of the bottom dead centre (BCD) position, even at 1500 strokes per minute. This will be the 30th Bruderer press that Batten & Allen has ordered.

“The components we make are extremely precise, often to a few microns. This means we require a machine that could deliver that level of precision, time and time again – in fact, volumes can run into millions of parts every day. The BSTA 280-75B2 has been specified to our exact requirements, giving us the flexibility to be able to run pretty much every tool we own on it,” explained Ian Mackinnon, who joined Batten & Allen as CEO four years ago.

Established in 1972, Batten & Allen’s stamping capability means that it can offer small close pitch components with material thicknesses in the range of 10 microns thick to more heavy-duty single piece stampings up to 2mm.

It exports 85% of its turnover to customers across the automotive, aerospace, electronics and consumer goods sectors and, following a major surge in orders, is expecting sales to hit a record-breaking £20m at the end of this year.

“Batten & Allen’s production facility is built on the power of our presses, dating back nearly 50 years, and involving the installation of more than 30 machines, ranging from 20 tonnes to 50 tonnes. The latest BSTA 280-75B2 can operate up to 1500 strokes per minute and the large press tool bed means it is extremely flexible and supports quick changeovers. It is also equipped with Ram Guidance exclusively at strip level, which helps eliminate displacement between the punch and lower die. The press will run continuously across three shifts and 24-hours per day,” commented Adrian Haller, managing director of Bruderer UK.

Bruderer UK has taken its largest ever presence at MACH 2022 as it aims to build on a record-breaking start to the year. The company, with bases in Luton and the Black Country, has seen demand for its presses grow rapidly from the automotive, aerospace, construction and electrification sectors. 

Headlining Bruderer’s 100sq. metre stand in the MMMA’s Metalworking Village at MACH 2022 was the latest BSTA 510-150 B2 press, fitted with a 300mm wide high-speed servo feeder. The machine bed was 1.5 metres wide, allowing big press tools to be loaded  and highlighting its capability to achieve 1050 stroke per minutes on complex material of all shapes and sizes. Material decoiling and rewinding systems were fitted to deliver a fully operational line.

For further information, see www.bruderer.co.uk or www.batten-allen.com