Production Capabilities
BNL’s modern manufacturing facility in Knaresborough, England, operates a 3-shift system with machines operating 24 hours per day, 360 days per year.
“right first time” manufacturing
Constantly evolving to keep up with an increasingly demanding marketplace, the Company has adopted a "right first time" approach, with particular emphasis placed on teamwork. BNL’s modern manufacturing facility in Knaresborough, UK, boasts 32 state-of-the-art moulding machines offering a clamping force range from 12 to 175 tonnes. Some 23 machines are fitted with robots and there are currently 30 that are served by a fully automated material delivery system. Three twin-shot moulding machines provide additional flexibility to offer greater added value in design solutions. The latest addition - a 120-ton Engel VC 650/120 Tech - has full process monitoring in order to meet the stringent quality standards demanded by BNL’s customers, including automated rejection for non-conforming parts to guarantee the supply of a 100% right first time product.
To achieve the precision BNL bearings demand, they are moulded under tightly controlled conditions that have been fully researched and proven, so invariably BNL purchase injection-moulding machines that are tailor-made to specific requirements as opposed to “off the shelf” models. When injection moulding is not appropriate, for example, low-volume bearing manufacture, CNC machining is used as an alternative production method.
The company is constantly evolving to keep up with an increasingly demanding marketplace, and has adopted a "right first time" approach, with particular emphasis placed on continuous improvement and teamwork.
precision tooling
High quality tooling is essential to achieving a dimensionally stable and accurate plastic bearing. Often the development of the injection mould tool for a plastic bearing can take more man-hours than it does to produce the injection mould tool itself. BNL’s technology allows easy transitions from 3D product design to 3D tool design all under one roof, with the aid of a 3D modelling software package. BNL is significantly different to most other injection moulders, with the ability to accurately “family mould” multiple parts in one tool, having developed methods of process control to keep costs down.
cost reduction through automated assembly
To maintain high volumes of business BNL must be able to guarantee high output, 100% product quality, and competitive pricing. Automation is the ideal answer and the increased use of automated assembly machines has impressed customers by achieving a consistently high quality of product. Quality checks at different stages of the assembly process are integrated into these specially tailored machines - ball checks, grease checks, torque checks, and mass checks - to eliminate the risk of errors.
