Oasis Engineering in Tauranga is a shining example of how New Zealand businesses can compete internationally. Picking up the Bay of Plenty Exporter of the Year award last year, Managing Director Andy Cameron has shown manufacturers that by focussing on quality and innovation in a niche market, New Zealand companies can still be successful worldwide.
Oasis Engineering started 1983 when Oasis Industries closed their Gisborne bottling plant workshop. Staff member Tom Boyd purchased the workshop machinery and shortly after, moved the operation to Tauranga. Working as a contractor to Oasis Industries and other bottling plants, the company also branched into the dairy and the natural gas sectors where their experience in liquid and gas handling equipment gained at Oasis was invaluable.
In the 1980’s when the government introduced schemes to promote LPG and CNG to the vehicle market, Oasis were instrumental in developing ways to improve the imported Italian equipment to suit the demands of large capacity vehicles covering long distances. The solution was to increase the pressure of the gas in the cylinders so more fuel could be stored. To achieve this, new valves were designed for both the vehicles and dispensing network to safely handle the higher pressure, increase flow and prevent freezing. The work done by Oasis helped the acceptance of the international standard storage pressure of CNG at 3600psi and established Oasis as a leader in gas valve quality and technology.
This range of niche products has led to exports to over sixty countries including Brazil, Thailand, Iran, Sweden, Switzerland and China to name a few. Their experience in the precision machining of stainless steel and titanium also gained them orders from New Zealand companies that are still an important part of their business.
Andy, who purchased the company five years ago says, “The company has always been a technology leader that has looked at new and better ways to do things and has consistently made investments in both R & D and technology. Oasis was one of the first companies to invest in CNC almost 30 years ago, we currently have 7 CNC machines and have upgraded four of them in the last five years.”
With a quality product and an international reputation, Andy has aimed at growing his market share by providing first class innovation and service. When the time came to replace one of the older CNC lathes, Andy looked at replacing it with a “lights out” machine that could process a part from start to finish without operator intervention. A bar feed option was considered but as many of the parts were already supplied pre machined, it would not be versatile enough to work unmanned on many of the key products. The answer was a twin spindle lathe with live tooling and a robotic loading and unloading gantry.
Although the factory ran exclusively one brand of Japanese CNC machinery, Rob Bennett, CNC Business Development Manager for Total CNC Products Ltd persuaded Andy to consider an alternative brand of machine. Rob had first called on Oasis Engineering over twelve years ago and built a good relationship with the company and a keen understanding of what Andy wished to achieve. He thought that a Victor Vturn II-26YBCV from Taiwan would be perfect for the job but he needed to convince Andy that the Victor factory would deliver a machine that would satisfy the demands of both him and his staff.
Then Rob consulted with Total CNC Director, Rodney Oxford, Service Manager Doug McCracken and the Victor factory to be sure that the machine would perform to Oasis’ high standards. To assure Andy, Total CNC came up with a package that included delivery, installation, set up, training and product trials. Based on the assurances offered in the package, Andy awarded the contract to Total CNC.
During the build of the machine, Total CNC arranged for Oasis’ workshop manager, Mark Swetman to visit the Victor factory in Taiwan for a tour of the facility and to fine-tune the specifications of the machine. Doug McCracken, Total CNC’s service manager accompanied Mark and suggested several modifications to the gantry loading system to improve rigidity and billet handling to cope with the specific products that Oasis wished to make.
Meanwhile, with the specially equipped lathe under construction in Taiwan, Andy had an increase in orders that highlighted a bottleneck in production and needed to urgently purchase a new vertical machining centre. Once again he called Rob who told him that the Victor factory had a Vcenter-70APC ex stock. The twin pallet design suited Andy’s needs perfectly, so a second Victor machine was ordered and delivered within three weeks.
With the machining centre landed and the lathe still a few days away, the machine the new lathe was intended to replace became unserviceable and the pressure was on to fulfil upcoming orders as quickly as possible. Total CNC installed, commissioned and had the lathe producing parts within a week of arrival. Doug from Total CNC stayed on at the factory for another week, training staff on the new controller and using his own manufacturing experience to help fine tune the machine to ensure it would produce quality product quickly and reliably while unmanned. Oasis had allowed themselves four weeks to start producing parts so getting the machine running quickly got them back on track and their outstanding orders were fulfilled on time.
Doug who is highly experienced with both the controller used on Oasis’ other machines and the new Fanuc control on the lathe and VMC was easily able to explain the differences between them and allayed any issues the staff may have had about adapting an unfamiliar controller.
Since commissioning, the Victor Vturn II-26Y lathe has performed faultlessly, working around the clock for up to 2 weeks at a time. The machine is fitted with a Rennishaw tool setter that regularly measures tool wear and calculates the compensation required so the only interventions are to change tools and unload and reload the pallets every ten hours. The lathe has live tooling on its twelve station VDI turret and the Y axis movement allows off centre machining enabling complex parts to be processed in one operation.
The machine is an impressive size with a sturdy gantry robot mounted above and an interlocked cage containing the pallet changer on the left hand end. In operation the robotic arm will pick and load a billet into the primary chuck then retrieve the finished item from the sub spindle. (During machining, the sub spindle picks the semi-machined billet from the main spindle to allow machining of the rear of the product.) The robotic arm moves the finished part past a hook and air blast to remove any trapped swarf (a suggestion from Doug adapted by Oasis) before passing it through a measuring beam and placing the finished part on the out-feed pallet. Using a robot to place the finished items eliminates any of the potential damage caused by traditional parts catchers and conveyors.
Despite the sophistication of the operation, the change around time for manufacturing different products is surprisingly fast.
The Victor Vcenter-70APC machining centre is small in comparison to the lathe but the twin pallet operation allows finished product to be unloaded and fresh billets secured while the other pallet is being machined. The compact footprint makes efficient use of the factory floor space that is at a premium in the Birch Ave factory.
Since the installation of the two new machines, the average turnaround from receipt of orders to dispatch of finished product has reduced from nine days to six. All parts can be coded and numbered for traceability. Andy is delighted with the performance of his new machines and has full confidence in both Victor and Total CNC.
Rob from Total CNC sees the machinery range and back up service as a perfect fit to clients such as Oasis Engineering. “We are not just a sales driven team, we offer a complete package of quality brands backed by industry knowledge and experienced service support.” He adds, “ Selling capital plant is about establishing a relationship of trust and credibility, not cutting corners. All the team at Total CNC have hands on industry experience in operating CNC machines and speak from experience not just the sales brochure.”
While the impact of the recent global financial shock has not entirely passed Oasis Engineering by, Andy is looking to the future by offering customised valves for individual customer specifications and developing products to improve the life and serviceability of CNG valves. “There are some large orders coming up and it’s good to now have the capacity to handle them quickly and economically.” Says Andy.
The extra capacity of the new machines also given Oasis the ability to do more work for New Zealand based customers and he is keen to hear from anyone who requires high precision machining of stainless steel, titanium and exotic alloys.
With the potential for huge growth in the alternative fuels market and Oasis Engineering at the forefront, Rob at Total CNC should not be too surprised if his phone rings with an order for some more sophisticated machine packages.
Contact Total CNC Products for a machining solution for your business.
Andy Cameron, Managing Director, Oasis Engineering Ltd
129b Birch Ave, Tauranga - 07 928 3808 - www.oasisengineering.co.nz -andy@oasisengineering.co.nz
Written by Roger Lacey, Engineering Communications Ltd - 021 072 1281 - www.engcom.co.nz
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