Swindon Racing Engines Becomes First Mass Producer of Specialty Engines
Because its engines are so successful, Swindon needed to dramatically
increase its production capability to meet customer demand.
Founded 30 years ago by John Dunn, Swindon Racing Engines’ initial
business was to service the Ford DFV Formula 1 engines. Thanks to its
quality performance and knowledgeable engineering staff, Swindon Racing
Engines was soon developing the next-generation DFV engines as well. The
company has steadily built its business upon these strengths and today is
known around the world for the superior racing engines it designs and
manufactures.
Cars with Swindon engines have won championships in Formula 1, Formula
3000, Formula 3, World Sportscars, British Touring Cars, International
Touring Cars and many other classifications. Today, the company continues to
thrive with John’s son Gary at the wheel. When he took over in 1996, Gary
knew that to maintain Swindon’s reputation as a leader in its field, and
to meet the ever increasing design challenges and production requirements of
its customers, the company would need to adopt powerful computer design and
manufacturing capabilities. While recognizing the need to transform the
digital development process with 3D CAD and to eliminate waste in the
manufacturing steps with CAM, Gary also required solutions that would be
easily implemented and quickly adopted by the users so as not to interrupt
the company’s output of product.
Powerful computing tools yield results from start to finish Swindon
selected Solid Edge as the 3D CAD system because of the broad array of
functionalities it offers. Using Solid Edge, Swindon designs with insight to
create virtual prototypes of every component it manufactures. These 3D
models are combined into virtual assemblies, and the team can check for part
interferences. “Not only has design time been drastically reduced,” says
Gary Dunn. “But changes and development procedures can be achieved
efficiently and easily.” When a physical prototype is needed to verify
design functionality, the engineers at Swindon can quickly and easily spin
off data from the 3D model to create a rapid prototype. The team at Swindon
uses the 3D models created in Solid Edge in non-technical applications as
well. Digital models are used to keep Swindon’s customers happy by helping
them to better understand and visualize engine installations. And, in an
effort to support its customers’ marketing needs, Swindon leverages the
data from the 3D models to create detailed component images which can be
used for presentations to potential team sponsors. Pleased with the results
from using Solid Edge, Dunn knew he needed to add a CAM capability to
complete the development process transformation. After a thorough review of
high-end CAM systems, the company chose NX. “NX had all the functionality
of the other systems we reviewed,” says Sean O’Rafferty, production
manager at Swindon. “But NX offered more flexibility, meaning more ways to
accomplish a certain task, than any of the other software systems.” Since
the designers have daily deadlines they must meet to support product
development, easy implementation of the new CAM system was important. “There
is always a period of adjustment with any new software, but when compared to
the others, NX felt intuitive. We were impressed with the way it guides the
user around in a logical manner,” O’Rafferty adds. “And the
24-hour-a-day, worldwide customer support offered by UGS is second to none.”
Customer need accelerates realization of huge efficiency gains When
Swindon won a contract to modify cylinder heads in very high volumes, the
combination of Solid Edge and NX made it possible to dramatically increase
production capacity. The customer required 560 cylinder heads per month, yet
Swindon’s production rate at the time was only 20 heads a month. By
feeding Solid Edge CAD data directly into NX, it is possible to eliminate
the often inaccurate and time-consuming manual programming of the 5-axis
milling machine. Swindon’s 5-axis machine can begin cutting chips as soon
as the design data is received.
Swindon not only supported its customer’s quantity requirement but also
yielded a very impressive 2,800 percent increase in its cylinder head
production capacity! And this is true for even very complex designs. “If
the designers come up with a complicated design we want to translate into
the CAM environment, we’re able to do that now. We haven’t come across a
design that we haven’t been able to machine using NX.” One of the many
other facets of a Swindon engine that has contributed to its highoctane
reputation is the crankshaft it produces using materials commonly found in
aerospace products. Here too, Swindon uses Solid Edge and NX to transform
the digital development process by eliminating waste.
“The turning package in NX is outstanding,” says Dunn.
“It provides us with several different options for creating grooves
which allows us to work faster and eliminate a lot of downtime we previously
had in machining these components.”
Capitalizing on its dramatic increase in its production capacity, Swindon
is now recognized as the first engine design and manufacturing company to
mass-produce cylinder head conversions for the motor sports industry. Adding
that accomplishment to its recently announced winning of the contract to
manufacture the race car engines for Chevrolet’s entry into the 2005 FIA
World Touring Car Championship, it’s easy to see Swindon leading the field
for many years to come.
