Midas Pattern Company, a leading UK polyurethane RIM moulding company, has installed a Haas VF-11/40 machining centre, to replace an older machine, the 2002 Midas VF-4. It is now the company's largest CNC machine.
Weighing in at 15,150 kg and with a 7.2 metre long footprint, the Haas VF-11/40 has a machining envelope of 3m by 1m by 0.7m, and the company said the new investment will make short work of any new MRIM tooling requirement and help it to “keep pushing boundaries on polyurethane part size and complexity – an aspect we are already renowned for.”
It is one of only a few such machines in the south of England and will complement Midas’ other Haas machines, enabling the firm to manufacture more of its high quality polyurethane mouldings through its unique composite resin tooling system.
Midas are best known for producing very large polyurethane enclosures and housings up to three metres in size for the scientific and medical sectors. It has been trading for more than 30 years and employs 75 staff at its factory on the Elm Farm industrial estate in Bedford.
It agreed the deal to upgrade its machinery in April last year after Haas contacted managing director Alan Rance after a cancelled order by another client.
Rance said: “This latest investment will add valuable capacity to our company. It will help us react faster and push boundaries on scale and complexity within our niche manufacturing process.
“We feel proud to be one of only a handful of companies in the south of England able to invest and take delivery of such an enormous machine.”
Classified as a critical supplier, Midas has been working with companies producing ventilators, laboratory test equipment and developing the long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine.
It exports its mouldings to countries including the USA, China and Singapore, but most customers are based in the Oxford and Cambridge innovation arc, Rance said.
He added: “Even in challenging times, it is important to keep investing so when Haas contacted us with a cancelled order, we were keen to invest in our future and upgrade our oldest machine.
“We are proud to be a UK manufacturing company and this investment will ensure that we continue to support our customers and all the amazing new innovations designed here in the UK and beyond.”
