Halesowen based Erodex Group has announced the 100% acquisition of Toolmaker Supplies Limited (TMS) in a move that further strengthens its’ position as the UK market leader for EDM wire, wear parts and consumables.
Founded in 2002, Toolmaker Supplies Limited was an independent stockist and supplier of Wire EDM Spare Parts and Consumables in the UK.
The business is now trading under the Erodex brand and operating from the Erodex UK HQ in Halesowen.
Several sales personnel from TMS have joined the Erodex team and will continue to support TMS’ customers with their EDM product requirements.
The move also makes the Erodex Group the largest distributor of all brass and coated EDM wires in the UK, as well as the largest distributor of wear parts for all EDM machine makes.
Erodex has enjoyed a strong working relationship with manufacturers, Bedra (Berkenhoff) for many years, introducing many next generation coated wire products to the UK under exclusive agreements.
This includes the 2019 launch of the fastest EDM speed wire available in the UK, gapstar ONE and subsequently in 2020 Betterbrass, the world’s fastest brass wire.
Erodex are uniquely positioned to provide the UK’s most comprehensive range of EDM wire for all Wire EDM needs and for any application. Erodex engineers work closely with customers to ensure optimum performance is achieved.
Erodex Director Steve Rolinson comments: “Erodex are delighted to have acquired TMS to further strengthen our position as market leader in the UK for EDM wire, wear parts and consumables.
“Like Erodex, TMS had developed a strong reputation over many years for the quality of its service and breadth of product range servicing the EDM industry. This level of synergy with our core values ensured that acquiring the trade and assets of the company made complete sense and has ensured for a swift integration”.
Erodex Group of Companies acquires the trade and assets of Toolmaker Supplies Limited (TMS)
The Erodex Group of Companies is pleased to announce that it has acquired the entire trade and assets of Toolmaker Supplies Limited (Company number 04351771).
The transaction was completed on 9th December 2021. The business will continue to trade under the Erodex brand and will operate from the Erodex Halesowen site.
TMS has developed a strong reputation over many years for the quality of its service and the breadth of its product range servicing the EDM industry. As an industry-leading supplier, Erodex will continue to support TMS’ customers and will assist them in meeting all their EDM product requirements.
Customers will continue to be offered the TMS range of products and will also benefit from the extensive EDM product range and customer service provided by Erodex.
Sales personnel from TMS will join the Erodex team and continue supporting and developing their existing customer relationships.
Erodex UK are seeking an international partner capable of taking their new turbine blade & NGV inspection innovation Valid8 to market on a global scale.
Valid8, developed in house by Erodex engineers, is a ground breaking automated solution which will speed up the process of checking cooling hole geometry on turbine blades and NGV’s within the Aerospace and IGT industries.
At present, this is a long winded, manual process involving gauging and visual inspection from human operators. Because this also involves the inspection of a high volume of components the slow pace causes a bottle neck, which has existed within the industry for a long time.
To date, the industry has successfully speeded up the production of turbine blade and NGV’s, with optimization of grinding processes, EDM processes and the casting process -all except for the checking of the final product.
Erodex UK Director Steve Rolinson comments: From our conversations within both the IGT and Aerospace industries, we knew that this process needed to be speeded up to reduce the inspection backlogs – and our creation of Valid8 was in direct response to that.
“Rather than using an off the shelf piece of kit, something needed developing that was very specific to that problem. Valid8 combines robots, lights and software with the result being a very quick and accurate system to inspect cooling hole geometry”.
Valid8 successfully and repeatably inspects the geometry of the cooling hole and can also determine whether the hole is blocked or partially blocked.
“Valid8 can check the area of the cooling hole, as well as the maximum, mean and minimum diameter measurements. Traditionally these features would be checked with pin gauges, a laborious process that is also open to human error. Valid8 also outputs a digital pin gauge comparison for customers that want to align the test with their current methods. Our machine has been validated by the National Physical Laboratory” adds Rolinson.
As development of Valid8 progressed, Erodex became aware of many other inspection problems within the aerospace and IGT industries, such as measuring NGV seal slots – and sought to have Valdi8 solve these issues.
As a result, Valid8 can very quickly take a measurement of an NGV seal slot. Compared to a CMM inspection, which takes for example 20 minutes, Valid8 can inspect within 5 minutes. As well as position, it can measure the depth and form of the seal slot using laser technology.
Rolinson continues: “Not only is this a massive time saver, but all results and every detail of the inspection can be stored in the cloud, ensuring full traceability. Inspections results are stored by part number, serial number and are time/date stamped. The machine is capable of reading data matrix code to capture component serial numbers within the automated process.
“Users can also look at assessing the condition of turbine blade / NGV ceramic coatings to determine pass or fail. The coating check uses visual recognition, where we have trained the machine to recognise what a good part should look like and then using various parameters such as measuring reflection of light, we can determine whether it fits within our pass/ fail criteria. The machine remains intuitive, so new conditions can be added to the library of pass / fail conditions for the life of the product”.
“We have also identified further uses of the machine, which with the right partner with the right knowledge we would also be able to move forward with”.
Valid8 is patented technology and now the search begins to identify a global partner to take this to market.
Rolinson concludes: “Erodex are first and foremost a distributor and a manufacturer of fast-moving products. Whilst we recognised a clear need and developed the technology to fulfil it, we are not a machine tool capital equipment company and are therefore not able to globally market such a product”.
“We are looking for a partner that as well as taking Valid8 to market under a licensing agreement, has the global structure to maintain and service when and where required”.
“To date, everybody that has seen Valid8 in operation has said that it is a game changer for the industry. Our aim now is to partner up with a company that can take this product worldwide, enabling various Aerospace and Industrial Gas Turbine companies to benefit from the technology”.
Erodex are actively seeking interested parties to make contact and visit their UK headquarters in Halesowen, West Midlands to see Valid8 in operation first-hand and discuss further commercial opportunities.
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