Hello Gents,
I thought some of you may be interested (if only a little bit) as to where I used to work, the machine I used to use there and the end product!
The machine is a Swiss made m/c called a Studer S30 LeanPro. Three spindle, three axis grinder, and cost new around £350.000. They also produce grinders that can do polygons, threadgrind, sing, fart and dance, etc and can go up to 6 or 7 axis, specially ordered though and very big bucks! These m/c's are, like the Swiss reputation for their clocks and cow bells extremely accurate, holding a micron in the right conditions is not a problem though a pain in the a*se. The base's of all these are made out of a compound called Graniton - crushed granite and some other stuff which they don't/won't specify but are not affected by temperature changes. The rest of the machine can be affected but they won't tell you that. Crafty s*ds.
Other m/c's include Mikron (or Micron, can't remember which spelling), again Swiss, Mazak (Japanese), of which these both makes are up to 7 axis each and are hypnotic to watch, and a couple of French linear driven machines - £1.000.000 each - which mostly spend their time waiting for a technition to put right.
The factory (McLaren) can be seen at www.mclaren technology centre.com and was built at a price of around £600.000.000.
Yep, that's over half a billion pounds!!
A couple of examples as to where some of the money was spent; the two lower floors where the machinery, inspection, storage, car builds,test area, etc are all layed in Italian made tiles, the restuarant serves up to a thousand covers during the day looking over a scenic lake, the top floor carpeted and themed to keep the pen-pushers happy.
For the energenic (not this pot-bellied old git), there is a fully kitted gym with an infinity pool.
There are over 10 thousand trees planted in the grounds, the entire place is air conned to 20+/-1 degrees, the wind tunnel alone cost in excess of £50.000.000, the grounds are now registered as an SSSI because of the care taken when building and landscaping the place.
I think that a few mill went on backhanders so as to enable it to be build on a greensite but hey, that's just my cynical side!
The car that's jacked up was the one that Lewis Hamilton won the championship in. Price of one of these? How long is a piece of string??
The other pic has me in it third from left as you are looking at it.
I left this place at the end of 2010 and couldn't get out quick enough. Why? Well, that's another story I might tell at another time. Lets just say that I am happier in my shed/shop then I was for the last couple of years at Mc.
BUT as needs dictate I am going for an interview tomorrow for another job, seven month's now since leaving and I am getting excited about it.
Best regards,
Ron.
I thought some of you may be interested (if only a little bit) as to where I used to work, the machine I used to use there and the end product!
The machine is a Swiss made m/c called a Studer S30 LeanPro. Three spindle, three axis grinder, and cost new around £350.000. They also produce grinders that can do polygons, threadgrind, sing, fart and dance, etc and can go up to 6 or 7 axis, specially ordered though and very big bucks! These m/c's are, like the Swiss reputation for their clocks and cow bells extremely accurate, holding a micron in the right conditions is not a problem though a pain in the a*se. The base's of all these are made out of a compound called Graniton - crushed granite and some other stuff which they don't/won't specify but are not affected by temperature changes. The rest of the machine can be affected but they won't tell you that. Crafty s*ds.
Other m/c's include Mikron (or Micron, can't remember which spelling), again Swiss, Mazak (Japanese), of which these both makes are up to 7 axis each and are hypnotic to watch, and a couple of French linear driven machines - £1.000.000 each - which mostly spend their time waiting for a technition to put right.
The factory (McLaren) can be seen at www.mclaren technology centre.com and was built at a price of around £600.000.000.
Yep, that's over half a billion pounds!!
A couple of examples as to where some of the money was spent; the two lower floors where the machinery, inspection, storage, car builds,test area, etc are all layed in Italian made tiles, the restuarant serves up to a thousand covers during the day looking over a scenic lake, the top floor carpeted and themed to keep the pen-pushers happy.
For the energenic (not this pot-bellied old git), there is a fully kitted gym with an infinity pool.
There are over 10 thousand trees planted in the grounds, the entire place is air conned to 20+/-1 degrees, the wind tunnel alone cost in excess of £50.000.000, the grounds are now registered as an SSSI because of the care taken when building and landscaping the place.
I think that a few mill went on backhanders so as to enable it to be build on a greensite but hey, that's just my cynical side!
The car that's jacked up was the one that Lewis Hamilton won the championship in. Price of one of these? How long is a piece of string??
The other pic has me in it third from left as you are looking at it.
I left this place at the end of 2010 and couldn't get out quick enough. Why? Well, that's another story I might tell at another time. Lets just say that I am happier in my shed/shop then I was for the last couple of years at Mc.
BUT as needs dictate I am going for an interview tomorrow for another job, seven month's now since leaving and I am getting excited about it.
Best regards,
Ron.
