NEWS FROM WESTIN DRIVES

​We are looking to recruit a well-motivated and enthusiastic multi-skilled CNC Operative - Programmer to join our team at the earliest opportunity.

The applicant should be looking to establish a long term career with an expanding business, in excellent working conditions, as part of a growing team. 

Our well-established business specialises in designing and manufacturing high quality engineering components for a broad range of industries. 

Our mission is to deliver an exceptional, precision machining service to clients and continue to expand our machining facilities. 

The successful applicant will programme and operate our machines, particularly CNC equipment. Please find more details here.

The machining capability at Westin Drives has been enhanced by the arrival of a CNC lathe. With a little help from our team, it was delivered to our precision engineering department.

The benefits to customers of this sophisticated machine include:

• Exceptional accuracy
• Consistency
• Faster turnaround of jobs
• Lower production costs
• Increased volume
• Greater flexibility in manufacture

The provision of CAD software on the lathe allows our engineers to design bespoke components for customers or to import their files in DXF format. After the completion of a job, files can be stored for repeat work.

It also means that a particular design can be manufactured tens, hundreds or thousands of times – and each finished product will be identical. 

Matt Phillips, our machine shop supervisor said: "We are pleased that this new extension of our capability offers significant benefits to established and potential customers."

​When a 57-tooth triplex sprocket failed on a conveyor belt at a Yorkshire quarry, the company turned to the precision engineering department at Westin Drives for a solution.

The worn sprocket was no longer obtainable so our machine shop supervisor Matt Phillips, right, set about making a new component from scratch. Manufacturing bespoke components is one of our specialities.

Detailed calculations were made to establish the optimum curve of the 57 teeth to ensure their durability. The triplex sprocket was then turned on a  lathe before being cut on a CNC milling machine in a project that took three days from start to finish.

To give our customers the best electric motor rewind service, Westin Drives has invested in a portable, 12kV surge tester. 

This sophisticated device is employed to diagnose problems with motor windings that arrive for repair at our Huddersfield Service Centre. It is also used for the final check on all finished jobs before they are returned to the customer.

Surge tests are vital because they are capable of revealing turn-to-turn insulation weaknesses. Such weaknesses, found at voltages above the operating potential of the device under test, can be signs of the impending failure of a motor. Surge tests are also used to find shorts and other faults in windings and coils.

An added benefit is that it can be taken on site for the swift diagnosis of a problem or trending the condition of a winding over time as part of a predictive maintenance plan.

In addition, the surge tester generates a comprehensive report on the state of each tested winding, which is then provided to the customer.

​We are delighted to announced that Westin Drives has achieved the British Standards ISO 9001: 2015 certification.

This is an internationally recognised benchmark for quality within an organisation.

The accreditation ensures suppliers and customers can have confidence in knowing that our company consistently meets the high standards set out by the International Organisation for Standardisation.

In short, it means:

• We put our customers first, making sure we consistently meet their needs. 
• We work in a more efficient way, as our processes are aligned and understood by everyone in the business.
• We meet the necessary statutory and regulatory requirements.

Service Manager Michael Limb, above, says: "This is good news for everyone because it will help us to continually improve our operations and enhance customer satisfaction.”

The refurbishment of Grove Works, the 19th century former textile mill in which Westin Drives is based, has won a design award.

Huddersfield Civic Society said that the five-storey, stone-built mill was undergoing ‘a remarkable transformation to create a productive working unit’ .

At a ceremony in Huddersfield Town Hall, a plaque to mark the award was given to John Eastwood, chairman of the Westin Group, and Ivan Moorhouse, who led the refurbishment project.

The judges described Grove Works as a distinctive structure along an otherwise nondescript section of St Andrew’s Road. 'Great effort and costs have gone into removing unsightly outbuildings, dealing with an extensive sump of below surface water and creating a functional modern extension,’ they said.

‘Stonework, windows and doors have been refurbished providing a much-improved entrance. These improvements constitute phase one of a programme that will take many years to fully realise but demonstrate the value of retaining and improving buildings for productive use and employment.’

The mill housed part of the spinner and weaver, T and H Blamires, for nearly 100 years until the business was wound up in 1961. It was subsequently occupied by a yarn spinner, Z Hinchliffe, until that firm moved its operation elsewhere.

A fault on a textile mill machine has led to improved efficiency for a West Yorkshire company.

​An engineer from Westin Drives was called out to the mill because of a problem with the drive system of a warping machine. 

​Its 45 year-old, oil-filled, variable-speed drive had ground to a halt during busy production.

The unit was removed for repair but our electrical engineer Barrie Harkness suggested an upgrade to the customer – which was accepted.

It was pointed out that this would enable production speed to be increased, so a target value of 50% additional output was established.

Using a WEG inverter, WEG motor and Motovario gearbox from stock, the machine was up and running in record time, with new sprockets replacing the worn originals.

The project also proved worthwhile for saving energy, as the old system ran continuously whether the machine was actually producing or not.

The new system retrofit only runs when required and at an optimum speed to match requirements.

Businesses in Yorkshire and beyond have known Westin Drives for nearly a century as a stockist, repairer and rewinder of electric motors. 

More recently we have built a reputation as a designer and installer of electrical control systems.

We are also becoming known for the quality of work from our CNC precision engineering department which opened last year.

To keep customers up to date with the breadth of our services, we have produced a leaflet featuring the work of Matt Phillips and his team of precision engineers.

So if your business requires a component to be manufactured or repaired, please get in touch and we will strive to reward you with a first-class job.

The great-grandson of the founder of Westin Drives visited us last week to see what his family had started nearly 100 years ago as an electric motor repair business.

Jorge Westin-Pearson, of Pearson Brothers, a high-quality engravers based in Halifax, was doing some marketing work when he came across our company and decided to get in touch.

He is the great grandson of Walter Stanley Westin, and the grandson of Walter's late son, Cyril, also a past employee at our firm, then named W S Westin.

We were delighted to welcome back this young member of the Westin family, and Jorge was impressed by his great grandfather's legacy.

"It was amazing," he said. "I had never visited the business before and I was really impressed at how they took the time to show me round."

Jorge was able to have a chat with Tony, our resident veteran, who has been with us for 45 years and who remembers Walter struggling to get in and out of his bright orange Rover. Tony was also able to tell Jorge other things he had not heard about Walter and Cyril.

We're sure Walter and Cyril would be proud to know of this connection to Westin nearly 100 years on – and we plan to keep the name of Westin alive for many more years in their memory.