Read Industrial is a four-generation family-owned and operated business started by Noel Read’s grandfather Jack in Papanui, Christchurch in 1922. His father Leo moved the operation to Rangiora in 1965. Noel worked for his father from 1959, and three of his children, Steve, Philip and Tania, the fourth generation, are now involved in managing the operations of the six-acre facility in Rangiora.

After Leo died in 1995, Noel and his children reviewed the company’s machining operations. They were looking to increase machining capacity of the castings they were manufacturing for their “Read “branded milking machines and irrigation components. “Up till then we’ve been doing our machining on Capstan lathes,” Noel recollects. “So we made enquiries on how we can improve it.”

An Okuma agent came over to consult with them and suggested the Okuma LB-15 CNC Lathe.

“Initially we were not sure if we were to go for a full CNC machine,” says Steve, who was then 19. “It was a big step for us. Did we want to go for full CNC or partial CNC? We had to make that decision. Okuma advised us to get right into it in one step. We have no regrets that we did.”

When the LB-15 came in 1996, Steve and Philip trained on it.

“Within 12 months or so that machine was doing the work of five people on a conventional machine,” Steve says. “It was putting the products through that we needed – consistent, accurate and relatively easy to programme for us.”

After about three years, Read Industrial realised how reliant it was on the LB-15 and became conscious that if for whatever reason it had a problem, there was no backup.

“That’s when we looked at the second machine, the LB-400 CNC Lathe. Similar specs, but with bigger capacity,” Noel says.

The LB-400 CNC Lathe, delivered in 1999, gave Read Industrial the security of a backup and higher capacity, and ability to work on bigger components.

“We set the two machines up so that only one operator worked on them. He would load the first and when it was running, load the second. He was doing the work of at least 10 people on conventional machines. He even had spare time and would drill and tap castings on a drilling machine,” Steve says. “We still do the same up to now.”

The need to modernise tooling for the milking machines and irrigation products drove Read Industrial to look for another machine. After Noel and Steve showed the products that they wanted to produce to Okuma, they were steered towards the MB-56VA CNC Machining Center.

In 2004, there was not a single MB-56 in New Zealand, so Noel and Steve flew with the Okuma agent to the Okuma factory in Nagoya.

“We saw them building these MB-56 machines and we were very impressed,” recalls Steve. “So much so that we sorted out our specifications there and then and placed the order for our third Okuma.” To get the MB-56 in, a section of the roof on one of the buildings had to be taken out. With the MB-56 in place, Read Industrial started to take on outside work and expand its product range.

“That is a great machine. The first in the country, I believe,” Steve says. “The work that it can get through was just phenomenal. It certainly mechanised and sped up our own manufacturing and opened up some opportunities for a bit of outside work.”

During this period, Read Industrial was doing more die casting in its foundry. “That meant we could machine all our dies for the foundry. We can design our own dies and program and machine them all in-house. We have full control over our dies.” Two years ago, Read Industrial started investment casting for stainless steel, and machined its wax tools on the MB-56”.

In 2008, Read Industrial evaluated its processes and noticed “a bit of a delay” in the processing of some components. “There may be two lathe operations and then a milling operation on the machining centre, so we started talking to Okuma again. They had us look at a Multus here in New Zealand and we realised that it could be of benefit to us,” Noel says.

“We could put castings or a bar on the Multus and we could do turning work or milling work on it and the product would come out of it finished. We would not have to transfer the products from one machine to another. We would not run a batch through on a first op, run a batch through on a second op and get the finish on the third op.”

So Read Industrial bought a Multus with a sub-spindle – and took out a part of its roof for the second time.

“We can machine the first op on the casting and then transfer the casting onto the sub-spindle and machine all the back detail. The other thing we use it for is we put a bar in it and use the sub -spindle for pulling the bar out or we park the bar between the two spindles so we can work the back face. It is quite a universal machine,” Steve says.

“At the moment we are still putting new jobs onto that machine, and improving our manufacturing processes.”

In mid 2012, Noel and Steve saw how much work was being fed to the MB-56 and again realised how reliant they were on it. They were building up their investment casting capability and that was adding to the pressure. They needed a lot of tooling for their own products and there were interests from outside as well.

“We typically only run the machine shop eight to 10 hours a day. But when we put a die onto our machine it can sit there and run for more than 40 hours unattended,” Steve says. They thought of how they can ease the pressure, and again started talking to Okuma. Their options were to get another MB-56 or one with greater capabilities that is also suitable for die works.

Just before Christmas 2012 they flew to Melbourne and saw two MU-500s running. “As soon as we saw one, we realised that a lot of the work that we were doing could go straight into it. We could rotate the pieces to get different faces on it, put fixtures to hold more articles or do tombstone setups. Plus it would give us a lot more flexibility to machine dies, further improve our processes, produce more components for our expanding market and have a backup for the MB-56,” Noel says. “We came home and then placed the order shortly afterwards.”

The MU-500 arrived in September 2013 and is now on test production runs.

Gearing up for the future

Read Industrial’s milking machines and irrigation components are continually upgraded. It is also developing other new products, especially now that it can melt up to 300 kilos of stainless steel in its foundry.

“We probably have half a dozen new ideas going at the moment,” says Steve. “We have not advertised the fact that we are an investment foundry because we know that if people came we just could not handle it. Now we could get into that gradually.”

Read Industrial’s milking machine market is expanding. Apart from the North and South Island, it has several installations in Australia, the United States and Canada and one each in Indonesia and Fiji. “Early next year we will be installing one in Hawaii, and components are being shipped for another order in Canada,” Noel says.

“We have never had any breakdown on any of the machines, except to replace the monochrome monitor of the oldest with a colour LCD screen. They are good, reliable accurate machines."

“We are very happy with Okuma. The service has been good and we have no reasons to look elsewhere at the moment.”