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Further Bridgeport Company History
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Bridgeport Horizontal Stub Miller

Further Bridgeport Company History and "Building a Bridgeport"

Bridgeport Series 1 CNC Miller (based on the standard machine)

Bridgeport Larger CNC Millers (Interact, APC, BPC)

Late Edition, Series 1 Ram-head Miller Catalogue

Computer-modelled Illustration

Textron Purchase and Expansion
In 1968 Textron, Inc., purchased Bridgeport Machines.
Forbes later declared that the purchase made Bridgeport an "early victim of conglomeration"; however, with the financial support and direction of its new parent company, Bridgeport soon made improvements to its product offerings . The machine tool industry is a cyclical one and, in the late 1960s, the industry was experiencing a slowdown. In an attempt to expand sales by diversifying its product mix, Bridgeport introduced a line of surface, abrasive, and toolroom grinders that became extremely successful. By 1970, Bridgeport had also introduced the Series II milling machine, a larger version of Bridgeport's original model, and the first NC (numerically controlled) Series I milling machine. In the 1970s, to further extend in inroads into the grinding machine market, Bridgeport purchased the Harig brand of surface grinders. Textron was also responsible for Bridgeport's first foray into the European market when it purchased Adcock & Shipley Ltd., a British manufacturing plant that was converted to build Bridgeport's machines. In 1986 the Adcock & Shipley's name was changed to Bridgeport Machines, Ltd.
Industry Boom
In 1971 demand for machine tools began to skyrocket, fuelled by the expanding commercial aerospace and defence industries and a shift among automobile manufacturers to front-wheel drives and four-cylinder engines. Bridgeport's slump was now over as it began scrambling to meet new demands. The company successfully filled its orders through 1973, but began to slip as demand outpaced supply. By 1974 the backlog at most manufacturers, including Bridgeport, grew as high as two years and in that year, Bridgeport instituted a five-year expansion plan, beginning with the addition of 100,000 square feet of production space in 1975. However, the company was still unable to make a dent in its two-year backlog, and its primary customers, small and mid-sized shops, were unable to wait that long.
Sensing an opportunity, Asian manufacturers entered the U.S. market in the late 1970s, selling standard machines, CNC lathes, and basic, uncustomized machining centres. Although the influx of Asian machines severely damaged many U.S. machine tool manufacturers, their effect on Bridgeport was less severe. The company continued as it always had, building on its reputation as a manufacturer of reliable, high quality machines. Asian manufacturers did, however, secure a foothold in the computer numerically controlled market and in 1978 Bridgeport responded by introducing a new computer numerically controlled milling machine that reduced programming time by up to 90 percent. Expansion continued through 1979 with the construction of a new 200,000-square-foot plant near the company's headquarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the purchase of two Midwest distributors, and the construction of a sales and service centre in the Chicago area.
From Boom to Recession
If the 1970s were challenging because of excessive demand for Bridgeport's machines, the 1980s were tumultuous. Just as Bridgeport had expanded to meet increasing demand, a recession hit the United States. Between 1981 and 1982, industry sales dropped by more than 60 percent from $5 billion to less than $2 billion. Although Textron did not release sales figures for its individual subsidiaries, analysts estimated Bridgeport's 1982 sales to have been slightly under $200 million. Textron's Machine Tool and Precision Bearing Group (of which Bridgeport is part) reported an $8 million loss for the year. In 1982 Bridgeport diversified its product line again through an agreement with Romi S.A. of Brazil to import Romi's standard engine lathe. In 1983 the Group posted a $16 million loss, but by 1984, the group was back in the black again, with an $11 million profit.
Also in the early 1980s, Bridgeport filed a claim with the United States International Trade Commission charging more than twenty Korean, Taiwanese, and U.S. machine tool builders with trademark and copyright infringements. Bridgeport pursued the case for over two years but in 1983 the International Trade Commission unanimously rejected Bridgeport's plea, although it did note that it found blatant copying of the company's promotional materials.
The company responded to the recession by again diversifying its product line and in 1984 purchased McWilliams Machinery Sales Inc., the exclusive U.S. distributor of Japax electrical discharge machines. The following year, Bridgeport entered into an agreement with a Japanese company, Yasuda Industry Co. Ltd., to market Yasuda's line of horizontal machining centres as part of a long-term strategy to move into the growing market for type of machine. 1984 sales were approximately $180 million, comfortably above 1983 figures but well below the company's peak of 1980. The increase was fuelled by sales of Bridgeport's new, high-tech machine tools and increased demands in the manufacturing segment of the economy.
Management Buyout
In 1985 Bridgeport's parent company, Textron, acquired a company called Avco Corp. To fund the acquisition, Textron offered Bridgeport and other subsidiaries at auction. As a result, Bridgeport senior management, led by Bridgeport Division president Joseph Clancy, joined with E. F. Hutton LBO Inc. to purchase a 67 percent stake in the company for $77 million. Clancy and his management team took a risk in their acquisition for, according to E. F. Hutton, the buyout was highly leveraged, and industry analysts felt the company faced "severe operational and competitive problems," and sales for the following year did not look entirely promising.
To compound the difficulty, Bridgeport's hourly workers unionized a few days after the buyout was finalized. A year later, when 220 workers went on strike for increased benefits, Bridgeport's management rolled up their sleeves and joined 128 temporary workers on the shop floor to keep production running. In addition, Clancy and his managers roamed the picket lines to talk informally with the workers and, finally, the workforce were persuaded to leave the Teamsters and returned to the shop as non-union employees.
Bridgeport then continued its investment in automated and computerized machines and in 1987 introduced EZ Draft computer-aided-design software - and also aligned its EZ-CAM with Apple Computers' macEZ-CAD, to create a team of inexpensive, easy-to-use CAD-CAM milling machines.
The economic recession of the late 1980s hit the company hard with sales droppingfrom $185 million in 1989 to $98 million in 1992. As most losses were due to the closing of customers' plants Bridfgeport responded by downsizing and restructuring its operational and financial organizations. In addition, they made an initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock on the NASDAQ exchange in November 1994, raising $12.9 million in the process.
The tide turned again in Bridgeport's favour that year, when the U.S. machinery market entered a boom. "U.S. factories are operating at 84 percent of capacity, their highest rate in more than five years," noted
Business Week. "After years of underinvestment, there's a pent-up demand for machinery." By the end of 1994, Bridgeport had a backlog of orders worth $44 million which, by the end of 1995, had increased to $75 million. In the fiscal year 1995 sales rose 39 percent to $148.8 million.
International Expansion
In 1994,  as a means of cushioning itself against the cyclical downturns of the U.S. market, Bridgeport began focusing on international expansion and entered into a joint venture to form P.T. Bridgeport Perkasa Machine Tools in Indonesia with the intention of increasing sales to the burgeoning Association of South-East Asian Nations.
By 1995, 35 percent of Bridgeport's sales were from international markets and, in that year, the company instituted an international expansion plan with a focus on Asia; business in China alone was expected to grow $10 to $20 million by the year 2000. Bridgeport directly targeted the Chinese market when it entered into a joint-venture/joint manufacturing agreement in 1995 with a long-time strategic partner, Chang Zheng Machine Tool Works. The new company, Chengdu Chang Zheng Bridgeport Machines Ltd., will build two of Bridgeport's "machining centers" for sale to Eastern Europe, North Korea, and China. In June 1995 Bridgeport's British subsidiary purchased a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Germany from Deckel Maho AG I.K. for $9.6 million. Production at that facility was used to meet Bridgeport's $44 million backlog in Europe. In the United States, Bridgeport purchased a 19.5 percent share of Engineering Geometry Systems and entered into a strategic alliance agreement with them to jointly develop and market technology for use in the computer-aided-manufacturing market.
Machine-tool orders continued their record-setting climb in 1996. Fiscal year sales rose by 40 percent to $209.2 million, helped by a 110 percent increase in machining centre and a 27 percent increase in Bridgeport-Romi lathes sales.
Bridgeport Machines has proved to be a resilient player in the competitive machine tool market. Having responded well to many industry downturns, the company finds itself in a secure position with a diversified product line and a broadening customer base. Although its joint ventures in China and Malaysia have yet to commence production as of 1996, Bridgeport continues to increase its foreign market presence and is in a strong position for continued, steady growth.
Principal Subsidiaries: Bridgeport Machines, Ltd.; Chengdu Chang Zheng Bridgeport Machines Ltd.; P.T. Bridgeport Perkasa Machine Tools..


The Building of a Bridgeport Milling Machine

Published 2000
It's a Lot More Than producing a Simple Knee Mill.
A couple of years back, four Bridgeport machines were heavily damaged when they were dropped off a railcar in China. When the machines finally made it to their final destination, plant engineers removed the covers and checked the geometries of the machines. All were within tolerance. "I think that speaks a lot about our ability to make and build iron," says Bing Benson, Bridgeport VMC assembly manager.
While building its somewhat indestructible machines, however, Bridgeport Machines Inc., Bridgeport, Conn., faces two distinct challenges. On one hand, the company produces a commodity product that requires dedicated machinery and hours of hand work. But it also makes a lower-volume product line in batches using flexible machining systems.
The plant builds 1,800 Series I knee mills annually. Throw in another 700 EZTrak mills, and the company produces about 2,500 machines a year. In the same time frame, the company makes approximately 370 VMCs.
These lines are machined side-by-side, then assembled in different areas.
Many of Bridgeport's process improvements over the last year or so have focused on its knee-mill production. Bridgeport's first production step is spraying a 0.030-in.-thick filler on the knee mill's major cast iron components -- the column, knee, ram, turret, and J housing for the head -- to smooth out surface imperfections. The company then paints the components with the first part of two-part polyurethane coating to seal the castings.
"Painting before machining lets us build the depth of gloss that we want on our finished paint job," says Leon Tyrrell, group manager of standard products and EZTrak assembly. It is also more economical, cutting down on both the hazardous waste and a significant amount of labor time. "We used solvents to remove cutting oils from our components, then applied masking tape to all machine surfaces," remembers Tyrrell. "After painting, we had to remove and dispose of the masking tape with paint on it." Now, the company removes the paint in the machining process, so there is no need to mask or clean surfaces.
Painting before machining also minimizes problems in the assembly area. "We would build a machine and find geometries out of tolerance," recalls Tyrrell. "You would tear it apart and find 0.0002 in. of gummy residue from the masking tape ruining the tolerance. We've eliminated that problem."
Subsequent to painting, the castings are processed through a variety of large machining centers, primarily horizontal systems with two to eight pallets. As much as possible, Bridgeport uses its own standard products in the machine shop. However, the company has also built a few one-of-a-kind Bridgeport designs for certain operations. For instance, one such machine, built on the carcass of an old Kearney & Trecker horizontal machining center, makes T-slots for the Series I tables. This operation would normally require several conventional machining centers. Obviously, the machine is a crucial part of the company's Series I table cell.
Cell production is one way Bridgeport has improved operating efficiency over the past couple of years. In the table cell, for instance, tables travel only 8 or 10 feet for all operations but finish grinding. Finish grinding is not done in the cell, reports Bob Crossman, machine shop manager, only because machine vibration would have caused finishing problems.
The Series I ram also is made in its own cell, where it first goes through a milling operation to put on the 50° dovetails, then through a grinding operation. Another example is the cell where the 2J housing for both the Series I and II heads is made. In this case, the cell is comprised of six 5-pallet Yasda horizontal machining centers configured to run lights out for up to 12 hours.
The purpose of these cell configurations are two-fold, says Cross-man. First, they cut down on the time parts travel across the shop floor. And in doing that, the cells have slashed work-in-process (WIP) dramatically.
The cells also let Bridgeport use a Kanban system in its operations. As Ed O'Doy, vice president of manufacturing and operations, describes it: "Kanban is a concept put together by the Japanese in the Toyoda production system. Basically, you use visual aids to tell you when product needs to be made." The Kanban system, in fact, tailors nicely into Bridgeport's philosophy of continuous improvement. "It highlights the area where work needs to be accomplished, and if work is not needed, then personnel are assigned to other areas," says O'Doy. "That way, we don't build up a lot of inventory sitting around on the floor. We are trying to get away from batch-type production and into one-piece, flow-type production."
One area where the Kanban concept has helped production involves the leadscrews in the knee mills. At one time, leadscrews were produced in an area far from the assembly line. Now, they are machined in a cell adjacent to the area. This lets a machinist tell just by looking at a rack that he needs to make more leadscrews.
"At one time, work orders were on paper, and you would work to whatever amount the paper said," says Tyrrell. "Frequently, we would produce a 200-piece batch, then find it wasn't needed." By having the leadscrew racks and production next to the assembly area, Bridgeport reduced batch sizes from a couple of hundred pieces to just fifty. It also reduced WIP from over 2,000 pieces of bar-stock to approximately 400 pieces. "And that accommodates three or four different product lines and spare parts," adds Tyrrell.
Kanban also streamlined production in the quill cell, where all Series I and II quills are made. About two years ago, the company measured how far the quill traveled from where it was delivered as barstock to where it was handed off to the assembly line. The quill traveled about 1,700 feet, stopping for at least 20 operations.
To shorten that journey and reduce operations, the company configured two lathes, a manual horizontal machine, a Bridgeport VMC, a boring mill, and a grinder into what is now the quill cell. As a result, quills travel only 20 ft, and WIP has been slashed from roughly 1,700 pieces to 140. "Be-cause there is such a demand for quills, we used to do them in batches, which would literally queue up at each operation," says Crossman. "Just to keep the flow of parts moving, we would stack parts in front of every station."
The feel of a Bridgeport
After machining, Bridgeport components move into the hand-scraping department. The company believes that hand scraping is what gives its machines a distinctive feel. "As far as the Series I and II machines go, it's tough to describe it with words," says Crossman. "The only way to experience it is to grab the handles on the Bridgeport and feel the tolerances, the tightness, the quality of the machine. That sounds like hype, but it isn't."
Bridgeport hand scrapes bearing surfaces on all the mating surfaces of the iron -- on the back of the knee, the dovetails, the saddle, and the gibs -- to provide a customized, surface-to-surface fit. Surfaces are scraped to tolerances ranging from 0 to 0.0002 in.
Scrapers can spend hours working on components, such as the gibs, until the fit and tightness between the mating surfaces is up to par. "For the gibs, they want less than 0.0008-in. total rock, and between two readings, no more than 0.0002 in. of difference in the looseness of the machine," reports Tyrrell.
On the Series I machines, the department spends 8 hr hand scraping individual part details and matching components. Series II machines take 29 1 / 2 hr. At one time, scraping operations on the Series II took longer, but Bridgeport eliminated a couple of operations to shave some time off the process. "We identified areas where it's not as critical that they be done by hand scraping, and we now machine them," Tyrrell explains.
Once scraping is completed, Bridgeport puts the same serial number on matching parts. That way, when parts move into assembly and are taken apart for cleaning, assemblers have the serial numbers to maintain the match.
Off to assembly
After the assembly department disassembles major components to clean, it puts in leadscrews, brackets, handles, and heads. All the while, assemblers are checking machine geometries.
The idea, says Tyrrell, is to catch problems as a machine is going through the line. Inspection takes place before, during, and after each step of the manufacturing process, from machining through scraping and assembly. Although it may sound like a lot of unnecessary work, the company says inspecting parts along the way has eliminated rework and repair time and kept work flowing smoothly.
Among the checks done in the assembly area are those on the head and quill. On the head assembly, for instance, Bridgeport checks vibration, noise, and engagement of clutches in forward and reverse gears. It also makes sure that the downfeed on the machines is up to spec.
When the machine shop delivers the quills from finish grinding, assemblers fit the quill to the quill housing and assembly, maintaining no more than 0.0002 to 0.0004-in. fit between the quill and the housing. Once the quill is assembled and built onto the machine, the assembly department ensures that the runout is no more than 0.0002 in. of the quill in the housing and no more than 0.0005 in. when the quill is extended.
"Fit is everything," according to Andy McNamara, product manager for the company's VMC line. "Other companies do not hand lap or fit the quills to the degree that we do. Their quills might be cylindrically ground to size and then fit into a generic component that is bored to size.
"Many other mills fail," says McNamara, "where the quill and the quill housing come into contact. That's where the side cutting loads show up when you're machining and why quills bind up or machines start vibrating soon after you buy them. A good fit makes the machine more rigid and gives you longevity and accuracy."
After the final inspection, the painting department sands and masks the machines. It then sprays on a second coat of polyurethane to give the mills a glossy finish.
Over to the VMCs
Although Bridgeport makes far fewer VMCs than it does knee mills, production is just as involved. As with the knee mills, XV-Series VMCs start as cast iron components. The company doesn't use weldments, believing that cast iron gives better rigidity and vibrationdampening characteristics.
As with its knee-mill operations, Bridgeport has streamlined machining for its VMC components. The company produces all major components in batches, with two exceptions: the VMC column and head.
The column is the only major component that is common across the Bridgeport VMC line. Because of the quantity needed, the company makes them on a Bridgeport Portal machine, a bridge-style mill produced in the company's Leicester, England, facility.
Heads, too, are done on one machine, a Yasda 120 HMC. This system has helped Bridgeport cut out a grinding operation and combine six other operations. "At one point, we would grind the heads," says Crossman, "and now we do them on the HMC. We combine six operations across three pallets, and we take the finished parts out of the machine and straight to assembly."
The combined operations include roughing the bottom, which mounts to the column; roughing the quill bore; drilling the bottom and the quill-cartridge area; and finishing the bottom, the bore and the quill/spindle cartridge, and the mounting surface for the spindle cartridge.
Bridgeport uses a flexible Okuma VMC to machine the VMC bases, saddles, and, if necessary, columns. "We've been able to accomplish 0.0004-in. linear on that machine, which lets us produce the parts and ship them directly to the assembly line with no grinding," says Crossman.
Although Bridgeport has eliminated many grinding steps, it does grind its table tops. "We're the only company doing that," says McNamara. It grinds not only for aesthetic reasons but also to erase mill lines. "With mill lines, you pick up ripples when you indicate across, for instance, or you put vises or fixturings down," explains McNamara. "It will never be as flat, especially in overlapped areas." Mill marks can also adversely affect indicator results while commissioning the machine. At machine startup, tram and level are key factors in obtaining accurate results when machining.
Assembling the VMCs
Following machining, components go directly to the assembly department, where machines are built in place. Unlike the knee mill products, the VMCs do not stop in the scraping area. Any scraping needed is done during assembly.
The first step in the assembly process has assemblers laying out the base, leveling it to within 0.0004 in., and installing linear guides and ballscrews. They then check the machine for parallelism and height.
The XV-Series uses large-diameter ballscrews, double-anchored with axial thrust bearings, so the machine can handle high cutting loads and reach high acceleration and rapid traverse rates with little heat and wear.
The saddle is the next component to be installed. Saddles are pre-built, pre-tested, and prelubed to ensure that there are no leaks and that all lines are in their proper locations. After installing the saddle on the machine, the assemblers tie the ballscrews into the saddle and hook up all the oil lines in the proper locations.
Unlike the knee-mill components, the iron making up the VMCs is not serialized, so Bridgeport can mix-and-match parts. "The tight tolerances held in the machine shop let us put any saddle on any base, any table on any machine, any column on any head," remarks VMC assembly manager Benson.
His group builds the VMC's table separately from the base. Assemblers check the table for accuracy and hand scrape all the brackets necessary to "tickle them in," as Benson describes the minor scraping needed to get a 0.0004-in. overall tolerance.
The table is then mounted on the machine and checked for geometry from front-to-back and side-to-side -- less than 0.0005 in. on all checks. Once the assemblers establish the geometry of a table, they re-level the table again by putting the head column assembly on the base and take all the geometry readings again. At this point, they remove the head column and hand scrape the base to ensure a solid fit with no room for movement. "It is the only way to get the tolerances and stability that we need for a Bridgeport product," states Benson. "We don't resort to shims."
Once the head column is set, assemblers install and check the spindle, taking a 12-in., circular sweep off the table to check what should be less than a 0.001-in. reading. If necessary, they scrape the bottom of the head casting, not the spindle casting. Doing this lets users change cartridge spindles in the field, without scraping them first. "Just spindle-out, spindle-in, touch-and-go, and you're on your way," says Benson.
After the assemblers lock down the geometries on the iron, they add accessories and configure the machine to the customer order. "Then we put the machine on an overnight cycle," Benson says. "After the cycle is completed, we do a quick geometry check to make sure nothing has moved -- and all tolerances are 0.0005 in. or less on all axes, so that doesn't leave you much room for error."
At this point, the machine is turned over to quality control, which spends five hours doing laser and ballbar testing. After the machine checks out, it is returned to the assemblers, who pin all axes. "We have pins in all our brackets to ensure that no ballscrews can move and there are no alignment problems," says Benson. "If you ever have to change anything in the field, everything is pinned for you." Finally, the department installs all covers and perimeter guards and finishes with a series of safety, sound, and other checks..




High-quality Handbooks, Parts Lists and Spares are available
for most Bridgeport machines

Bridgeport Home Page

Bridgeport Vertical Heads & Attachments

Original Bridgeport Round-ram Model

Bridgeport Accessories   

The Bridgeport Miller at Work

Vertical Attachments by Halco and Kerney & Trecker (Dalrae)

Bridgeport Table Power-feed Units   

Bridgeport Serial Numbers

Bridgeport Horizontal Stub Miller

Further Bridgeport Company History and "Building a Bridgeport"

Bridgeport Series 1 CNC Miller (based on the standard machine)

Bridgeport Larger CNC Millers (Interact, APC, BPC)

Late Edition, Series 1 Ram-head Miller Catalogue


Computer-modelled Illustration

Further Bridgeport Company History
and Building a Bridgeport
email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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