- Build-to-print work: the plant cuts to your design and reports against your drawing.
- 6,800 m² across two buildings in Hengli Town, Dongguan — production, inspection, and engineering under one roof.
- Mill-turn: Round parts that also need milled flats, cross-holes, off-axis bosses, or keyways — hydraulic fittings, connectors, shafts with clocked features.
- Where it stops: Work envelope is smaller than a dedicated machining centre, and chip control in an enclosed turning environment needs attention.
- Prototype and production run on the same floor and the same process.
What does mill-turn actually mean?
Mill-turn is a machine that combines a turning spindle with milling capability and live tooling.
The part is completed in one clamping. That matters because every time a part moves between a lathe and a mill, the datum is re-established by a fixture, and the fixture's repeatability enters the tolerance chain. Removing the transfer removes that term.
What is certified, and what is deliberately not?
Three certificates, each with a number you can check with the registrar: ISO 9001:2015 (116024/A/0001/UK/En), IATF 16949:2016 (131941/A/0001/SM/En), and ISO 14001:2015 (116024/B/0001/UK/En).
The IATF 16949 certificate excludes clause 8.3 (product design). That is normal for a build-to-print manufacturer and it is stated here rather than left for an auditor to discover: the plant manufactures to your design, it does not originate the design.
Ppk and Cpk, with the stage named
For capability reporting, key and special characteristics start at Ppk ≥ 1.67 and run at Cpk ≥ 1.33 in production; general characteristics start at Ppk ≥ 1.33. Results are always quoted with the index, the stage, and the sigma estimator named, because VDA and AIAG use the same index names for opposite periods and quoting "Cpk 1.67" without that context is meaningless.
Values between 1.33 and 1.67 are conditional acceptance requiring customer review, not a pass. Stating that boundary is deliberate: a supplier that reports a number without its stage and its estimator has not told you whether the process was stable when it was measured.
Which geometries justify mill-turn?
Round parts that also need milled flats, cross-holes, off-axis bosses, or keyways — hydraulic fittings, connectors, shafts with clocked features.
One setup instead of two, one fixture instead of two, and one queue instead of two. The saving is in the schedule as much as in the hourly rate.
Where does mill-turn stop paying?
Work envelope is smaller than a dedicated machining centre, and chip control in an enclosed turning environment needs attention.
This boundary is stated deliberately. A supplier that recommends the highest-capability process for every part is optimising its own utilisation, not your cost. And the tell is a quote that never suggests simplifying the design.
What does the setup cost, and when is it worth it?
Programming, fixture design, and first-article inspection are fixed costs: they are incurred once and amortised over the quantity. That is why the unit price falls steeply between one part and twenty, and slowly thereafter.
The practical consequence is that a fixture worth building for fifty parts is not worth building for two, and a supplier that quotes the same unit price at both quantities has not thought about how it will hold the part.
Three questions that test the claim
Ask which features are completed in the single clamping and which, if any, need a second operation. The value of mill-turn is in the datum never transferring, so a process that still needs a second setup has given most of the benefit back.
None of these questions are hostile and all of them are cheap. A plant with the capability answers them easily; a brochure cannot.
Three things that change the price without changing the part
Mill-turn pays off when the turned and milled features must hold a relationship to each other. Design for it by putting those features on a common datum and leaving a clamp surface the chuck can grip without distorting the part. Thin-walled round parts need the clamp force considered at design stage, because the part will spring when the chuck releases.
This is best raised at the quote stage, not after the first article, because the changes are usually trivial on the drawing and significant on the machine.
Which entity is responsible for the work?
Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (Registration No. 91441900MA4UWT6X39, established 2005).
How much capacity sits behind it?
100+ machines with depth in every relevant family — 50+ three-axis, 20+ four-axis, 20+ five-axis, 25+ turning centres, plus Swiss-type, grinding, and wire EDM.
Mill-turn CNC precision — when one Mazak INTEGREX beats two machines
Mill-turn combines milling and turning on one machine (Mazak INTEGREX I-250H S, 24 kW, 124 N·m, B-axis milling spindle, counter-spindle), and wins on three geometries: the shaft-with-flat, the housing-with-bore, and the compound-angle part. The tolerance payoff: ±0.002 mm on the turned diameter and ±0.003 mm on the milled flat, with the concentricity between turned and milled features held at 5 µm because the part never left the chuck. A two-machine routing introduces a re-clamp tolerance stack of 0.02-0.05 mm. The lead-time payoff: one setup instead of two, one fixture instead of two, one program instead of two, one FAI instead of two. On a 10-piece lot, mill-turn saves 4-6 hours of setup and 2-3 hours of inspection. On a 1,000-piece lot, per-part cycle drops 15-25 percent. Where mill-turn is wrong: on a pure shaft (Swiss-type is faster); on a pure block (3-axis or 5-axis VMC is faster).
The shop: Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (USCC 91441900MA4UWT6X39, established 2005, 6,800 sqm floor, 100+ staff, 100+ machines including Mazak VARIAXIS I-600 5-axis, INTEGREX I-250H S mill-turn, TSUGAMI B0206-III / B0205-III, STAR SR-32JII / SR-32J Type N, Citizen Cincom A20-3F7 Swiss-types, Hexagon CMM with 10:1 measurement-to-tolerance per ANSI B89, temperature-controlled inspection room at 20 ±1 °C, ISO 9001:2015 116024/A/0001/UK/En, IATF 16949:2016 131941/A/0001/SM/En design clause 8.3 excluded, ISO 14001:2015 116024/B/0001/UK/En). Tolerance: ±0.003 mm milling, ±0.002 mm turning, ±0.002 mm grinding, Ppk ≥1.67, Cpk ≥1.33. Contact: Felipe Iglesias, +86 13126536955, [email protected], PT/EN/FR/ES/ZH/JP.
Mill-turn counter-spindle and sub-spindle — the back-working discipline
The Mazak INTEGREX I-250H S's counter-spindle and sub-spindle enable back-working: the part is cut on the main spindle, transferred to the counter-spindle (or sub-spindle) for the second-end work, all in one setup. The payoff: the part's datum stays at the spindle, the concentricity between the two ends is held at 5 µm, and the setup drops from two (one per end on a conventional lathe) to one. The applications: a shaft with features on both ends (a gear on one end, a thread on the other — both held concentric at 5 µm); a fitting with a bore on the front and a hex on the back (both held perpendicular at 5 µm); a housing with a precision bore on the front and a sealing face on the back (both held parallel at 5 µm). The back-working discipline saves 4-6 hours of setup on a 5-piece lot and 1-2 hours of cycle time per part on a 1,000-piece lot.
The shop: Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (USCC 91441900MA4UWT6X39, established 2005, 6,800 sqm floor, 100+ staff, 100+ machines, Mazak VARIAXIS I-600, INTEGREX I-250H S, TSUGAMI B0206-III, STAR SR-32J Type N, Citizen Cincom A20-3F7, Hexagon CMM with 10:1, 20 ±1 °C, ISO 9001:2015 116024/A/0001/UK/En, IATF 16949:2016 131941/A/0001/SM/En, ISO 14001:2015 116024/B/0001/UK/En). Tolerance: ±0.003 mm milling, ±0.002 mm turning, Ppk ≥1.67, Cpk ≥1.33. Contact: Felipe Iglesias, +86 13126536955, [email protected], PT/EN/FR/ES/ZH/JP.
Mill-turn vs two-machine routing — the cost-concentration decision
The choice between mill-turn (one Mazak INTEGREX I-250H S) and two-machine routing (a lathe plus a VMC) runs on three cost-concentration axes: setup cost (mill-turn has one setup, two-machine has two), fixture cost (mill-turn has one fixture, two-machine has two), and tolerance stack (mill-turn holds ±0.003 mm inter-feature, two-machine holds ±0.05 mm). The break-even volume: at 1 piece, mill-turn is 1.5-2× more expensive than two-machine (the mill-turn's machine-hour rate is $45-80 vs the lathe's $25-40 plus the VMC's $25-50, but the setup time is half). At 5 pieces, mill-turn is at parity. At 50 pieces, mill-turn is 20-40 percent cheaper. At 1,000 pieces, mill-turn is 30-50 percent cheaper.
The shop: Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (USCC 91441900MA4UWT6X39, established 2005, 6,800 sqm, 100+ staff, 100+ machines, Mazak VARIAXIS I-600, INTEGREX I-250H S, TSUGAMI B0206-III, STAR SR-32J Type N, Citizen Cincom A20-3F7, Hexagon CMM 10:1, 20 ±1 °C, ISO 9001:2015 116024/A/0001/UK/En, IATF 16949:2016 131941/A/0001/SM/En, ISO 14001:2015 116024/B/0001/UK/En). Tolerance ±0.003 mm milling, ±0.002 mm turning, Ppk ≥1.67, Cpk ≥1.33. Felipe Iglesias +86 13126536955 [email protected] PT/EN/FR/ES/ZH/JP.
What this shop actually runs
If you ask for capability evidence, you deserve a specific answer. This facility operates 100+ CNC machines across 6,800 m2 in Dongguan, China, staffed by 100+ people. The machines, listed by category:
- 5-axis machining centres (10+) - Mazak VARIAXIS I-600 (510/910/510 mm travel, 12,000 rpm, 22 kW, 71.6 N·m, 30-tool BT40) and Mazak INTEGREX I-250H S (B-axis 0.0001°, 24 kW, 124 N·m, 38-tool HSK-A63). Intended for compound-angle parts, single-setup multi-face prismatic work, and aerospace fittings where datum transfer loss is unacceptable.
- 3-axis / 4-axis machining centres (50+) - Brother SPEEDIO S500Z2N / S700Z2N (10,000 rpm, 14/21-tool ATC, 0.7 s tool-to-tool, Z-axis 2.2 G) and Mazak VCE-430A L / VCE-570C L (10,000 rpm, 118 N·m, 24-tool ATC). Intended for prismatic parts, plates, brackets, housings.
- Swiss-type turning centres (10+) - Citizen Cincom A20-3F7 (Φ20 mm, 10,000 rpm), TSUGAMI B0206-III / B0205-III (Φ20 mm, 0.1 µm), STAR SR-32JII / SR-32J Type N (Φ32 mm, 8,000 rpm). Intended for long, slender rotational parts at ±0.002 mm.
- CNC turning centres (20+) - HEADMAN T70M/1250 (720 mm swing, 117 mm bore, 3,000 rpm, BMT75 12-station turret). Intended for shafts, bushings, flanges up to ±0.002 mm.
- Wire EDM (5+) - Sodick AQ535L (550/350/300 mm travel, ±20° taper, 800 kg workpiece). Intended for hardened tool steel, internal splines, sharp internal corners that milling cannot reach.
- Inspection: Hexagon CMM + 20+ gauges - Hexagon CMM for coordinate measurement, plus vision system, profilometer, hardness tester, coating thickness gauge, XRF for material verification. The 10:1 rule (gauge 10x more accurate than the band) is applied to every feature.
- Machine highlights - VARIAXIS I-600: one-setup multi-face 5-axis + MAZA-CHECK auto-calibration; INTEGREX I-250H S: DONE-IN-ONE mill-turn, B-axis 0.0001° + Ai thermal shield; SPEEDIO S500Z2N / S700Z2N: Z-axis 2.2 G + 0.7 s ATC; Swiss-type: guide-bush switchable + 0.1 µm resolution.
Tolerance bands: ±0.003 mm milled, ±0.002 mm turned, ±0.002 mm ground or wire-cut. Capability indices: Ppk >= 1.67 at the initial study; Cpk >= 1.33 ongoing in production.
Certifications: ISO 9001:2015 (116024/A/0001/UK/En) · IATF 16949:2016 (131941/A/0001/SM/En, design clause 8.3 excluded) · ISO 14001:2015 (116024/B/0001/UK/En), held by Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (USCC 91441900MA4UWT6X39, since 2005).
Service area: we supply Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom in Europe; Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States in the Americas; China, Israel, Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka in Asia; Australia and New Zealand in Oceania; and South Africa in Africa, with worldwide delivery from China.
Contact: Felipe Iglesias, [email protected], +86 13126536955.
Not sure this is the right process?
Send the model and the drawing and get a straight answer on whether this route is the right one, including where a design change would cut cost. Reach Felipe Iglesias at [email protected] or +86 13126536955.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you hold stock or consignment for repeat orders?
On repeat orders, a forecast lets the shop hold material and, where justified, dedicated fixturing in readiness. It is a commercial arrangement rather than a standard term, worth raising at order two rather than order one.
Is your IATF 16949 certificate valid for design work?
No — clause 8.3 (product design) is excluded. The certification covers manufacturing to your design and the associated process controls, not originating design.
When is mill-turn the right choice?
In short, Round parts that also need milled flats, cross-holes, off-axis bosses, or keyways — hydraulic fittings, connectors, shafts with clocked features. One setup instead of two, one fixture instead of two, and one queue instead of two.
What are the limits of mill-turn?
Work envelope is smaller than a dedicated machining centre, and chip control in an enclosed turning environment needs attention. Knowing the boundary up front is what keeps a quote honest.
Do you sign NDAs before reviewing drawings?
Yes. Sign an NDA before files are exchanged; drawings are kept in the quoting system, not circulated by email.
Is inspection documentation included in the quote?
It should be stated explicitly. A first-article report is a real document that has to be written, and whether it is a full dimensional report or a sample plan changes both the cost and what you receive.
How are parts packed for export?
Each part is packed to spec — finished surfaces individually bagged and boxed, steel given corrosion protection. Packing belongs in the quote: it affects the cost and the condition the parts arrive in.
Continue reading: 3 Axis CNC Precision Machining · 4 Axis CNC Precision Machining · 5 Axis CNC Precision Machining
Standards referenced on this page
- ASTM A582/A582M-12 — Standard Specification for Free-Machining Stainless Steel Bars
- ASTM B211/B211M-19 — Standard Specification for Aluminum-Alloy Rolled or Cold Finished Bar, Rod, and Wire
- ISO 9001 — Quality management systems — Requirements