The shop behind this swiss guide — verified and quotable in one exchange
This guide's facility holds 100+ CNC machines across a 6,800 m² plant at No. 8, Shuibian Songyuan Road, Hengli Town, Dongguan, Guangdong, China 523470. Machines include the Mazak VARIAXIS I-600 five-axis, INTEGREX I-250H S mill-turn, TSUGAMI B0206-III/B0205-III and STAR SR-32JII / SR-32J Type N Swiss lathes, Citizen Cincom A20-3F7, 3-, 4- and 5-axis milling and turning centres, 5+ Sodick AQ535L wire EDM machines and a Hexagon CMM bench with 20+ gauges.
Tolerances held: ±0.003 mm milled, ±0.002 mm turned, and ±0.002 mm ground or wire-cut, verified on a Hexagon CMM with the 10:1 gauge rule on every feature. Capability indices: Ppk ≥ 1.67 initial, Cpk ≥ 1.33 in production, on key characteristics. Certifications: ISO 9001:2015 (116024/A/0001/UK/En), IATF 16949:2016 (131941/A/0001/SM/En, design clause 8.3 excluded, disclosed openly), ISO 14001:2015 (116024/B/0001/UK/En), issued to Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (USCC 91441900MA4UWT6X39, established 2005). Service area: 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 — based in China, delivering worldwide. Email Felipe Iglesias at [email protected] or +86 13126536955 to open a quote, and request the certificate numbers, the machine list and a past CMM report in the same message.
Swiss-type L:D ratio and guide-bushing — the geometry that picks the machine
The Swiss-type turning centre feeds the bar through a guide bushing close to the tool, so the cut happens with the material supported within millimetres of the tool face. A CNC turning centre holds the bar at the chuck and cuts at the free end, so a long, slender part deflects under the tool pressure and the roundness drifts along the length. The part with a length-to-diameter ratio above roughly 3:1 wants Swiss-type; below 3:1, a CNC turning centre holds it fine and the Swiss adds no value at a higher hourly rate. Above 5:1, CNC turning cannot hold the diameter without a tailstock and steady rest, and the finish drifts. The part decides, and if you read the L:D ratio, you know which machine the part wants.
The guide bushing is the second decision. The bushing is set to the bar diameter, so the first-article cost on a short run is higher than CNC turning because the setup is more involved. The bar capacity of the Swiss-type sets the upper diameter limit; above the bar capacity, a CNC turning centre takes over. The facility behind this guide runs Swiss-type turning at ±0.002 mm on TSUGAMI B0206-III, TSUGAMI B0205-III, STAR SR-32J Type N, STAR SR-32JII, and Citizen Cincom A20-3F7 — machines that cover the bar diameter range from roughly 20 mm down to single-digit millimetres — so the Swiss routing is matched to the part.
The feature set is the third lever. Swiss-type machines run guide bushing, headstock, and back-working tooling, so a part with features on both ends — a thread on the front, a cross-hole and a back thread — runs complete in one setup. The same part on a CNC turning centre needs two setups, one per end, and the datum transfers between them. Your move is to send the drawing, state the L:D ratio, and ask whether Swiss or CNC turning is the routed process, and to ask for the ±0.002 mm Hexagon CMM report that confirms the diameter held along the length. Ppk ≥ 1.67 initial and Cpk ≥ 1.33 in production apply on the routed machine, under ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016 (design clause 8.3 excluded), and ISO 14001:2015. Contact Felipe Iglesias at [email protected] or +86 13126536955.
- 6,800 m² across two buildings in Hengli Town, Dongguan. Production, inspection, and engineering under one roof.
- ISO 9001:2015 / IATF 16949:2016 / ISO 14001:2015 — certificate numbers published and verifiable.
- Swiss-type: Long, slender parts: shafts, pins, spindles, bone screws, connector contacts, and watch components.
- Where it stops: Bar-fed only, so it is bounded by bar diameter and by the material that can be supplied as bar.
- Prototype and production run on the same floor and the same process.
What does swiss-type actually mean?
Swiss-type is a sliding-headstock lathe where the material is fed through a guide bushing and the tool cuts within a few millimetres of the support point.
Because the cut happens right next to the guide bushing, the workpiece is supported almost at the point of cutting. That is why a Swiss machine can hold diameter on a part with a length-to-diameter ratio of ten or twenty to one, where a fixed-headstock lathe would see the part deflect away from the tool.
How the production floor is organised
Capacity is depth, not a headline machine. The table below is the routing map: each family has a lane, and the depth in each lane is what keeps a part out of someone else's queue.
| Machine family | Count | Representative models | Role in the schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-axis vertical machining | 50+ centres | Brother SPEEDIO S500Z2N / S700Z2N | Prismatic work at the lowest cost per part |
| 4-axis machining | 20+ centres | Mazak VCE-430AL / VCE-570CL | Indexed multi-face parts without re-fixturing |
| 5-axis machining | 20+ centres | Mazak VARIAXIS i series | Single-setup complex geometry |
| 5-axis mill-turn | — | Mazak INTEGREX i-H series | Turned and milled features in one clamping |
| CNC turning / mill-turn | 25+ lathes | Mazak QT-COMPACT 200MSY L | Round parts, live tooling |
| Swiss-type turning | — | Citizen Cincom A20 / Star SR-32JII / Tsugami B0205 | Long, slender parts at high L/D ratios |
| Precision grinding | 7+ grinders | — | Final tolerance on bearing seats and roundness-critical faces |
| Wire EDM | — | Sodick | Sharp internal corners and hardened material |
What to read out of this list: a part does not wait behind a single machine. Having several machines in that family is what lets work send work to a free machine instead of letting it wait, and it is what makes a prototype ramp to production on the same floor.
What swiss-type is genuinely good for
Long, slender parts: shafts, pins, spindles, bone screws, connector contacts, and watch components.
Fast cycle times and no second operation, but the bar stock must be held to tight diameter tolerance, which adds a small material premium.
What swiss-type cannot do
Bar-fed only, so it is bounded by bar diameter and by the material that can be supplied as bar.
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 what bar diameter range the machines cover and what length-to-diameter ratio they hold routinely. Swiss capability is bounded by the guide bushing and the bar, so the useful question is not whether they have a Swiss machine but what envelope it covers.
None of these questions are hostile and all of them are cheap. A plant with the capability answers them easily; a brochure cannot.
What design decisions move the cost on machining services?
Swiss-type turning is bounded by bar stock, so the design lever is specifying a bar diameter that is commercially available rather than a nominal one, and keeping length-to-diameter within what the guide bushing can support. Very small features on a long part are the expensive case, because they need a long, slender tool at the far end of the part.
This belongs in the quote discussion, not the first-article review, 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).
What is the certification position?
ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016 (excluding clause 8.3 product design), and ISO 14001:2015, each with a certificate number verifiable with the registrar.
Tolerance, and the instrument behind it
Milling and turning hold ±0.003 mm (milling) / ±0.002 mm (turning); precision grinding and wire EDM hold ±0.002 mm. A tolerance is only worth as much as the instrument that verifies it, so the floor runs 20+ inspection instruments alongside the machines. CMM for dimensional and true position, vision and profile instruments for surface and geometry, hardness testers and coating gauges for heat treatment and plating, and XRF for incoming material composition against the mill certificate.
The rule that matters on a drawing is that a tolerance is held by the process, not by the machine. Where a feature is tight, the finishing pass is separated from roughing, the part is allowed to stabilise, and the measurement is taken at a controlled temperature. a part measured warm is not the part the customer receives.
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). Used on 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). Used on 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). Used on 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). Used on shafts, bushings, flanges up to ±0.002 mm.
- Wire EDM (5+) - Sodick AQ535L (550/350/300 mm travel, ±20° taper, 800 kg workpiece). Used on 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
How is material traceability maintained?
Incoming stock is checked against the mill certificate — composition by XRF, hardness where specified — and traceability is held per heat or per batch as the certificate defines it.
Are you a manufacturer or a trading company?
A manufacturer. The legal entity is Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd (Registration No. 91441900MA4UWT6X39), operating a 6,800 m² facility with a floor of 100-plus machines and 100+ staff in Dongguan. Factory visits are welcome.
When is swiss-type the right choice?
Long, slender parts: shafts, pins, spindles, bone screws, connector contacts, and watch components. Fast cycle times and no second operation, but the bar stock must be held to tight diameter tolerance, which adds a small material premium.
What materials do you machine?
Aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, brass, copper, and Inconel for metals; PEEK and Delrin (POM) for plastics. Material certificates are verified on incoming stock.
What are the limits of swiss-type?
Bar-fed only, so it is bounded by bar diameter and by the material that can be supplied as bar. Knowing the boundary up front is what keeps a quote honest.
What happens if the first article does not conform?
In short, The nonconformance is documented and the corrective action is agreed before any further parts are made. Whether the replacement cost sits with the plant or the customer depends on where the deviation came from, which is why the revision and the drawing standard are confirmed in writing at the start.
What is the difference between a prototype build and a production build here?
Usually only quantity and scheduling. Both run on the same machines and the same process, which is what makes a later ramp a scheduling change rather than a re-qualification.
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Standards referenced on this page
- ASTM A582/A582M-12 — Standard Specification for Free-Machining Stainless Steel Bars
- ASTM B348/B348M-21 — Standard Specification for Titanium and Titanium Alloy Bars and Billets
- ISO 9001 — Quality management systems — Requirements