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News Release from: Mills Manufacturing Technology
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 May 2004
In-house machine tool show attracts 500
visitors
Nearly 500 people from across the UK visited the DIMF Europa 2004 Show held in-house by Mills Manufacturing Technology and machine tools were sold - mirrori ng the show's success.
Nearly 500 people from across the UK visited the DIMF Europa 2004 Show held by Mills Manufacturing Technology at its Leamington Spa showrooms from 20th to 22nd April The event provided a showcase for the official UK launch of the new 9-axis MX mill/turn range with twin spindles, B-axis and ATC capability
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 23 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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One of the most capable mill-turning machines ever built, has four turrets, two spindles and offers a total of 13 computer controlled axes.
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Said Mike Jenkins, Managing Director, "The large number of visitors to our show was a real boost to everyone here at Mills.
Eight orders valued at GBP 1.5 million in total were taken during the show including four for the new MX machines.
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Immediately after the show, Mills confirmed an order for 8-off large capacity Puma 600 CNC lathes from one of the UK's largest aerospace manufacturers.
"We are expecting significant additional business in the future, especially with the new MX machines.
The DIMF Show has rubber stamped our excellent performance at the start of 2004, with GBP 10 million worth of orders taken in the first four months." Mills is working ever more closely with Daewoo to market its range of 120 different machine models, a number that is increasing all the time.
In 2003, Daewoo became the third largest machine tool builder in the world and has set its sights on the number one spot, which it hopes to attain in 2008 after a five-year business plan for worldwide expansion, called "Jump to Top" by W B Kim, Executive Managing Director (see interview below).
Mills' working relationship with Daewoo is underpinned by a 20-year association, making the Leamington Spa company the manufacturer's longest-established and most successful dealer worldwide.
During much of that time there has been close co-operation between the companies at all levels.
An example of this is that Mills and Daewoo have now agreed to work closely on the development of a new generation of high-speed, twin-spindle, twin-turret CNC lathes designed with high performance in mind but priced at a level that will ensure the machines are affordable for the smaller subcontractors.
Other initiatives for 2004 will include rolling two-monthly exchanges whereby Daewoo and Mills engineers will visit each other to share ideas and knowledge of both hardware and software and also close the loop on any quality issues that might exist.
To support the additional sales activity, service and applications engineering headcount in the UK will be increased significantly from its current level of 26.
W B Kim, Executive Managing Director of Daewoo Heavy Industries and Machinery, Machine Tool Division, spoke of the company's plans at an interview on 20th April 2004.
Two years ago, W B Kim forecast that the UK machine tool industry would start to emerge from recession in the fourth quarter of 2003, which was remarkably accurate.
He now says that that the process will turn into a complete recovery by the end of 2004 and that the whole of Europe and the US are following suit.
Domestically, machine production at Daewoo is increasing sharply, with the current 500 units per month expected to rise through 550 by mid-year to 600 at the year-end.
Domestic market share is 40 per cent, while Daewoo's buoyant worldwide sales enables it to take a 75 per cent share of machine tool exports from Korea.
What really excites Kim are the emerging markets, in particular the BRIC countries, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Goldman Sachs predicts that these four nations together will surpass the economic output of the current G7 countries in the next three to four decades.
China, for example, is now the largest consumer of Daewoo machine tools in the world, with export sales to this country of over 1,000 turning and machining centres predicted for 2004.
Kit assembly of smaller size machines started at a new factory in the Shangdong Province on 1st April this year and will account for a fifth of Daewoo machine consumption in China during 2004, with the remainder imported from Korea.
When phase 2 of the US$50 million factory investment is complete at the end of the year, major components will be sourced locally and unit production will be ramped up, eventually to 1,000 units annually.
India will soon be Daewoo's second largest market behind China and ahead of the US, according to Kim, helped by the sub continent's burgeoning automotive industry.
Russia and Brazil similarly hold huge potential for the Korean manufacturer and are being developed with zeal.
Growth potential also exists in Europe, thanks to the entry to the EU of Eastern European countries, where inward investment in new automotive and other factories is starting to boost machine tool sales.
Slovenia and the Czech Republic are particularly active at the moment, apparently.
Meanwhile, Daewoo business in established European countries is also faring better, particularly through Mills Manufacturing Technology, which Kim describes as "one of Daewoo's best business partners".
He points out that this is not just in terms of sales to a wide spread of customers from the largest blue chip companies to the smallest subcontractors, but also in the quality of in-depth product and applications knowledge which allows Mills' engineers to feed back valuable information for future machine development.
R and D accounts for three per cent of turnover, employing 250 of the 950 staff, and will rise to five per cent by the time Kim's current expansion plan - Jump to Top - is complete in 2008.
He says that by then, Daewoo will have moved from being the third largest machine tool builder in the world, selling 5,000 units a year in 2004, to become the largest with annual unit sales of around 8,000, overtaking two large Japanese rivals in the process.
Bearing in mind the accuracy of his predictions thus far, there is every possibility that this will be achieved.
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