Product category:
Manufacturing dealerships, agencies and acquisitions
News Release from: Yorkshire Machine Tools
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 April 2005
YMT acquires Crawford Swift, Binns and
Berry
Yorkshire Machine Tools has acquired Crawford Swift and Binns and Berry and the group confidently claims to be a world leader in the large machine tool refurbishment sector.
Crawford Swift and Binns and Berry, two of the most recognised and prestigious brands in the machine tools industry, have been bought by the directors of Halifax based company Yorkshire Machine Tools (YMT) The acquisitions form part of the company's programme of expansion and development following the appointment of Carl Griffiths - formerly Managing Director of Binns and Berry - to the board of Yorkshire Machine Tools in 2002
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 Aug 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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"The acquisition of Crawford Swift and Binns and Berry was a natural choice - particularly as Carl has already joined us," said YMT founder Paul Procter.
"They are two of the most established and recognised names in our industry." Traditionally YMT had concentrated on the refurbishment of large scale grinding machines, but following this period of growth and development it is now able to offer a much wider range of services to companies ranging from small independent machine shops to global, blue chip organisations.
In fact, with the three companies now brought together under one banner, the group can now confidently claim to be a world leader in the large machine tool refurbishment sector.
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For example, the Waldrich slide way machine, housed at YMT's Halifax headquarters, is the largest and most accurate of its kind in the United Kingdom.
It has been used to successfully complete projects including the refurbishment of a 12m travelling column horizontal boring machine for Corus and the refurbishment of an 850mm x 9,000mm Churchill cylindrical grinding machine for Heusch (a German manufacturer of cylinders and knives for the textile industry which, by coincidence, is situated in Halifax's twin town of Aachen).
During the last twelve months the company headquarters has relocated and combined its two sites (formerly Pontefract and Halifax) into one larger facility in Elland, which was purpose built for machine tools by one of the founders of Crawford swift, Geoff Crawford.
This includes a 30,000 ft2 workshop that houses storage, machine shop, fitting shop, electrical, electronics, design, sales, spares and service all under one roof with 50 tonne lifting capacity and 14m under hook clearance - a true One stop machine tool shop.
"The future for YMT, Crawford Swift and Binns and Berry is looking very promising." Comments Carl Griffiths.
"The decision to join YMT in 2002 was an easy one to make, Paul has developed an envious reputation in the market place and being able to bring a complementary set of skills as well as being part of this exciting period of growth and development is exactly the kind of challenge I enjoy." The developments at Yorkshire Machine Tools are also extremely significant for the town of Halifax.
Until the machine tool slump of the 1980's Halifax was one of the major the machine tool centres in the world with over 60 machine tool manufacturers once situated in the town as well as numerous repair and refurbishment organisations.
Along with many other engineering industries machine tools declined because of the influx of low cost imports from the Far East and the decline in traditional heavy engineering in this country lowering the demand for British built machinery.
The company's emphasis is to reverse this trend by producing innovative machine tool solutions such its award winning Friction stir welding machine.
When Paul Procter founded YMT back in 1992 he quickly realised that Halifax was where the company needed to be to tap into the wealth of experience and expertise in the town.
Paul said: "When I first started Yorkshire Machine Tools we were based in the Bradford area and even though we were in West Yorkshire it was difficult to find workers with the necessary skills".
"It was a natural choice for us to move the business to Halifax with so many skilled professionals right on the doorstep." Crawford Swift and Binns and Berry were both founded in Halifax at the end of the 19th century and over the years have become two of the most prestigious names in the industry - respected the world over.
Paul added: "We are delighted to have had the opportunity to bring Crawford Swift, Binns and Berry and Yorkshire Machine Tools together".
"We are now in an unrivalled position in the UK machine tools business and we can also help to put Halifax back where it belongs as a world leader in the industry.".
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