Any doubts to the resilience of the UK manufacturing sector were laid to rest at MACH 2022, the excellent attendance at the show translated into an extremely positive to the cutting tool, workholding and logistics products on show on the Ceratizit UK & Ireland stand. The outcome being the best MACH in the company’s history with enquiries, orders and positivity all at very high levels.
The Ceratizit stand at MACH was a major draw for many visitors with numerous cutting tool innovations on show and the opportunity to discuss specific requirements with any of the 40 plus technical engineers that the company had in attendance throughout the week. “Before the doors opened for MACH there was an air or uncertainty, but that was quickly dispelled as visitor numbers increased daily throughout the week,” says Tony Pennington, Managing Director, Ceratizit UK & Ireland. “Of course, there were concerns from customers, with many faced with common challenges of energy prices and raw material supply and costs, but the vast majority were reporting strong order books and a commitment to invest in the latest technology. Many accepted that there will be some peaks and troughs, but in general the consensus was that the next few years look extremely promising.”
For Ceratizit UK & Ireland this translated into a record number of enquiries with over 1500 requests for information or visits logged over the week. One key area of interest was that of logistics and security of supply of cutting tools. Here Ceratizit UK & Ireland provided the answer with its vending system TOM 840. With capacity to store up to 840 individual tools the system is supplied free of charge to customers with a minimum monthly spend of £3000, with the TOM 840 unit communicating directly with Ceratizit to maintain stocking levels of key cutters and inserts. The other major benefit to the customer is that while they have extensive stock at their fingertips, they only pay for what is used. “Tool vending is becoming ever more popular and at MACH we saw the interest in what our system can bring to customers increase dramatically. As a result of enquiries at the show we have ordered an additional 20 TOM 840 units, doubling what we already had on order. These will join the 500 plus units already out with customers,” says Tony Pennington.
It wasn’t all about tools on the Ceratizit UK & Ireland stand as the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK also benefitted from the raffle of a Hope HB 130 mountain bike, with the winning entry being drawn by World and Olympic cycling champion Katie Archibald MBE. The lucky recipient, who will take delivery of the £6000 bike once it has been custom fitted to his dimensions by Hope Technology, is Dave Buchan from Havant-based Monolution a specialist sub-contract machining business focussing on top level motorsports and aerospace work. This state-of-the art bike has benefitted from Ceratizit’s input on the machining of many of the components, from moulds for the carbon fibre frame, to cranks, brakes and yokes.
