That investment includes a Studer S20 grinding centre, an Ewag RS15 universal grinder for processing PCD tools, a Doosan machining centre and Lynx lathe for producing tool bodies (from Mills CNC), a Saacke twin pallet grinding centre for re-grinding drills and end mills (sold in the UK by Brunner Machine Tools of London) and a variety of tool balancing machines. Added to this UK investment, Mapal has also purchased Rainey Engineering in Northern Ireland specialising in the new manufacture & distribution of carbide products.
Commenting upon the company growth and strategy, Mapal managing director, Wayne Whitehouse, says: "In recent years Mapal has increased its specialist tooling manufacturers that focus upon very niche drilling, reaming and heat-shrink product lines. With such unique product ranges now being incorporated into the Mapal brand, our product offering has grown significantly. What this means is that product lines considered as 'specials' by most cutting tool manufacturers are increasingly becoming standard stock items for Mapal.
"With regards to our production facility in Rugby, the ongoing investment now sees 48% of Mapal's UK business being new or repair tooling that is manufactured here in the UK. Of this 48%, over 80% of UK manufactured tools are special items that are developed by our UK engineering teams in conjunction with the customer. Additionally, over 65% of the UK manufactured products are PCD product lines. Our recent investment strategy is all about underpinning our growth with machine tool capacity that can support this. For example, the Ewag and Studer grinding machines and the new balancing equipment will support PCD tool production whilst the Doosan machines will be dedicated to producing tool bodies and the Saacke grinder will enhance the re-grinding of solid carbide drills and end mills.
He adds: “As we move forward the investment will continue. At present, we are looking at laser technology for producing PCD disks and also generating chipbreakers on particular PCD tools. At Mapal, we have the best of both worlds. We have an expansive line of high quality products supplied from Germany and this complements the UK division. The UK facility is fully immersed in the design and development and the consequent production and re-grinding of bespoke turnkey tooling solutions."
In Germany, Mapal recently invested €26 million in the company's competence centres in Germany. Added to this, Mapal has expanded its carbide manufacturing facility with the introduction of Wiesskoff into the corporation.
The company employs 5,000 staff in 43 subsidiaries worldwide.
