Ward Hi-Tech and Hwacheon join forces in UK

From August 2007 Ward Hi-Tech will become the sole UK and Ireland distributor of Hwacheon products which includes a wide range of turning centres, vertical lathes and vertical and horizontal machining centres. There are over 60 turning centre products, for example. Founded in 1952, Hwacheon is South Korea’s largest independent machine tool manufacturer producing over 2,000 machines a year. Also within the Hwacheon group are separate companies manufacturing a complete range of chucks and other related products supplied to many leading machine tool manufacturers both at home and abroad, plus a modern foundry business manufacturing high quality castings and supplies these to machine tool builders worldwide. “Hwacheon is the best kept secret in Korean machine tools!” says Ward Hi-Tech managing director Alan Hill. “The company was the first Korean brand to be exported to the UK way back in 1982 and has sold steadily, but not spectacularly here ever since then. “There is a substantial Hwacheon machine tool user base in the country and by teaming up with Ward Hi-Tech, Hwacheon sees the opportunity to expand its UK sales quickly.”