XYZ extends reach with new Scotland customer service and training facility

To mark the event, an Open House has been arranged for 16 and 17 October, when visitors can see an initial nine machine tools, including large capacity lathes and machining centres, under power. The new facility, headed up by Scottish area sales manager David McCafferty, is based in Livingston, which will provide a central location for service support and for customers. Says Mr McCafferty: "From our in-depth research of existing and potential customers, we gained very positive feedback on support needs from a local supplier presence and especially on training. A key element was the reduction in travel and the time involved for training, which could influence the purchase decision process." He explained that, with the range of machines available from XYZ, there is a significant market in Scotland, involving diverse industrial sectors, including aerospace, oil and gas, and marine, which tend to use larger VMCs and lathes. Also, with the emergence of renewable energy, a host of smaller machine shops producing small batches and bespoke parts, and a wealth of training establishments, XYZ has a lot to offer from its range of simple-to-program ProtoTRAK lathes and mills. Among the machines in the showroom is a large capacity XL Oil Country lathe, representing a machine range having up to 1,100 mm swing over the single piece cast bed by up to 16 m between centres. The machine has a 310 mm spindle bore, with a rear chuck as standard. Also standard is the Siemens 840D (CNC control) with conversational Shopturn software. In addition, a selection from XYZ's range of ProTURN SLX lathes, with swing over bed of up to 560 mm by 3 m between centres; LTY turn-mill centres; Compact Turn 52 chucking/ bar CNC turning machines; SMX turret and bed mills; and VMC vertical machining centres are installed. Machines have been tooled by XYZ's preferred tooling partner, WNT (UK), which will also provide application support when needed - on demonstrations with customers for instance, or for new grades of materials that maybe used in specific sectors of industry. Machines have also been fitted with Jemtech's 'liquid tool' Blaser Swisslube coolant. XYZ Machine Tools now has a series of showroom and service centre sites easily accessed from all over the country. In addition to the recently extended 90,000 ft² headquarters in Tiverton, Devon, local support is available from London, Nuneaton, Sheffield, Blackburn and, now, Livingston. XYZ is also extending its presence in Europe by adopting a similar marketing strategy for growth and customer support that has proven so successful in the UK.