XYZ Machine Tools hails inaugural Manufacturing South West event a success, taking £500,000+

Even an hour before the official opening of Manufacturing South West at 9.00 on Tuesday, an 'early bird' customer was on the doorstep of XYZ's headquarters in Tiverton, Devon, wanting to see machines and promptly placed an immediate delivery order for two. Says XYZ managing director Nigel Atherton: "This was not pre-planned, the customer was really busy; heard about the event, needed machines urgently and was on his way back to his factory by the time the first customers were arriving." The two machine XYZ order set the pace for the exhibition, with a further 17 machines valued at over £560,000 sold during the two days. Adds Mr Atherton: "With our 18 guest exhibitors putting in so much effort alongside us to create such a successful and professional looking event, the 316 visitors from 199 companies were definitely encouraged from seeing the latest developments across all areas of manufacturing technology." Indeed, such was the level of inquiries - which are estimated to be worth more than £3 million for XYZ - that a significant order trail from the South West area is now live. "With the 22,000 ft2 addition to our headquarters just completed giving us a total area of 90,000 ft2, visitors were able to appreciate our ability to react to immediate order demands, as we have some 300 machines now stocked in the building. Visitors were also able to appreciate the added value put in as, during the event, it was normal working on machine assembly, alignment checks and pre-delivery inspection," Mr Atherton concludes. XYZ had 17 machine tools in operation, with some demonstrating products from the 18 fellow exhibitors, which helped provide live application demonstrations for visitors.