ETG delivered a Nakamura AS200LMYT to the Limerick Institute of Technology’s training facility and a Quaser MV184 EH vertical mill for one of its longest-established customers in Northern Ireland, taking the firm’s total of machines sourced from ETG to nine. A further Nakamura AS200LMSY sub-spindle lathe also left the company’s Newbridge showroom heading to Sligo, with a mould-making specialist investing in new technology to help it increase market share in the aerospace and medical sectors.
“The start of 2019 was very strong and, despite a dip in the middle due to Brexit uncertainty, we were able to record a good last quarter with the three installs and five further sales, highlighting customer interest for machines that can deliver greater control, speed and quality,” explains Jamie Fletchmoore, managing director of ETG Ireland, which opened in 2014. “Software solutions, especially for Mastercam and Cimco machine monitoring, were very popular, and the pipeline for 2020 is extremely healthy.”
On this note, the company has recently recruited a software support engineer to help cope with the growth and demand of Mastercam and Cimco, while future plans will see ETG take on an additional sales engineer to cover the northern counties of Ireland.
“Traditionally, we had one person covering the country, but demand for Nakamura and Chiron machines, means we need to split the territory into two, ensuring we offer our growing customer base the best possible service,” adds Fletchmoore. “There is definitely a lot of potential for twin and triple-turret technology, which gives the client a completed part in one set-up. The other benefit of additional turrets is that it allows the user to have multiple tools available to the machine, thus reducing costly set-up times.
“We are also seeing a trend for smaller, faster 5-axis machines, and that will hopefully open the door further for our Chiron machines,” he says.
