Together; it's official

DMG/Mori Seiki UK (0844 800 7650), the new selling organisation in the UK for the two companies, opened its doors from 15 to 19 October to officially underline the combined representation, welcoming well over 500 to the extensively refurbished showroom and office – £1 million invested, in addition to the purchase price. Based at 4030 Siskin Parkway East, Coventry, close to Coventry airport, the new operation has, in fact, been up and running since 1 June, 2012. It extends to 3,189 m2, including a showroom of 1,225m2. The event was the conclusion of a process that started with an announcement on 23 March 2009, when two companies – Germany's Gildemeister AG (DMG is its selling/service organisation) and Japan's Mori Seiki Co Ltd – unveiled plans to collaborate in the areas of production, purchasing, machine development, and sales and service. Later that year, they added machine tool financing, following an agreement with Japan's Mitsui & Co, although this service does not operate in all markets and not currently in the UK. Image: Various members of the two companies fill a giant logo during the official opening week event, with, for the most part, DMG?members pouring into the Mori Seiki side and vice versa. Managing director DMG/Mori Seiki UK Steve Finn is second from the left; sales director Richard Watkins is second from the right The two companies hold shares in each other's operations – Gildemeister holds 5.1% of Mori Seiki, making it the largest single shareholder, while Mori Seiki holds Gildemeister AG shares amounting to 20.1% of voting rights and is similarly the largest single shareholder. Together, the pair boast global sales of more than £2.75 billion (Gildemeister AG, €1.688 billion [£1.35 billion] to 31 December 2011; Mori Seiki, ¥155.320 billion [£1.212 billion] to 31 March 2012). Mori Seiki has in excess of 4,000 employees globally, with Gildemeister AG's headcount totalling more than 6,000. INNOVATION AT MANY LEVELS Innovation from the two companies is demonstrated via multiple product developments annually and a combined R&D resource of approaching 1,000 engineers. And innovation was underlined by DMG/Mori Seiki UK managing director Steve Finn and sales director Richard Watkins during the October Open house event in Coventry. "Innovation is critical with our type of product," Mr Finn stressed. "We have to demonstrate our value proposition to customers; give them something very different to that which is offered by other companies. We work with partners, such as Sandvik Coromant, to deliver that value and innovation, while we have a team of experienced engineers here that work on proposals." And he underlined the importance of its partners in delivering innovative solutions. "In a current example, we are the integrator for a $5.3 million project where the value of the machine tools is just one third of the total value, so our partners are a key element in many solutions." So, innovation in product development, plus innovation in their application, supported by partners; but there is a further element of innovation and that is in the way that the new organisation will cover the UK territory. Fundamentally, this will see the largest sales force of any machine tool company in the UK, covering small areas and able to develop solid relationships with the highest number of companies. There will be 15 territories, with around 500 accounts per salesperson, says sales director Richard Watkins, who adds: "We have segmented those areas by industry sector and company size, so that we can focus the resource we've got, which is considerable, and support those companies. Six months on from the MACH exhibition, when I first detailed our approach, we are already 90% there with that sales model. Salesmen are being cross-trained in the other company's products. We are on the ground and running, but come January-February next year, we'll be into a sprint. "This approach represents a big change for the industry and will have an impact. With so many supporting engineers going out to a tighter, more densely grouped audience; exposure of customers to DMG/Mori Seiki is three times greater than it was in the past for the individual companies. And the focus is on engineering, not sales; a technical sales focus. Listening to customers, finding out what they want, understanding their business and becoming a partner to them. "I think it's pretty insulting for a guy to go into a company and not understand the business he's trying to sell product into. We have a vast array of products and it is for us to assess the company's requirements and make a professional recommendation. "All machine tool companies have tried to do this, but I think that we have all fallen short. Now we have a model in place that will enable us to do this. It will change the way machine tools are sold, the way manufacturing is supported, and I believe our technology and our innovation is going to help companies evolve." DETAILED DIFFERENCES Adds Mr Finn: "It may appear that all machine tool companies have a similar sales process. Richard and I have had very detailed discussions about our sales strategy, down to very small details, and it is surprising how different the sales process can be. The end result may appear to be the same, but it's what you do in between enquiry and delivery, and that's where our efforts here are focused. And that focus is the same, whether it's a £50,000 machine or a £5 million machine." Indeed, Mr Finn dispels the myth that small companies may not be typical customers. "I know that, for Mori Seiki, worldwide 60% of customers are companies of 50 or fewer employees." The new DMG/Mori Seiki cooperation organisation also boasts the largest complement of service personnel in the UK, with 32 engineers on the road, and who already have good cross-over product knowledge. Positive feedback on improved response times has been received, Mr Watkins reveals, commenting: "I had anticipated it taking longer for the benefits of the cross-training programme to kick in and had expected 12-18 months before we saw a really positive response. With our combined resource, we can despatch more engineers more quickly, plus we have a broader skill base." This, even though the cross-training programme is expected to take another year to fully complete, he offers. At the October event, there were 13 machines on show, although 60% of those were already sold and about to be delivered. Highlights included the 5-axis sided DMU50 ecoline. This particular range of machines represents entry-level technology, produced at the Gildemeister factories in Poland and China. The DMU 50 ecoline, has X, Y and Z travels of 500, 450 and 400 mm, together with a NC swivel/rotary table (swivel range: -5°/+110°; rotation: 360°) and capacity of 200 kg. A 10,000 rpm spindle features, serviced by a 16- or 30-tool changer, and rapid traverse speeds are up to 24 m/min. Image: The new showroom, where around 13 models will be on display Also representing the ecoline E range was the DMC 1035 V ecoline, a 3-axis machine with 1,035 by 560 by 510 mm travels (X, Y, Z), but the ecoline highlight is the Milltap 700, the first machine tool to be jointly developed by the two companies – a 3-axis machining centre with 700 by 420 by 380 mm travels and boasting less than 1.5 seconds chip-to-chip time and 0.9 seconds tool change time boasting 1.5 secs chip-to-chip toolchange times. The Milltap 700 is built at Deckel Maho, Seebach, Germany (video). The Mori Seiki NMV8000 DCG, a 5-axis vertical machining centre having travels or 1,200, 920 and 610 mm in X, Y and Z, respectively, is considered a 'cross-over' product, with this likely to be targeted at more bespoke needs, while there are five DMG equivalents for more standard applications. The reason is that the Mori Seiki product comes with "all the bells and whistles", while the DMG machine offers a modular approach to options. DMG is considered to have the edge in the 5-axis vertical area overall. But in the horizontal arena, Mori Seiki is considered to have the edge for general application. The Mori Seiki NHX4000 (400 mm pallet) on show is, in fact, also built in DECKEL MAHO Pfronten, Germany and can feature a Siemens control (video). The NHX5000 (500 mm pallet), currently built in Japan, is also planned to be assembled in Germany, in due course. BEST SELLERS The DMU 65 and 85 monoBLOCK® and DMU 60 and 80 eVo, all 5-axis vertical universal machining centres, representatives of which were on show, are "the core of the UK market", with these accounting for 80% of all DMG machine sales in the UK. The DMU 65 monoBLOCK® is a 650 by 650 by 560 mm unit (X, Y, Z); the DMU 85 monoBLOCK® a 859 by 850 1,040 by 650 mm model; the DMU 60 eVo is a 600 by 500 by 500 mm machine (video) and the 800 DMU 80 eVo a 800 by 650 by 550 mm unit (eVos have linear motors as an option). In the larger area and with aerospace in particular a target, DMG offers such machines as its DMC 125 FD duoBLOCK®. This 5-axis machine, with 1,250 by 1,250 by 1,000 mm travels and which is able to turn parts at up to 500 rpm on its table, is the sort of unit that is helping companies take up to 50% out of their production cost, Mr Watkins offers. (video) Moving to turning and here Mori Seiki machines are expected to be favoured for production turning, with DMG models targeted at bespoke solutions. An example is Mori Seiki's NLX range, which, along with its NL range, is the company's best seller. Latest innovations are the NLX2500Y/1250, the NLX4000AY/750 and the NLX2500SY/700 (video), with the NLX4000AY/750 delivering the biggest spindle diameter in its class: 145 mm (A-type) and 185 mm (B-type), for example. The NLX range can, incidentally, be complemented by DMG Automation's 'WH 10 top' loading/unloading technology (video). But this is all a drop in the ocean. All together, the combined product range from the two companies delivers in excess of 450 variants of machine tool. That, together with the companies' combined size, market reach, geographically located production (Europe, Japan, China, US), rate of product innovation, process development expertise and, now, its targeted and thorough sales approach (backed by improved service and support) are surely a package that represents a challenge to others. So, yes, the new headquarters building is certainly impressive, but, more importantly, it is the nexus for all of that. Box items High level partnerships Your service is due in.... Service at speed Shared products/production Ideas, their implementation and impact Box item 1 High level partnerships DMG/Mori Seiki is a Tier 1 member of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre between Sheffield and Rotherham, where manufacturing processes innovation is the focus. They are also a tier 1 member at similar organisation the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry. Additionally they are also partners with the Warwick Manufacturing Group and Red Bull Racing. Box item 2 Your service is due in.... A machine tool development hinted at for the future will likely mimic a car dashboard in the sense that the CNC will display service messages that cannot be turned off. At the moment, alarms can be turned off – and ignored. Box item 3 Service at speed The service department will soon be set up with call-centre style screens to monitor the company's response performance. The target is to answers all calls within three rings, for example (same for main reception). There are two DMG and two Mori Seiki service engineers available from 8 am to 6 pm and, Mr Finn underlines, 24/7 telephone support is free for the life of the machine – "there are no premium rate phone lines, unlike some of our competitors". Currently a Mori Seiki initiative, a 15-person customer advisory council meets regularly to give feedback to Mr Finn, who is the only Mori Seiki representative present. Operating for two years, this will include DMG customers from March/April next year. Box item 4 Shared products/production Mori Seiki's DuraVertival 635 eco vertical machining centres and Dura Turn 310 V3 eco turning centres are manufactured in Gildemeister's Shanghai Plant. Mori Seiki supplies to Gildemeister as an OEM product the NT6600 DCG high precision, large integrated mill-turn centre (DMG's CTX delta 6000 TC mill-turn - video) and NTX1000 high precision integrated mill-turn centre (CTX 450 alpha TC). Mori Seiki also supplies spindles, ballscrews and turrets to Gildemeister. At Gildemeister's Pfronten, Germany, factory, Mori Seikis NHX4000 is built, while the NTX1000 (video) is built at Bielefeld, Germany. The DMG version of Mori Seiki machines differ in control, drive and software details. Box item 5 Ideas, their implementation and impact Under the name PullPlus value added scheme, Gildemeister encourages employees to put forward ideas for improvements. It is an award-winning system, with three of its German plants taking the first three places in Deutsche Institut fur Betriebswirtschaftslehre's ranking. The number of improvement suggestions in the last reporting year of 2011 was 21,346 (12% more than in the previous year). That's an average of 6.5 suggestions per employee at the production plants. The net benefit is put at €2.8 million (£2.24 million) – that's equivalent to around 6% of Gildemeister's profits. First published in Machinery, January 2013