Citizen UK sales hit record - best share in Europe

Such has been the level of business throughout the year that the UK has achieved the best market share for Citizen in Europe, which is currently the strongest market in global terms for CNC sliding-head turning centres. While the top-of-the-range Citizen M32 has maintained its position as a best seller: “The final analysis of different models has brought roughly equal installations of the M32, the mid-range L20, the 12 mm and 16 mm versions of the K Series and the latest A20 introduction,” said managing director Geoff Bryant. “The A20 [pictured], Citizen’s most successful global machine launch, has created a lot of interest in the UK due to its very competitively priced package with bar feed starting at only £65,000. In particular, the Citizen A20 has been very successful in attracting new customers; many of whom were previously fixed-head lathe users with many considering second-hand purchases. “When they debate the benefits of a ready-to-run package using the latest technology with training and the security of a full two-year warranty, the decision mostly favours the new machine,” added Mr Bryant. Over the last 12 months, 80 per cent of sales have been taken by sub-contractors who, have been growing in confidence due to continued strengthening of order books and the need to continue to improve competitiveness and deliveries, Mr Bryant added. Indeed, many of the sales reflect this through customers wanting higher specifications to give them a greater degree of flexibility and to have the installed capability to take on more complicated or different types of work. Within the OEM sector, Citizen’s machine sales have featured more as higher value turnkey packages drawing in the applications engineering expertise of NC Engineering as customers overcome the growing problem of the lack of in-house technical resources. “This gives the customer the benefits of exploiting the latest developments in machine, tooling and software in a proven installation.”