Doosan unveils 63 new machine tools at biennial event - UK picks to be announced

Held at the company's Namsan factory in Changwon, South Korea, the show, which took place from 14 – 16 May 2013, was primarily aimed at Doosan's global network of subsidiary companies, dealers and distributors, and, not surprisingly, representatives from Mills CNC (the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland), were in attendance. This DIMF, like the previous eight shows, demonstrated Doosan's strength and breadth in the world's machine tool market, with some 63 machines making their debuts at the event. These included 26 lathes/turning centres, 25 machining centres, four EDM machines and four Swiss turn (sliding head) lathes, and the new introductions were viewed by over 3,500 visitors attending the event. A particular focus of this year's DIMF was machining large-sized precision parts that are commonly found in the oil and gas, power generation and aerospace segments and, as a consequence, Doosan's large-capacity Puma horizontal and vertical lathes, and its large and powerful horizontal borers and machining centres, were out in force. Says Nick Frampton, managing director at Mills CNC, who attended the show: "Although DIMF is aimed at Doosan's worldwide network of distributors and dealers, it is not an introspective event, and its impact, although perhaps not immediate, will be noticeable around the world in the weeks and months ahead." Decisions concerning what to introduce into the UK and Ireland and when - and what to hold in stock - are all carefully planned, reviewed and monitored by the Mills' senior management team. Explains Mr Frampton: "We know the UK and Irish markets, and we know what type of machine tools precision manufacturers need and are looking for. If we don't believe there is a market for a certain technology or for specific machines in the UK and Ireland, we won't stock them. "We also know that it's of critical importance that, prior to any machine tool introduction, we are 100% confident that we can service and support any and every Doosan machine in our range. "To do this means that our engineers (pre-sales, applications and service etc,) must know, in advance, every one of our Doosan machines - inside out. "Put simply, we won't introduce or stock machines we can't support until and unless we have trained our engineers to full competency." He concluded: "We will be announcing a new, major machine tool launch in the autumn, with a number of machines launched at DIMF making their UK debuts on our stand at MACH 2014."