Mills CNC celebrates sales and visitor numbers for MACH

This sales performance followed hard on the heels of the company's record start to 2012 (first quarter sales topped £12 million). The company used the show to launch a number of new Doosan machine tools, including a new range of compact Lynx sub-spindle lathes and a new range of (NHM) heavy duty horizontal machining centres. Other Doosan machine tools that were amongst the 16 machines being exhibited included the large-capacity VTS 1620M (vertical turning lathe) and the Puma 700LY (long-bed lathe with Y-axis and Driven Tools etc), as well as a number of turning centres with Y-axis, driven tools, C-axis and sub-spindle capabilities; the latest range of 3 and 5-axis vertical machining centres and a select number of multi-axis mill-turn machines. Says Nick Frampton, managing director at Mills: "You can judge the success of MACH in a number of different ways. For many, it's a numbers game and is about how many machines were sold on the stand. And if we're using sales as the yardstick to measure success, I can say that with £1.6 million sales taken during the 5 days that we have had a very successful MACH. "But sales results, as important as they are, don't tell the complete story, and, for me, one of the most pleasing aspects of the show was receiving the positive feedback from visitors to our stand who were telling me how much Mills has evolved since the last MACH. "We have grown considerably in the last two years and have invested significantly in our people...in our infrastructure...and in the Mills brand and how we market and promote ourselves. All indications suggest that this activity has registered with customers and amongst precision manufacturers as a whole. The fact that a large percentage of the sales and enquiries generated at the show were from new customers demonstrates the reach and resonance of what we're doing...and how we're doing it. "Particularly encouraging, and to some extent a vindication of what we decided to exhibit, was the interest shown by visitors in our large capacity VTS 1620M, Puma 700LY and the new NHM 6300 machines. To exhibit these machines represents a significant investment for us, but we believed it was important to showcase a good cross-section of the Doosan machines we sell and support in the UK and Ireland. "It meant that in one area of our stand we had our smallest machine (a Lynx 220B lathe) and in another the tallest machine at the show (the VTS 1620M). In between were the other 14 Doosan machines that were all making a lasting impression on visitors."