Mills CNC on course to break 2007 record, with 400-plus machines predicted

Nick Frampton, Mills CNC's managing director, said: "Clearly we are delighted. Our performance to date shows that we should overtake our previous best year's performance (2007) by some margin and that, for the first time, we'll hit the 400 machine tool milestone. At this moment in time (end of June) we have over 320 machines booked for delivery this year." "Every company, I'm sure, will be able to say that their sales have increased by 30, 40 or even 50% on 2010. But with sales declining in that period – that's not saying much. By comparison, we know that selling over 400 machines this year will be a great achievement for our team and a real vindication of our continued investment in support services." The real stars of the show, he added, are the new Doosan Puma 8", 10" and 12" chuck lathes, with 86 being delivered this year. Other turning machines that have sold well include 46 large capacity (up to 32" chuck size) Puma lathes, and 65 Lynx (small, compact 2- and 3-axis) lathes, including the recently launch Lynx 300 10" chuck machine. On the milling side, Doosan DNM 3-axis verticals put in a strong showing, with 70 machines sold to date, and horizontal machining centre sales also made a positive contribution. Multi-axis machine tool sales (including mill-turn and 5-axis machines) have also "proved popular". But in addition to product, Mr Frampton stressed support: "We have invested and strengthened our service provision – and will continue to do so. We have recruited additional, highly qualified service and applications engineers to meet the needs of our large and growing installed base, and have streamlined our systems and processes to make us more efficient, more effective and more customer focused."