Mills CNC sees strong sales growth on back of comprehensive offering

The Leamington-based company, which describes itself as being widely recognised as being the UK's fastest-growing machine tool supplier, has revealed that combined sales of its machine tools and non-machine tools operations topped £51 million for the first time in its history. Furthermore, owing to strong orders experienced in the last two quarters of 2012, Mills is going forward into 2013 with its largest and strongest looking forward order book ever. Managing director Nick Frampton describes the 2012 performance as "brilliant and a fitting reward for the hard work put in by the whole Mills team", and points out that the results demonstrate that "the foundations we have put in place through continually investing in service support and machine stocking have consistently enabled us to out-perform the market". And he draws on independent market analysis to underscore the achievement. "It's great to have independent market research and analysis that provides evidence that what we're doing and how we do things has been well received by the market, and a recent report from Oxford Economics, a leading economic and advisory forecasting consultancy, has revealed that while the UK CNC machine tool market grew 18% between 2008 and 2012, Mills CNC's growth, by comparison, was 62%." And he adds that "there are a whole host of reasons why this is the case and why customers are choosing Doosan machines, backed by Mills". The depth and breadth of Mills' machine tool ranges that comprise everything from small 2-axis lathes right through to large 15" chuck and over lathes and turning centres, and from multi-tasking mill-turn machines through to best-in-class vertical and horizontal machining centres, borers, VTL's and 5- axis machines go some way to explaining Mills' success, it is offered. In reality it means that Mills can become, and is for many customers, a single-source supplier of machine tools. But that in itself is not enough, says the company. Nick Frampton again: "It's one thing having a strong machine tool line-up, but it's quite another ensuring their fast and professional delivery and installation." To meet customers' demands for new Doosan machine tools and to ensure a rapid response to fulfilling customer' orders, Mills operates a forward order stock programme, which means that many Doosan machines are held in stock at Mills' facility in Leamington and, even if they are not, non-stocked machines can be manufactured and delivered in double-quick time. Customer service is another important element in success, adds the managing director: "We have continued to invest in and strengthen our service provision in 2012, and we have recruited additional service, application and PDI engineers to meet the needs of our large and growing installed base." An overhaul of its parts operations, the launch of Mills CNC Finance (Mills CNC's independently-operated machine tool finance operation), and continued investment in the CNC Training Academy (amongst several service-led initiatives), have improved the company's infrastructure and support facilities, and demonstrate, says the company, the importance it places on striving to have the best customer service and support in the business. But, in the end, the company says that people buy from people, and that its long-serving Business Unit Managers are key in that. Business unit managers manage the nine regional sales territories, are responsible for sales growth within their region and operate as the first point of contact for new customers. Importantly, they also continue to have an active involvement in post-sales support, something that customers, according Nick Frampton, "appreciate and value". Most of Mills' Business Unit Managers have been with the company for a considerable time. Mr Frampton again: "I think customers are re-assured by the continuity that Mills provides - and knowing that a Business Manager has represented Mills for a long time builds is part-and-parcel of that. "Essentially we still believe that people buy off people, and that relationship-building based on mutual trust, integrity and respect is all important. "The Business Unit Management structure we have put in place, coupled with our comprehensive pre-sales engineering capabilities, means that our managers can identify and recommend the right product, ensure prompt and professional delivery and installation and provide in-depth and on-going support."