Mills CNC takes orders for 17 machines at MACH 2014 - adds impetus to record first quarter

A just reward for the company that took its largest ever stand at a MACH event this year, with 23 machines, eight of which were launches in the UK market, being promoted. This success comes after the company had just seen its best ever first quarter sales, in fact, with the company having sold 154 Doosan machines in the three month (January to March) period. Comments Nick Frampton, Mills CNC's managing director: "MACH was brilliant for us. We were, quite literally, rushed off our feet and welcomed thousands of visitors onto our Stand over the five days. "The fact that we sold 17 machines was the real icing on the cake, and demonstrates the continuing and enduring popularity of Doosan machine tools amongst precision component manufacturers." The machines sold during MACH included a number of the company's popular Puma 2600 and Puma 3100 series of lathes, its recently-launched DNM Mark II range of vertical machining centres, and its high performance 5-axis machines. Mills' decision to showcase a range of its large capacity Doosan machines at MACH also paid dividends. Mr Frampton again: "Interest in our big Doosan machines was particularly noticeable and encouraging, and resulted in us taking orders for a number of large-capacity Puma lathes, vertical turning lathes and horizontal machining centres." Other new machines launched at MACH also pulled in the crowds, reports the company, with the new ST 20G and 32G sliding-head machines, together with the Lynx Y-axis lathe range, drawing interest. Concludes Mr Frampton: "We booked our MACH 2014 stand way back in December 2012 – some 15 months in advance of the show. "Such was the high demand for Doosan machines at that time that we made the decision to book the largest stand at the event and to showcase as wide a cross-section of machines we supply as possible to MACH visitors. "Some may have seen this as a risk, especially if the market suffered a downturn but, such was, and is, our confidence in the Doosan machines we sell and support, that we knew we had made the right decision. "This has been borne out by events. 2013 was our most successful year to date, with machine sales topping £57 million, and our performance in the first quarter of 2014 has been nothing short of phenomenal. "MACH has provided further impetus and the enquiries and sales generated during the show will, I'm sure, make 2014 a real landmark year for the company." With MACH now over, Mills is focused on completing Phase II of its Campus developments, which will see the revamping of its service operation and a doubling in capacity of the CNC Training Academy. Says Nick Frampton: "Visitors to MACH, I'm sure will have been impressed by what they saw of us at the show. But I can guarantee that a visit to the Mills CNC Technology Campus to see the 60+ Doosan machines we hold in-stock and the other improvements made to our facility will take their breath away." Business Secretary Vince Cable stops by the Mills CNC stand during his visit to the show on Friday, 11 April