The main orders taken in April are from existing North American and Chinese customers.
Says MD Ian Petitt: “We were judged against most major competitors in our sector.However, what became a major factor in each of the orders won was the proven overall machine reliability of Mollart’s installations and utilisation that has been maintained over extended periods of time. Our reputation for application development and levels of productivity aided by our German specialist tooling partner Botek were also important factors.”
An order from one of the largest independent automotive manufacturers in North America worth some £2.5 million will see Mollart supply four special purpose 4- and 6-spindle gundrilling centres for producing oil galleries in transmission shafts used in the latest generation of fuel efficient 9- and10-speed gearboxes.
A further US order taken by Mollart is for a Prismabore PRB 25 6-axis combination gundrilling and machining centre.The machine is to be used for the deep hole drilling of cooling holes in steel moulds at a US mould specialist.
Bringing the success of its gundrilling installations in the fuel injection sector in China to 60, Mollart has orders for a further two-spindle Drillsprint LD2-750 machine to drill holes between 7 mm and 10 mm diameter by 600 mm deep in forged alloy steel diesel fuel rails.