Star lathes resilient in last quarter

He said: "Order intake was particularly strong in the last two months of the year and, as of mid December, we have 13 machines to deliver during the first quarter of 2011." Mr Hunt attributes part of this success to the MACH 2010 exhibition, where a lot of positive enquiries were taken that subsequently turned into orders, some of which were clinched at the Star open house in October. Part of the reason for the high level of interest in Star lathes is the large number of new machines on offer, including the 38 mm capacity ST-38 slider premiered at the MACH show. While two fixed-head mill-turn centres and a 20 mm sliding-head model were subsequently launched at the company's open house in Melbourne. So many additions to the Star range over a relatively short period, including the addition of the company's first-ever fixed-head models, has had the effect of strengthening the company's presence in the UK market. In view of the positive end-of-year sales and with prospects for 2011 looking bright, Mr Hunt says that Star GB will be recruiting extra applications and service engineers early in the New Year.