Established for 30+ years, Stocdon's founders, Richard and Marianne Scally, are effectively returning to their machine tool roots; both were for many years employed by Coventry-headquartered Wickman Machine Tools prior to establishing their tooling and workholding operation. The eight-employee company will be expanded to support the MCM venture, with two additional salesmen joining by year end the three already on the road.
Explaining that such a move has been on the cards for the company for some time, Richard Scally emphasises that this is not the start of a family of machine tool agencies, adding that MCM chose Stocdon because it didn’t want to be just one of a number of agencies with a UK company, it wanted a representative that would only sell its product.
Stocdon was approached by MCM following recommendations from French and Italian tooling companies that know the UK firm’s pedigree, he says, adding: “We are not selling like a lot of other people do, it’s purpose-built, made-to-order processes and machines. Lead times are six to seven months.”
MCM is a €60 million turnover company that supplies machines to the aerospace sector as a key activity, but which also sells its technology to makers of automotive engine components, including Italy’s Ferrari and Maserati, and also to firms producing diesel engines, including Germany’s MAN and Italy’s Isotta. The oil and gas sector is another field into which it supplies its technology.
In the aerospace area, Airbus, Safran and Snecma in France are major customers – France is a major market for MCM, in fact. And aerospace is seen as a key target by Stocdon, with the company already having approached multiple UK companies in the sector to inform them about its new offering, while three ‘warm’ leads are also being pursued. Richard Scally underlines the metalcutting capabilities of the MCM range, pointing to the HSK 100/160 spindle connections, 24,000-35,000 rpm spindles and high spindle power ratings of 80 kW, for example.
Two recent solutions for aerospace firms include a system for the manufacture of wheels and brake systems, and another for the production of engine discs in nickel super-alloy.
As an example of MCM’s capability, the Italian company highlights its EMO 2015 exhibition exhibit. This comprised a 5-axis tilting head i.Tank MCM machining centre, a 4-axis Clock Dynamic 700 MCM machining centre and a robotic deburring island. Able to provide a complete hardware and software solution, MCM boasts its own software company, MCE, which has developed its jFMX control and supervision software over the course of 30 years.
Also at EMO last October in Milan was a MCM Clock Dynamic 5-axis multi-tasking machining centre equipped with a Siemens 840 Solution Line CNC system and capable of milling, drilling, turning, grinding and power skiving.
At the Farnborough event (11-17 July), MCM will show components and machine images on its 50 m² stand, with Stocdon personnel on hand.
[] MCM is currently experiencing a successful period, expecting to bill a turnover of €65 million this year. Its plant in Vigolzone, in the province of Piacenza, which currently occupies an area of 10,500 m², will be expanded to include a new production area of 2,000 m² and an additional 400 m² of office space. And in order to make communication and the transmission of information between branches around the world more immediate and effective, and also to improve service, MCM is implementing management software and a new PDM system.
The company’s development plan also calls for an expansion of 10% in its current workforce of 240, this being achieved by MCM working in close collaboration with local institutions and universities, creating a program of knowledge exchange that will “lead to more young people experiencing the world of manufacturing early on”.
Video shows: Turnkey solution for Beretta Armi (Gardone Val Trompia, Italy) which substituted 42 CNC machining centres with eight MCM CLOCK 700 6-axis horizontal machining centres and five Fanuc robots. The entire project was integrated by MCM.
