Official opening of Matrix Machine Tools (Coventry)
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The Matrix Machine Tool (Coventry) company was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Councillor Ram P Lakha last month.
The event put the official seal on the return of the manufacture of Matrix thread grinders to their Coventry birthplace – the Earlplace Business Park is on the site of the original company, Coventry gauge & Tool (see Machinery, 1 October, 2004, page 14). It also brought together numerous ex-employees of the original company and its successors.
The new company moved into its ‘new’ home in May 2004 and has so far delivered four CNC thread grinders to Taiwanese ballscrew/linear product maker Hiwin Corp valued at £1.2 million.
The company currently has an order book of £1.6 million with orders for the Far East and India active, while negotiations with Brazil, China and India are underway, reports vice president David Giles, who adds that Russia is also considered a good prospect.
The company has entered the surface grinding market with its twin-column TC106 machine exhibited at the recent EMO show. Cylindrical grinders will follow. Mr Giles says that it will sell on technical advantage, but the TC106 is some 30 per cent below the nearest competitor’s price for a similar machine.
Mr Giles predicts the company will be three times larger in five years’ time, in terms of employee numbers which currently stand at around 20. Turnover then is expected to be 50-60 per cent thread grinding, the remainder surface and cylindrical product.
