Matsuura Machinery plc has addedthree new machine tool marques toits offerings in under 12 months. Firstcame Japanese turning machines fromMurata in the second half of last year, thenGerman vertical machining centres fromStama and most recently Niigatahorizontal machining centres. These standalongside the company’s long-establishedSNK large gantry machining centre andRomi lathe agencies.

The Coalville, Leics-based firm is asubsidiary of Matsuura Machinery Corp,Japan, indeed, it is the Japanese parent’s“right arm” in Europe, according tomanaging director John Jones (right). Theadditional agencies have therefore beenadded with its blessing.

Matsuura Machinery Corp is seeing anexplosion of demand in both Japan and inthe USA where machine tool consumptionis booming. As for the UK, Mr Jones says:“We noticed in the second half of last yeara notable upturn in quite a lot of industriesand we are not just supplying theaerospace industry, which 15 years agowas the major target for high-speedtechnology; today it’s aerospace, medical,automotive and F1, F3, motorcycles andhydraulics.

“Our business grew 20 per cent lastyear, in fact, but with an emphasis on5-axis, unmanned, pallet-loaded type ofmachines. Automated, unattendedrunning with low setting times aredefinitely demanded by our customers,even small and medium size companies.

“There is more confidence, definitely,and those projects that had been put offand off again last year are now coming tofruition, with additional new projects alsoappearing regularly.”

Indeed, the company’s forward orderbook in December 2004 was the largestfor 10 years, and Matsuura Machinery plcwas already halfway to its annual salestarget in the second week in April, MrJones reported. So, with both of MatsuuraMachinery’s Japanese factories boastinghealthy order books into 2007, some ofCoalville’s further expansion will nowcome from the additional product ranges.

IN-HOUSE EXHIBITIONAn in-house showroom is underconstruction in which all the company’smachine tool offerings will be displayed –and it will be ready for its open house (28,29, 30 June). The Coalville site isundergoing some refurbishment in thearea which took in the old machine shop,with two SNK machines having been soldon to aerospace concerns in the UK andUSA, and a new floor laid to give a totalfloor area of 4,000m2. The main focus forthe open house will be Stama single andtwin-spindle mill/turn machines as wellthe introduction of the latest 5-axismachine from Matsuura – the 10 palletMAM72-25V. The first of these high-accuracy, high-speed, 10-pallet units hasbeen purchased by BMW/Williams F1,bringing the total of Matsuura 5-axiscapable machines in its machine shop toeight – another 32-pallet MAM72-35V isto be delivered in August 2005.

As now, part of the 4,000m2 willbe given over toturnkey/engineered business.“Nobody these days buys

standard machines – 90 per cent of ordersinclude fixturing, tooling andprogramming supplied as a package. Andthat goes for both large and medium sizecompanies,” he offers. But in addition tosupporting the UK market in this way, theCoalville facility also plays thisturnkey/engineering role for 13 otherMatsuura agents throughout Europe.

So while machines will be orderedstraight from Japan by, say, France, theymay well pass through Coalville – which isalso the European bonded warehouse –where engineering will take place.

Matsuura Machinery plc is also the

www.machinery.co.uk ● May 2005

NEW AGENCIES DELIVER COMPLEMENTARY CAPABILITY

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More from MatsuuraAs business turns up both in the UK and worldwide, Matsuura Machinery plc has added new machine

agencies to help support the market’s hunger. Andrew Allcock reports

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John Jones says the recentexpansion will not befollowed by more additions

European Matsuura spindle rebuildingcentre (see Machinery, 19 November 2004,page 14), having over 170 spindles on theshelves valued at £1 million. It may alsosupport all distributed product spindles inthe future . Meanwhile it also holds sparesto the value of £1.5 million to support theUK and Europe (the company isinvestigating first-line sparesrequirements for Murata which will add tothis). And with its manufacturing heritage,rebuilding and resale of Matsuuramachines is another activity.

So its not just machine sales that havedriven the company’s growth, butengineering and more. On the engineeringside, Komatsu’s recent £2.5 million SNKinvestment included £500,000 for this,including responsibility for the machinefoundations, fixture design andmanufacture, plus processimplementation (see Machinery, April2005, page 8).

“There are more demands on us thesedays for support, warranty, spindles,service, scheduled maintenance and

spares,” says Mr Jones, “but we have builtour reputation on such service – 45 of our70 employees are in an engineeringsupport role.” Demands for 24/7 servicecover, particularly from automotive firms,and also continuous involvement inmethods improvement to support cost-down, are other requests.

This is why the company boosted itsapplications engineering capability lastyear, which now stands at 13 people. It willexpand further by up to six to support therecently acquired agencies, with newoffices to house applications engineeringstaff being built in the new showroomarea as part of the site upgrade.

COMPLEMENTARYThe new agencies will help Matsuurasatisfy demands from existing andpotential customers for other technology,says Mr Jones, and they are notcompetitive with Matsuura technology.

The Murata agency has provedsomething of a surprise. Like others, MrJones had linked this with automotive

parts production, but has been surprisedat the number of non-automotive UKapplications. Indeed, the first two sales thecompany picked up were to non-automotive firms – Spirax Sarco,Cheltenham, a manufacturer of fluid andsteam control equipment and sub-contract manufacturer Bryken, Prescott,Merseyside. Both were turnkey, like itsMatsuura business. Both machines wereMT style, main and counter-spindle, andthat is where demand is anticipated – twomachines will be at the June open house.

Stama has a milling heritage and itsmachines will find favour in thoseindustries where tough or hard steels arebeing processed. The Stama rangeincludes machines that offer a turningcapability, for manufacturers ofturbocharger housings, for example, aswell as bar-fed models for small one-hitmilling and turning applications. Currentlyup to 65 mm bar capacity is available butthe forthcoming EMO will see a largermachine launched.

Many bar-fed machines have beensold into Europe and a bar-fed Stamamachine will be present at the June openhouse – it is destined for an F1 customer.Other interest for this type of machine hascome from the medical industry andtooling manufacturers, adds Mr Jones.Once again, turnkey engineering is afeature of Stama machine sales.

Niigata brings a larger capacityhorizontal machining centre capacity tothe party, plus it also offers a BT50 spindleconnection in larger machine sizes whereMatsuura does not. Matsuura offers BT50on machines with pallets up to 630 mm insize – the all-new multi-pallet horizontalH.Plus-500 BT50 machine is beinglaunched at this year’s EMO, in fact. Aswith Stama, the increasing use of titaniumwill help drive demand for Niigata.

With a busy year behind it, MatsuuraMachinery plc does not have anyambitions to add further to its rangefollowing this rapid expansion, Mr Jonesconfirms. “We are now well set for thenext few years.” ■■

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May 2005 ● www.machinery.co.uk

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Stama’s 526MT Twin offers milling and turning of, for example, turbocharger housings