A succession of 40ft trucks and vans have been running out of the former Wadkin workshops in Leicester bound for a prime seven-acre industrial site 10 miles away. Despite the recession Advanced Machinery Services (AMS) is leaving behind its roots in the Wadkin machinery company to develop both its own premises and a new brand.
Like other suppliers of moulders to the UK woodworking industry, new sales have been thin on the ground, and like its competitors AMS has been bolstering revenue with service, repair and rebuild work. The move to Skeffington will boost workspace from 15,000ft2 to 30,000ft2, and eventually expand to 40,000ft2 with a new showroom and training academy.
"We sold 12 machines last year, but I can’t pretend this year has been good," said founder director Steve McGloin. "The real success for us has been the rebuild side. Recently our rebuild programme was sold out until next January and in just a few weeks it is now sold out until March 2013. I hate to have to say to customers we are booked up for almost a year, but at the same time it does make us feel comfortable about moving forward the way we are."
Malcolm Cuthbertson, managing director of Weinig UK, said the improvement in sales seen last year continued into the first quarter, but had since fallen away and he doesn’t expect any move toward normal trading until 2013.
"The market is still comparatively slow although we are making sales," said Francis Dalton, managing director of the fourth-generation machinery supplier DaltonsWadkin. "Enquiries are a little thin on the ground and therefore the competition between the suppliers is significant."
Over budget
The SCM Group also reported servicing and maintenance coming in well over budget for the UK operation of the Italian-manufactured machinery company based at its 37,000ft2 headquarters in Nottingham. "Generally I think smaller machinery is selling better; the people that do one-offs, the small joinery firms – they are the ones that are investing," said marketing spokesman Mike King.
"We attended Technodomus in Rimini in April and I think the visitor numbers were up 20 or 30% and those people were looking at new machines," he added. "SCM is aiming for business to pick up by Ligna next year and then I think that’s where we will be seeing developments to the machinery."
For AMS, which represents the Taiwanese Gau-Jing and Slovenian Ledinek heavy-duty machines, selling new equipment is the icing on the cake, said Mr McGloin. The company has invested heavily in stock and service to meet customer demand and is recruiting two more field engineers.
The company was formed five years ago by former Wadkin employees who leased part of that site. They believe they have outgrown both the premises and the name. "We want to drive forward with our own brand. And that’s something we believe is worth investing in," Mr McGloin said.
"Time is very important and, on the sales side, time saving operation is up there with price. But there is a lot of tradition in moulders. If you are talking HSK tooling you are reequipping the tool room, so standard tools are still popular."
Mr Dalton also noted that quick set-up machines avoiding complicated control systems and with a preference to using existing or standard tooling "seem frequently to be what is wanted".
"I think it is true to say that refurbished or rebuilt machines have experienced an increase in demand, particularly when it comes to heavy duty machines of proven technology, such as the Wadkin high-speed jointed machines with heavy duty feedworks," he added. Rebuild machines currently going through its workshops are a number of Wadkin XE and XJ high-speed jointed machines, with an XE recently going to Walford Timber at Ross-on-Wye.
DaltonsWadkin is also sole UK and Ireland distributor for the German-made Kuper range of moulders. "The machines coming onto the market represent a move to offer sensibly priced options to enhance already well specified machines without the need to resort to more sophisticated and expensive alternatives," said Mr Dalton.
SCM has seen investment by companies serving the kitchen and shopfitting sector holding up well. It launched a new automatic planer moulder at Technodomus designed for a smaller footprint and improved ergonomics.
The Profiset 40 is equipped as standard with an idle roller in the outfeed table to guarantee effective feed and an improved finish, independent dust hoods, infeed table adjustment above the table and a new NC with feed speed control.
The Profiset 60 is sturdier, with a new feed system, using Cardan joints and a gearbox with a 3KW motor. SCM has also introduced jointing to its Topset planer moulders by adding straight knives directly on to the machine.
Sales across the board
Weinig UK reports a complete spread of sales, from the one-man band to the company with 100 employees. "Most of it is necessary investment; no one wants to spend," said Mr Cuthbertson. "The smaller companies are reacting to increased demand, but don’t want to take on additional employees, and the larger companies are investing to provide capacity and efficiencies.
He said the latest Cube planer moulder had been selling "like hot cakes", especially to smaller workshops. The compact, plug and play pre-programmable four-side planer requires minimal manual intervention, replaces tool heads with simpler blade changing and uses 60% less extraction energy, and can be moved by trolley.
"It is inexpensive and anyone can use it after 10 minutes of instruction," said Mr Cuthbertson. "This has been going into both the one-man bands and to merchant chains employing hundreds of people,"
At the other end of the spectrum, Weinig said the Powermat range had remained popular. "It’s possible to take out two or three moulders and put in one Powermat, which seems to be the way ahead – fewer employees and fewer but more productive machines."
He added that customer demand for smaller batch orders and just-in-time delivery was also driving Powermat sales. "It is a high throughput speed machine and the batch size can drop dramatically, almost to produce on demand, which is what our customers know is driving their customers."
Weinig UK, which holds £1m of stock at its head office and showroom in Abingdon, Oxon, has 10 field engineers. However, all suppliers reported an upsurge in servicing and maintenance.
"In the last recession in 1992, when SCM started here in the UK, new sales were on the floor and we concentrated on servicing, which did very, very well," said Mr King. "Service has done well in this recession, but unlike last time, more people have been investing as well."
"Demand for regular maintenance and service contracts seems to be on the increase," agreed Mr Dalton. "We are finding it necessary to provide a fast turn round for spindle exchanges, either serviced or new replacements, an increased stock holding of spare parts, manufacture of components and upgrades to existing machinery."
He added that Kuper moulders in future would continue to develop in the specification. "The latest features incorporated as standard in Kuper moulders include the Electronic Start- Stop-System of the Siemens IE2 energy-saving drives, quick-lock system ProLock, swivel mounted feed cassette at the right spindle for easy change of tools, frequency-controlled feed speed, and a pneumatically absorbed pressure shoe behind the upper shaft for improved dynamics by linear guides."
Mr Cuthbertson said Weinig expected continued refinement of what the company was offering, rather than leaps in technology. "For us, we have a moulder to provide a repeating pattern down the length of a board. That’s available with the Powermat range and we are the only ones who do it," he said.