Wadkin Ultracare had two objectives for its presence on the Wood Machinery Suppliers Association stand at Ligna. One was to promote the growing range of services offered by its UltraCare machine maintenance business. The second was to flag up internationally that Wadkin machines are well and truly back in production, with spare parts readily available.

Directors Peter and Nigel Smith said both aims were achieved.

Following the rapid development of the UltraCare servicing operation in the UK (it has recently strengthened its 25-strong maintenance team which covers the full range of mechanical, electrical and electronic skills), it is now looking to develop this business abroad.

“We’ve been asked to send an engineer to undertake machine training in South America and may look at machine servicing ‘tours’ of particular countries or regions,” said Peter Smith. “And, as in the UK, we can offer maintenance of all machine brands, not just Wadkin.”

“An increasing number of companies are appreciating the value of the sort of regular machine servicing contract we offer,” added Nigel Smith.

Ligna was the first time Wadkin had retaken the international exhibition stage since the business came out of receivership two years ago and its new machine offer and spares service also attracted a lot of attention.

“There’s loyalty to the Wadkin brand around the world and the response has been extremely positive,” said Nigel Smith. “We installed a new Delta moulder at Mediarex in Malaysia during Ligna and at the show itself we had spares enquiries from Spain, Thailand and Singapore.”