Machines sold include UK firsts for Hermle – a C 42 U 5-axis machining centre and two C 50 U MT 5-axis machines with turning capability. A number of Index CNC lathes have been installed, including an advanced G300 mill-turning machine to a medical firm. From the group’s Traub subsidiary, a TNX lathe with four 10-station turrets has been sold as well as a TNL model to a subcontractor that bought a similar machine earlier in the year. Numerous Dürr industrial cleaning machines have been sold across a range of industries, with others due for delivery early in 2011.
Managing director, Richard Kingsbury, ascribes the upturn in business to increased confidence within the UK manufacturing sector coupled with more concentration by the family-owned company on factored machine sales.
He said, The greater focus that we are able to give to this side of the business is a consequence of Geo Kingsbury having sold its automotive test stand manufacturing division in July 2010 to US-based Burke E Porter Machinery.
Although production of test rigs for powertrain quality control was a thriving business, it was manpower-intensive and tended to dilute management involvement in our machine tool division.
Other elements of the restructuring of Geo Kingsbury’s Gosport operation have been put in place over the past few years. For example, recognising that after-sales service had become a business in its own right, the company appointed operations director, Peter Kingsbury, to oversee this side of the operation.
He commented, Understanding the market and making sure that service capacity is in place are increasingly important in machine tool sales.
It is largely based on good customer care that reputations are enhanced, and that directly impacts repeat sales, so it is crucial to get it right.
It is noteworthy that the company maintained its service support team at full strength during the recession, as well as its sales and applications staff.
Geo Kingsbury champions a ‘lifetime partnership’ approach to customer liaison, whereby it not only sells and services machines but also continues to support the installations to a very high level. It does this by offering on-going applications advice, machine upgrades, control options, tooling, and additional training courses for programmers, operators and maintenance staff. The result is that the potential of each machine is realised to the full throughout its working life.
Manufacture of simple components continues to be lost to low-wage countries and what remains in the UK tends to be higher-added-value and quality-critical work, exactly the type that demands higher levels of technology and support. This underlines the importance of Geo Kingsbury’s director-level supervision of customer care.