Yamazaki Mazak celebrated a record year for machine sales in 2018, due to strong performance across a number of key market sectors.
Despite uncertainty in the marketplace in the lead-up to Brexit, the machine tool manufacturer witnessed impressive sales throughout the automotive, oil and gas, and medical markets in particular.
Alan Mucklow, Managing Director UK & Ireland Sales Division for Yamazaki Mazak, said: “Mazak is delighted to announce that 2018 proved to be the company’s best ever year for UK machine sales.
“The resurgence of the oil and gas market was much-welcomed, and we saw great success with the sales of machines from the larger section of our portfolio, such as our INTEGREX e-H range of Multi-Tasking machine tools, as well as our highly versatile MEGATURN vertical turning centres.”
Mr Mucklow said an especially pleasing aspect of Mazak’s 2018 sales performance was the volume of commodity machines, including the UK-made entry-level QT COMPACT turning centre range, and the high-performance QUICK TURN series.
“The company has invested heavily in improving our European Manufacturing Centre in Worcester in recent years, and it is especially rewarding to see that investment translate into shorter lead times and strong sales for UK-built machines,” he said.
“2018 also proved to be another fantastic year for UK sales of machines from our laser processing portfolio, following the recent additions to our Direct Diode Laser range, as well as the newly-unveiled 8.0kW and 10.0kW additions to our highly popular OPTIPLEX FIBER series.”
He added that 2019 had already started off strongly, with the company generating an impressive volume of enquiries from its presence at the Autosport Engineering event in January.
“This year was the first time we exhibited across the weekend, rather than just the ‘trade’ days, and it paid real dividends being the only machine tool manufacturer with a visible presence,” he said.