Keith Villiers (pictured right) hands the baton over to James Hanmer

Warwick-based Walter Ewag UK Ltd, a manufacturer of high-quality CNC grinding, erosion and measuring machines, has announced that Keith Villiers has retired after 27 years’ of service with the company.

Mr Villiers joined Walter GB — as it was then — in 1997 as a machine salesman, moving into applications two years later. He has been a familiar face with customers the length and breadth of the country, applying his vast applications knowledge to help with programming, process and productivity improvement in the production and regrinding of cylindrical cutting tools. During this time he has had to keep abreast of continual technological advances to machine software and programming in a fast-moving environment.

James Hanmer has succeeded Mr Villiers as applications engineer and aims to continue to seamlessly deliver the same level of support. He joined Walter Ewag UK’s customer care department in 2017 after a career in production engineering that began with an apprenticeship in the early 1990s, which secured a City & Guilds BTEC accreditation in production engineering. His CV includes experience in the purchase of Walter tool grinders and a period as production manager of a company that uses Walter machines.