Like many small engineering companies, Paxford Engineering says it is not ‘cash-rich’; and being a partnership rather than a limited company means that raising finance to bring in new machine tools can be an issue — which is why the Moreton-in-Marsh business is an advocate of the rental scheme offered by Burlescombe-based XYZ Machine Tools.

Paxford currently has three machines under this scheme, which operates in 12-month periods, following an initial down-payment.

At the end of each period, the user has three options: return the machine; buy it outright at a pre-agreed price; or extend the rental period for another year. At the end of the fourth year, the machine can be purchased outright with a final payment or returned to XYZ.

Paxford partner Guy Nicholls says: “The scheme works perfectly for us, as we do not have to commit to a large cash outlay. As a general sub-contractor, we don’t work with specific market sectors, so we don’t know what work is coming in from one week to another, let alone from one year to the next.

“That is why the ability to end the XYZ rental agreement and bring in a different machining capacity at relatively short notice works well for our business.”

The first machine taken by Paxford Engineering was an XYZ EMX 3000 two-axis knee mill, but Mr Nicholls and his business partner Ben Blackmore soon realised that they needed a three-axis machine to undertake the type of work they were getting.

After 12 months, they gave it back and replaced it with an XYZ SMX 3500 bed mill. The company’s current SLX 355 ProTurn lathe, which is coming up to its first anniversary on the rental scheme, is also being considered for exchange, as Paxford’s workload has changed, and additional milling capacity is now required.

The XYZ rental scheme is only available on the company’s ProtoTrak-controlled machines (www.xyzmachinetools.com).