For example, MACH 2014 proved to be the best exhibition in the 30-year history of XYZ Machine Tools (www.xyzmachinetools.com), with orders taken during the five-day show exceeding all expectations; and with orders continuing to arrive on a daily basis following the event, the Burlescombe-based company is looking forward to a record-breaking year.

Managing director Nigel Atherton said: “The response to our attendance at MACH has been fantastic; if they had shut the doors at the end of Tuesday, we would have been more than happy with the business we had done. By the end of the week we had taken almost 600 enquiries, 200 of which were described as ‘hot’, with the staff back at the office working non-stop to fulfil the requests for information. With firm orders for 26 machines — with a value in excess of £1.1 million — this is our best result ever from a MACH exhibition. Moreover, the positive news continued after the exhibition closed, with orders that were directly attributable to the show continuing to flow in: total sales immediately after the two-day Easter break stood at 44 machines, valued at more than £1.54 million. These figures reflect the high level of business confidence that is out there among UK manufacturing companies.”

Interest from visitors was across XYZ Machine Tools’ range of machines, from manual lathes and mills, through its ProtoTrak-equipped machines to full CNC machining and turning centres. The two new machines unveiled at the show also drew lots of interest. The XYZ XL780 — a heavy-duty lathe that bridges the gap between the SLX range of lathes and the larger XYZ XL and oil-country lathes — has a 780mm swing and a 3,000mm bed length, with control provided by a Siemens 828D control with Shopturn conversational programming software. The second new machine was the concept XYZ 2op , which has been developed to allow cellular manufacturing within small to medium-size machine shops at relatively low cost. Furthermore, with a footprint of only 750 x 1,200mm, this machine is readily portable and can be easily moved to where it is needed on the shopfloor; it also has an eight-station ATC.