As part of its ongoing growth strategy, Dugard Machine Tools has employed Andrew Sutton as its new area sales manager to support customers in Scotland.

Joining the company in August, he began his manufacturing career in 2007, serving a machining apprenticeship before moving to oil and gas company Halliburton. With extensive experience in three-, four- and five-axis machining, Mr Sutton then moved to an industry-leading steel company where he was tasked sales and estimating for the sub-contract division of the business. For the last three years, he has been operating as the area sales manager for a cutting tool and ancillary equipment distribution firm.

Mr Sutton said: “The Dugard brand is well respected for both its quality and service. Furthermore, the company has a significant number of machines installed in Scotland as reference points, so I will be aiming to apply my previous experience and contacts to further grow the brand while ensuring that existing Dugard customers are fully up to speed with all of the new machines that we have available.”

Managing director Eric Dugard said: “Employing engineers with the enthusiasm and experience of the marketplace in Scotland is a real asset. For several years, we have gradually grown our market share in Scotland and Andrew will help us to build upon this momentum. In the last couple of years, we have added the high-end range of Kitamura machine tools and the Ibarmia brand to our stable as well as the Hanwha brand of sliding head turning centres and automation solutions.”

“We already have an expansive range of machine tool solutions for industry, but these latest additions are giving us the impetus to increase our footprint in all regions of the UK. In the case of Andrew and Scotland, we recognise the strength of the offshore, power generation and heavy-industry sectors; the Spanish-built Ibarmia series of heavy-duty three-, four- and five-axis travelling column machining centres up to 12m are perfect for this heavy engineering environment.”

He concluded: “Adding to the travelling column machines from Ibarmia is the company’s T-Series of fully universal five-axis machines that offer a swing diameter from 1.2 up to 3.6m with a 2.15m height capacity. These flexible powerhouse machines will be the perfect solution for heavy industry in Scotland and the North.”