Rik Peer (left), Halter’s business development manager, with Marcus Hamlyn, technical sales manager at 1st MTA, pictured during the Fanuc open house in Coventry earlier this month

Halter CNC Automation, a Dutch manufacturer of robotic machine tending systems headquartered in Hoevelaken, has appointed Salisbury-based 1st Machine Tool Accessories as its sales agent for England, Wales and Scotland.

Until now, Halter installations currently operating in these markets were supplied either directly from Holland or via various CNC machine tool dealers in the UK.

Halter’s business development manager Rik Peer said: “1st MTA is the first formal sales agent we have appointed in Britain and we expect a majority if not all future sales to be through them. However, if a customer wishes to continue an existing association with a supplier, there is flexibility in the arrangement to accommodate that.”

Renowned for the reliability of its systems and for providing high-level after-sales support, Halter was established in 2014, although the engineering expertise of its founders and staff spans many decades. Nearly 95% of Halter customers across 25 countries report a return on investment within 18 months for their automation systems, with some saying it is as short as five months.

Mr Peer concluded: “Halter LoadAssistant systems are compatible with nearly all makes and models of CNC lathe and mill of the relevant size. As they are fitted to such a broad range of globally manufactured machine tools, we were keen to find an independent agent that nevertheless had in-depth knowledge of the industry.

“We believe we have found that company in 1st MTA, with its long experience of supplying bar feed automation for lathes and a wide variety of workholding equipment and other accessories for both turning and milling.”