Manufacturing Machinery World January 2024
Machinery World was launched in 1982 to serve the machinery & production engineering market. Editorially Machinery World is a news and information source that gives direct contact with the provider of innovative services and equipment. Editorial is available both online and as hard copy.
Machinery World was launched in 1982 to serve the machinery & production engineering market.
Editorially Machinery World is a news and information source that gives direct contact with the provider of innovative services and equipment. Editorial is available both online and as hard copy.
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NEWS NEWS NEWS<br />
An early Puma 10 lathe.<br />
The focus, for the fledgling company, was<br />
to give UK and Irish customers access to<br />
advanced, high-quality and competitivelypriced<br />
machine tool technologies backed by<br />
proactive marketing and in-depth after-sales<br />
support and was designed to build strong,<br />
long-term relationships with end users.<br />
A key strength and differentiator for<br />
Mills, at this time, was its applications’ and<br />
projects’ operations, and a well-resourced<br />
and highly-skilled servicing team.<br />
Continues Tony Dale:<br />
“Mills has never been a ‘box shifter’, and<br />
even in the early days, augmented its<br />
machine tool sales business by providing a<br />
range of value-added, pre-and after-sales<br />
services to customers: this has continued to<br />
the present day and is one of Mills’ key<br />
market differentiators.”<br />
Peter Mills developed and grew the<br />
company during the 1970’s and early 1980’s<br />
Tony Dale, CEO, Mills CNC.<br />
before selling his controlling interest to<br />
Haden MacLellan Holdings in 1986. He then<br />
retired and emigrated to South Africa, where<br />
he lived an exciting and eventful life.<br />
(Sadly Peter passed away in 2011 aged<br />
71).<br />
When Peter left Mills, he had already<br />
added South Korean-based Daewoo<br />
<strong>Machinery</strong> (part of Daewoo Heavy<br />
Industries & <strong>Machinery</strong>) to the list of<br />
machine tool principals represented by Mills<br />
Marketing Services.<br />
In the mid 1980s, with the company under<br />
new management, the company relocated its<br />
operations to new, larger premises in<br />
Norwich (Bowthorpe Road Industrial Estate)<br />
and, in 1986 achieved sales of 100 machines –<br />
a real landmark at the time.<br />
In 1992, with Mills Marketing Services<br />
having established itself as a major UK<br />
machine tool distributor, the company<br />
changed its name to Mills <strong>Manufacturing</strong><br />
Technology.<br />
The name change reflected a change in<br />
focus away from being a traditional machine<br />
tool distributor to a company providing a<br />
wide range of technology solutions. Hand in<br />
hand with the repositioning was a change in<br />
the company’s logo and livery, and a<br />
streamlining of the machine tool principals it<br />
represented.<br />
GOING PLACES: 1996 - 2014<br />
1996 - 2014 was an incredibly successful<br />
period for Mills <strong>Manufacturing</strong> Technology<br />
and, from 2009, for Mills CNC too.<br />
Over these 18 years the company grew<br />
exponentially, and notable highlights<br />
included:<br />
• Relocation of its entire business<br />
operations to Tachbrook Drive in<br />
Leamington Spa. This started in 2000 and<br />
Mike Jenkins (MD) from 1998 – 2006. Nick Frampton (MD) from 2006 – 2014. Kevin Gilbert (MD) from 2014/15-2021.<br />
<strong>Manufacturing</strong> <strong>Machinery</strong> <strong>World</strong>, <strong>January</strong> <strong>2024</strong> 13
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