As we emerge from the pandemic, industry is being faced with a completely new set of challenges that include supply chain issues compounded by unexpected jumps in demand, the Brexit aftermath and much more. There has been a pattern of limited machine tool availability and a surge in demand, so MTD magazine visited Hurco Europe, one of the UK’s leading machine tool suppliers to get a better insight into what is going on in the marketplace. We even had a bit of fun programming a machine.
By Rhys Williams
As the Managing Director of Hurco Europe, Mr Dave Waghorn has been in the industry for more than 30 years, so we thought we’d ask Dave a couple of questions…before we got to play on a machine.
how has business been through the pandemic?
“Things have been a lot better than I first thought they were going to be. Our financial year ends 31st of October, and at this stage, the year is going very well. Our best year ever was 2018. We will not quite achieve those numbers, but we will get close. 2020 was a tough year for all businesses. However, we were pleased to come out of it as well as we did.”
“With regards to Covid, we saw business drop by 30% at the worst point. There were particular lockdown months when we had very low sales. It was a strange situation because business was booming in March 2020, right up until lockdown started. We then had a number of order postponements through April and May 2020. However, after a couple of months, the market started to bounce back. We had initially furloughed some staff, but from 1st June 2020 all Hurco employees were back at work, and we have stayed busy ever since.”
“The past 18 months have been a series of peaks and troughs rather than a continuous flow of business. When the pandemic started, many of us feared a recession similar to 2008. In reality, because the slowdown was not caused by business or finance reasons, the industry plans and pent-up demand still exist. This meant that the bounce-back has been much quicker and stronger than in 2008.”
“Throughout the pandemic, many industry sectors such as aerospace and automotive production were down, but where Hurco does very well is the general subcontract market. Several large companies found it difficult to keep production lines running efficiently, but the smaller general and precision engineering companies needed to stay flexible, make parts and keep the industry going. It is in this area where we saw the demand. We even supported a few new start-ups.”
What is the current situation with machine availability?
“From the start of this year, we had two major challenges. One was Covid and the other was Brexit. Two of the biggest hurdles that UK business has ever had to navigate. I am proud of how we have handled both. We had to completely change the way we manage the documentation for all machine and parts shipments. We even created a Hurco Europe entity in Ireland to manage European VAT. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort.”
“We bring machines into a warehouse in Rotterdam that holds the Hurco stock for Europe. This remains unchanged, but some of the preparation work that was previously done in Holland is now done at our High Wycombe facility. The European stock model still works well in meeting demand, as there is a lot of sharing that goes on between European divisions. Germany is a huge market for Hurco machines. If we are short of a certain model, they can often help out.”
“Availability has been a challenge, partly because of the rapid bounce-back of the market and partly because of the container shipping issues that are well documented as a worldwide problem. Hurco’s factories are back up to full production again and demand is high – but as a result of some positive forecasting, we currently have stock availability. Availability does vary depending upon the model required. We always recommend as much advance notice as possible. We expect demand to increase further as the UK returns to something like normality.”
What are the plans for the next 6 months?
“We have an Open House Exhibition on the 6th and 7th of October. We had been looking forward to the Southern Manufacturing event, but with that being postponed, we selected the dates that they had originally booked. Over the summer we have replaced every machine in our showroom with brand new models, so there is plenty for everyone to see. If all goes well, we should be able to plan our popular Christmas Open House event too.”
What will be on show at the October Open House?
“We will have the new VM One machining centre that will replace the VM5i – this new machine only hit the market in June. The VM5i is all-around smaller and the VM10 is our volume-selling machine, but the new VM One sits between the two. Importantly, it fits under a 2m door. The base is the same as the larger VM10i with the smaller VM5i column. This gives customers more travel and stability with a few new features.”
“The BX60i will also be on show, and it is completely new to the UK. This is a niche product with its 1.9 by 1.3m bed, 18,000rpm spindle and linear scales – it is a high-end machine ideal for press tools and mould makers.”
“Another big feature for us at the event will be automation. Hurco bought a company 2 years ago called ProCobots that integrates cobot solutions to machine tools. Many machine tool companies offer a robot, where we are different is we can offer a completely integrated bolt-on package. A good example of integration is our rotary tables where you can fit a table, plug it in, and the option pops up on the CNC control in full conversational programming. The control already has the facility for the rotary table, but until you plug one in, the option doesn’t appear. This will be the same for our automation solution – a simple conversational option will appear that is easy to program, as soon as the robot is enabled. We have a range of system solutions with storage, draws, automated door opening and more.”
“We see automation like 5-axis machining. 5-axis was a slow starter, but once the benefits are understood, a company would buy one 5-axis machine and almost every purchase afterwards would be 5-axis. The benefits of automation, just like 5-axis machining are clear, and yet take-up is currently relatively slow. At MACH 2018, we had dozens of customers saying they would buy another machine if we could find them an operator. Now, we have the operator, and he doesn’t take any time off sick! Alongside the ProCobot system, we also have an Erowa system operating on a VMX30UDi 5-axis machine.”
“We will continue to enhance our product range including the driven tool lathe that was brought to the market at the start of this year. We have a lot more product to add to the Hurco turning centre range, most of which will arrive in 2022.
There is pent up demand for a larger range of driven tool lathes with the Hurco control. We are currently testing the performance of the new software and should have product available by the end of this year but expect MACH 2022 to provide the best vehicle for the launch of the new ranges.
