Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: Chiron Werke UK
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 02 June 2000
New machine tool HQ much more than a
showroom
The establishment by Chiron Werke UK of a purpose-built 10,000 sq ft headquarters in Southam, Warwickshire, heralds a new era in machine tool marketing in the UK.
The establishment by Chiron Werke UK of a purpose-built 10,000 sq ft headquarters in Southam, Warwickshire, heralds a new era in machine tool marketing in the UK Because rather than being set up as a machine showroom, the new £750,000 facility has been designed to act as a turnkey applications engineering prove-out site covering the extensive range of Chiron vertical machining centre projects for which the German manufacturer, and all its worldwide subsidiaries, are renowned
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 7 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
High speed machining centre for valve maker
The capabilities of Chiron vertical machining centre technology are playing a key role in the worldwide success of a valve made by Maxam Pneumatics of Cornwall.
Aerospace work for vertical machining centre
A Chiron FZ12W Magnum vertical machining centre supplied to Ceewrite Engineering is helping Richard Branson to maintain his high levels of airline customer comfort
"Our new home is not a machine showroom," emphasises Chiron Werke UK managing director, Paul Rhodes.
"The facility has been set-up specifically to promote and reinforce our commitment to UK users' increasing demands for turnkey application engineering projects.
"Our adeptness at such projects - particularly for both OEMs and first-tier suppliers in the automotive and aerospace sectors - is a philosophy that is successfully mirrored throughout the world by all subsidiaries of our German parent.
And it's a policy that sets Chiron apart from other machine tool manufacturers." Reflecting on Chiron Werke UK's previous arrangement of having different sites in nearby Leamington Spa for the sales, administration and service functions separate from its applications engineering activities, Paul Rhodes continues: "Although for the past three years this arrangement has not hindered our progress in the UK - quite the reverse, in fact - we feel that by consolidating all our activities under one roof will present to UK manufacturing industry an even more professional and focused image." Chiron's impressive UK customer base of over 300 users has been gained by the company's unswerving attention to users' needs.
This relates as much to the team's pre-sales applications engineering skills and superlative levels of after-sales service as it does to having the ability to actually supply machines that meet customers' specific production criteria within an agreed timescale.
Further reading
A diverse manufacturing philosophy from Chiron
UK companies can now enjoy the ultimate in production flexibility and productivity for both high volume and variable part manufacture with the Chiron Flexline 'diverse manufacturing' philosophy.
Machinist and fabricator happy with Chiron kit
Atkinson Engineering's decision to purchase a Chiron FZ12W Magnum travelling column vertical machining centre 18 months ago was to a large extent based on the machine's high speed of operation
Vertical machining centre for pneumatics company
The ability of the Chiron FZ12W Magnum vertical machining centre to achieve average cost per part savings of up to 38 per cent has proved irresistible to Invensys Pneumatics Maxam
"After-sales service obviously plays a key role in every machine purchase decision," continues Paul Rhodes.
"And with a nationwide team of 12 dedicated field engineers - any one of whom will respond to a machine call-out within four hours at any time of the day or night - we consider we've got the UK's most sophisticated and responsive customer service operation.
Our customers tend to agree with that! "Coupled with a range of high-speed vertical machining centres that epitomise value-for-money and high-quality, the real differentiator between Chiron and other machine tool manufacturers - and, by definition, Chiron Werke UK and other distributors of machine tools in the UK - is the way we approach each machine sale," he says.
"Chiron has never claimed to compete with some of the Far East's volume machining centre manufacturers on either availability or price.
And it never will.
That's because we operate in a totally different way.
"Firstly, Chiron is not a volume manufacturer geared to produce thousands of machines for a global network of showrooms.
Neither do we act simply as a company that sells a machine and installs it then walks away, perhaps also offering a service or maintenance contract that is fulfilled (at a relatively high price) often by a third party." Chiron, he says, has identified a number of major flaws in such practices.
"The most obvious is the fact that the manufacturer rarely hears the views of the end user.
The divide between the two is so distant - and extended by the 'barrier' of local dealers - that any feedback on the machine and its performance rarely reaches the manufacturer's ears, let alone influences machine design." On the other hand, the Chiron policy of working in close co-operation with its customer base means user feedback is instant and that machine design, for example, can be influenced in real-time.
"Chiron as a group is in constant contact with all our users on a worldwide basis," adds Paul Rhodes, "with a substantial number of customer turnkeys completed at the manufacturing units.
This results in instant feedback to Chiron's design and manufacturing teams, often leading to immediate technological improvements and real-time simultaneous engineering that then permeates every customer application." This effective and efficient communication channel is especially evident in the early days of project prove-out.
In such cases, a Chiron technician may be on-site for days, ensuring everything goes to plan.
"Apart from not being able to afford such a luxury, traditional machine distributors simply don't have the culture for that," comments Paul Rhodes.
"Okay, we are obviously in a position to supply machines that will produce more parts much more quickly.
But, of course, so are other machine manufacturers and dealers.
But the difference is we don't make machines to stock; each and every Chiron VMC comes off the line to order, to satisfy a particular need.
"If a potential customer approaches us simply to add another spindle to satisfy an immediate capacity demand, then we know he's not someone we can help.
"But if he comes to use with a manufacturing headache - a set of production requirements that go beyond simple capacity demands - then clearly we have the basis for a long-lasting partnership, a project that will generate continual benefits for him as a Chiron user." Included among the problems faced by Chiron customers is the need to reduce piece part costs by adopting the principles of lean manufacture, perhaps, or the development and use of clever fixturing, or the desire to adopt latest tooling developments in combination with high-speed machining routines.
6 -more- CHIRON WERKE UK MWC 5892 "It is our ability to develop tailor-made solutions to such problems that has enabled Chiron to develop a niche role in the UK machine tool market," says Paul Rhodes.
But being able to provide the right technological solutions at the right price is only one side of the story.
The other is making sure everything happens when it should.
"Apart from the necessary technical expertise, a successful turnkey project will also involve the suppliers of tooling and fixturing as well as representatives from Chiron, Germany - even perhaps the supplier of the raw materials, such as castings.
"By necessity, each project instigated by the UK team will involve a tremendous amount of project management, and this is another skill that sets Chiron apart.
"Traditional UK machine distributors are just not positioned to project manage in the true sense of the word.
They're more attuned to selling and installing machines.
"A professional approach to project management is crucial to the success of every turnkey; every stage, and the actions of every partner, need to be carefully planned and co-ordinated." It is clear that having identified its core strengths, Chiron Werke UK has adopted a tightly-focused approach that continually enhances those skills and, in turn, its reputation in the UK marketplace.
Yet the team also recognises how some customers will always want to see machines 'in the flesh'.
For this reason the Southam base houses a series of Chiron VMCs which can be set-up for demonstration.
"However," concludes Paul Rhodes, "the machines are not there to be sold off-the-shelf as commodity items.
They are powered up specifically to show how we can solve users' problems.
And that means making sure whatever machine or cell we install can make more parts of the right accuracy at the lowest piece part cost.
"That's what the end user wants and, at the end of the day, more and more customers are recognising that there is a difference between the cost of a new machine and the value of a long-term investment that can pay back in the shortest possible time.".
• Chiron Werke UK: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
