Our cover story this month is all about Mills CNC. It’s always a pleasure catching up with managing director Tony Dale on all the latest trends and developments.  

As usual, we discussed a wide range of subjects – which you can read all about in the article on pages 18-19 – but a definite trend that’s gathering pace in terms of sales with Mills is that customers are investing in what Tony calls advanced machines, and more automation.

Mills has seen its market share increase across the board, but another interesting statistic is that the unit value of those machines has also risen. When you think about it, it’s not surprising. Customers are demanding more from their machines and equipment in terms of productivity, driven by a very real and serious skills shortage, ridiculously long supply chains and rising costs.

And that’s where the need for advanced machines comes into the equation because it’s all about doing more with less. Tony Dale is reporting higher demand for machines with sub-spindles and Y-axes, as well as 5-axis and multitasking machines, robotics and automation. Manufacturers are focused on reducing the number of operations required to produce components. Demand for machining cells and turnkey projects is also on the rise. 

But whereas historically these more advanced machines were the domain of larger, arguably more affluent companies, now Mills is seeing intensified interest from all businesses, large and small – hence the rise in average unit value.

It’s somewhat ironic that the problems in the world today – skills, military conflicts, stretched supply chains, rising material and transportation costs – are probably helping to fuel a reshoring renaissance towards UK manufactured parts and components. In turn, for the manufacturers concerned, this is powering demand for machines that can process components from start to finish in one hit.

Maybe, just maybe, the penny is also dropping regarding UK companies embracing automation. It’s perfectly understandable to have reservations about new technologies so you can cut through all the marketing hype and make informed investment choices, but few would surely disagree that automation is a no brainer if the UK is to remain a key player on the global stage.

For Mills, it’s positive news in this department as well. Tony Dale says sales of automation systems are increasing. The company has a wealth of in-house expertise on both the hardware and the software side so everything is available from a single source – without the need for a third-party systems integrator.

He explains that enquiries on the subject of automation often start with a single robot, but then, once the true benefits are realised, escalate into much more factory-wide applications.

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