There are few companies in the UK with more experience of configuring, selling and servicing CNC machine tools than NCMT (www.ncmt.co.uk). It was formed in 1964 by Gerry Gray after he won the exclusive right to market Japanese-built Makino machining centres and spark erosion machines in Britain and Ireland, an agreement that persists to this day.
In 1976, a second agency was added to sell Okuma machine tools, also from Japan, into the same markets. It introduced extra CNC machining centres to NCMT’s portfolio as well as CNC lathes and grinders. Since 2015, the company has additionally been the Europe-wide agent for photo-activated adhesive workholding systems manufactured by Blue Photon in the US.
Project, process, applications and service engineers as well as administrative staff operate from three strategically located sites across the UK, supplying innovative, high technology engineering solutions for metalworking applications. The company specialises in demanding fields of engineering, often project managing and supplying a turnkey production line or flexible manufacturing system involving a high degree of automation and 24/7 operation.
NCMT has long experience in this area, having introduced the service as far back as the early 1980s. It was also an early adopter of Industry 4.0 interconnectivity principles, offering advanced manufacturing systems from its two Japanese principals, which were also in the vanguard of the technology.
In 2005, Makino-NCMT Grinding Division was established to market Makino machining centres for creep-feed VIPER grinding of nickel alloys throughout Europe, since which time the principal has introduced purpose-built platforms for the application. Utilising small, vitrified aluminium oxide wheels and advanced coolant delivery and dressing techniques, the production centres are used principally within the aerospace and power generation industries, but also in the motorsport, medical and gear manufacturing sectors.
Another important facet of NCMT’s service is world-leading research and development into optimum processes for machining difficult materials. They include not only alloys that are currently in use, but also to new, lightweight materials such as ceramic matrix composites and gamma titanium alumide employed in the manufacture of the latest, high-efficiency aero engines.
Jonathan Smart, the current managing director commented, “I am proud to be heading the fourth generation of NCMT’s management, which I have done since 2019. The business continues to be focused on satisfying customer demand, so every order is managed as an individual project, with key milestones strictly adhered to from initial enquiry through to machine commissioning.
“We have a team of dedicated customisation engineers that are experts in their respective fields, able to design and implement anything from automated component handling and in-process measurement to filtration systems and machine guarding adaptation.”
NCMT will exhibit at MACH 2024 at the NEC, Birmingham from 15th – 19th April on stand 19-130 and has just announced that it will hold a pre-show open house at its Coventry showroom on 7th and 8th February. Representative machine tools from both agency ranges will be on show, but the focus will be on demonstrating the Okuma GENOS range of entry-level, 3- to 5-axis machining centres and lathes. Anyone interested in visiting should contact events@ncmt.co.uk
