A Kirklees engineering firm is strengthening its hand in a key export market.
Heckmondwike-based 600 UK, famed for its Harrison and Colchester lathes, has appointed its long-standing Danish Colchester lathes distributor, Herstad and Piper, to manage distribution arrangements in Denmark for all manual and computer-controlled (CNC) lathes, including the Harrison lathe range.
Herstad and Piper has a long established history, spanning more than 20 years with Colchester lathes, which are universally popular in both the industrial and educational sectors.
Denmark has been an important market for Colchester and Harrison with more than 3,000 manual and computer-controlled lathes sold in recent years.
Niels Piper, managing director of Herstad and Piper, said: “Both Colchester and Harrison lathes have an excellent reputation for high quality manufactured machines, particularly the variable speed centre lathes.
“One of the key selling points for customers in Denmark is the fact that Colchester and Harrison lathes have the CE mark, as it gives them the confidence that they are buying a highly accurate, great value European-built product.
“Additionally, Colchester and Harrison have always been well known for their ability to supply spare parts for older machines with a service that other manufacturers struggle to match.”
Howard Bamforth, 600 UK sales director, said: “Scandinavia has always seen strong demand for Colchester and Harrison lathes and we have always enjoyed a strong relationship with Niels and his excellent technical team at Herstad and Piper, so it seems the natural choice to extend our distribution agreement with them to cover our Harrison lathe range in Denmark, too.”
The 600 Group PLC is a diversified engineering group with three main areas of activity.
In machine tools, the business has a strong reputation in the market for metal turning machines with products ranging from small conventional machines for education markets, CNC workshop machines and CNC production machines.
Its precision engineered components business supplied machine spares to customers worldwide to help maintain the installed base of group machines which number in excess of 100,000.
And its laser marking operation is proving successful as a technologically superior alternative to inkjet marking for customers ranging from telecommunications to pharmaceuticals.
