The circa £2 million investment on a 1.1 acre site at the Hurst Business Park in Brierley Hill, near Birmingham, will include a 600m² showroom. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2018 and the new facility is expected to be officially opened late next year.
“Importantly,” said deputy managing director Darren Wilkins, “this new facility in the heart of the country will complement our existing Citizen Machinery UK headquarters and showroom for Cincom (Citizen) and Miyano machines in Bushey, Watford. It will play an important role in serving the modern-day demands of our growing customer base.”
The existing headquarters/showroom, where the majority of office-based staff are located, was designed for the traditional Citizen sliding head business and, now, additional showroom space is required to support the increasing demand for the company’s 51mm and 64mm bar capacity turning centres.
“Machinery and accessories will be prepared onsite in Brierley Hill to satisfy the growing number of UK and Ireland OEMs, first-tier suppliers and subcontractors requiring immediate installations to satisfy new business,” explained Mr Wilkins.
“We live in a fast-changing world where we increasingly face requests for machine deliveries often within two weeks, rather than order lead-times of two to three months, which used to be the case. The new facility will allow us to prepare more machinery and installations in advance of orders, which will inevitably help our customers win new business.’’
Mr Wilkins adds that, following the UK merger of Citizen and Miyano in 2011, Citizen Machinery UK has experienced significant growth and is now well-established as a European turning centre of excellence, acting as a distribution hub for Cincom and Miyano machinery throughout the UK and Ireland, Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“The investment in the UK Citizen group company shows the confidence that Citizen Japan has in the new UK management team and in the UK, despite Brexit,” he affirmed.
As well as the 600m² showroom, the new site will include facilities for preparing machines and turnkey systems for installation
Citizen Machinery UK www.citizenmachinery.co.uk
