However, since the vote was taken the Burlescombe-based machine tool company has seen business levels increase and enquiry levels are described as booming by managing director Nigel Atherton.
The latest positive news from the manufacturing sector, which shows demand for British manufactured goods experiencing the best month in over 25 years; exports rising at the fastest rate for more than 26 months; and the influential Markit index of activity in British factories jumping five points to 53.3 in August, is reflected in the increased activity witnessed by XYZ.
“We, along with many other businesses had concerns on the effect that the Brexit vote would bring, but most of those have not materialised and the positive reaction we have had from customers over the past two months has been a pleasant surprise,” Mr Atherton enthused.
“Of course, the fall in the value of the Pound has had a big influence on the export market, as UK-based manufacturing businesses are seeing an increased demand for their products. We can’t ignore the fact that this also has an effect on those importing, such as ourselves. We have mitigated some of that with our policy of holding significant numbers of machines in stock and our forward buying activities.”
The factory at XYZ Machine Tools currently houses over 250 machines from across its range and this is also having a benefit for customers who themselves are seeing changes in their workloads and order intake from customers.
“One change we are seeing is that delivery is becoming more and more important to customers,” Mr Atherton added. “It is almost like subcontractors are being put on zero hour contracts and some are faced with sudden demands for production, rather than longer-term contracts to produce parts.
“This has the knock on-effect of requiring machines on a quick delivery – and the fact that we have machines available for quick delivery is a major advantage in this situation. We can deliver a machine anywhere in the UK at relatively short notice, with the only delay being that every machine that leaves the factory undergoes extensive quality and performance checks before it is loaded for delivery.”
The XYZ Machine Tool range extends from manual turning, milling and grinding, through its ProtoTRAK controlled mills and lathes to multi-axis CNC turning centres and machining centres. The company policy is to hold at least one of each machine range in stock and even more of the popular models for quick delivery. The success of this policy is also reflected in the level of repeat business gained by XYZ, which currently stands at over 70%, highlighting the customer satisfaction that it delivers.
XYZ Machine Tools www.xyzmachinetools.com
