Agie Charmilles’ Open House in Coventry, UK, Proves Popular

A record number of visitors attended the Productivity Plus Open House hosted by UK machine manufacturer Agie Charmilles Ltd. at its Coventry facility. The electrical discharge machining (EDM) and high-speed/5-axis machining specialist welcomed more than 130 visitors from 65 UK manufacturing companies to the October 11–13 event.

In addition to the large turnout, the company could take satisfaction in the fact that seven new machine tool orders were placed during the open house, which was designed to keep manufacturers up-to-speed with the latest EDM and milling product innovations and technology developments in the Agie, Mikron, Actspark, and Charmilles brands that had been showcased at the EMO exhibition in Hannover a few weeks before.

Many new machine tools were on view, but of particular interest were the new ultraprecision Agiecut duo-wire Vertex EDM machine for imparting superior surface finish especially to small parts and parts with microscale features; the highly flexible and productive Mikron UCP 600 high-performance 5-axis machining centre for complex, high-precision components; and the new Charmilles Roboform 350 GammaTEC spark-erosion machine and Robofil 2050 TW twin-wire EDM machine, high-end performers targeted at the mould tool and die and precision engineering sectors.

Visitors were also informed about the comprehensive non–machine tool business coordinated from Agie Charmilles’ Coventry facility. These services include EDM consumables, original spare and wear parts, System 3R work-holding solutions, and technical, applications, and after-sales service and support.

“Running our event straight after EMO proved to be the right thing to do,” said Tony Steels, managing director at Agie Charmilles. “Because many UK manufacturers do not attend EMO, it was always our intention to bring EMO to them.”