Wuxi is the largest manufacturer of grinders in China, having designed and produced a range of machines for over 50 years, and has now set up Wuxi Machine Tools (Europe).

With the recent formation of Wuxi Machine Tools (Europe) inHertfordshire, there's now a major new player in the CNCgrinding machine tool market. While new to the UK and continentalEurope, Wuxi (pronounced 'whooshy') is the largestmanufacturer of grinders in China and has been designing andproducing a range of machines for over 50 years. Wuxi KaiyuanMachine Tools Group Co Ltd (its full title) is one ofChina's leading state-owned companies and it has ambitiousplans to become a global supplier of precision grinding machines.And the first step in expanding into Europe is the establishmentof the European operation in Berkhamsted -- a joint venturebetween Wuxi and a team of UK investors.

Wuxi produces around2500 machine tools a year from its factory in the Jiangsuprovince and has in excess of 60% of the Chinese market.

Theproduct range is wide covering: cylindrical, internal, centrelessand bearing track grinders as well as special honing machines.ISO9001 part 1 accredited, the company's CNC grinders arenow approved by some of the world's leading bearingproducers and it also offers a complete line capability for theproduction of most precision components.

The company employs over500 qualified engineers, is well supported by modern westernsoftware (on the CAD, CAM and production control fronts), has apolicy of recruiting university graduates and invests heavily inR and D.

Wuxi Machine Tools (Europe) has been set-up to handletechnical sales, distribution and support for CNC grinders inthis country and continental Europe.

Heading up the UK operationis managing director John Hire -- a former manufacturing directorof SKF and recently managing director of machine tool spindleremanufacturing specialists MTSR.

With a wealth of experience inprecision grinding technology, Mr Hire is impressed by both thequality and price performance ratio of Wuxi machines.

'Ithas taken us two years to set up this new venture and we had tosatisfy ourselves that quality levels were first class.

Alongwith our own investigations, the certification of quality by someof the world's leading bearing manufacturers, who hadevaluated various Wuxi grinders, helped to convince us this was amajor investment opportunity.

We also placed great store on thecompany's on-going commitment to research and development,training, design and manufacturing techniques.' Wuxiproduces smaller, more flexible and economically priced grinderswhich, for large scale users, will allow complete grinding linesto be set up for a lower investment as well as being more quicklyreconfigured for different products.

While for smalleroperations, these machines meet the demands of lower batchproduction in terms of quick set-up and changeover and all-roundflexibility.

As far as costs are concerned, Wuxi grinders can beup to 30% cheaper than comparable models while offering the sameperformance, and up to 70% cheaper than top-of-the-range machinesalbeit with a lower performance ratio.

Quality, accuracy andrepeatability standards are specified to a high order.

Such aprice tag also means that new Wuxi machines can also competedirectly with rebuilt and upgraded CNC machines in terms of basiccost.

While the use of western control systems (from the likes ofSiemens and Omron) and hydraulic components (from Vickers) onEuropean machines will help to ensure fast and efficientservicing and support.

All grinders produced for Europe conformto CE marking and can have full certification, if required.

Whilenot well known outside of China, Wuxi has supplied some grindinglines to the USA, Sweden and India.

However, with its newEuropean operation, the Chinese company is determined make itspresence felt on a truly global scale.

And to further thisobjective, Wuxi Machine Tools (Europe) will be setting up anetwork of selected distribution agents across Europe, withGermany and Italy probably being the first two targets.

Chinesemachine tools have something of an image problem in the west asthey have yet to fully establish their credentials on the qualityand reliability fronts and build-up significant export sales.However, China is determined to establish itself as a leadingmanufacturer in a number of key areas including machine tools,bearings and automotive components.

And the establishment ofWuxi's European operation in Berkhamsted shows just howserious this well-established machine tool builder is aboutsucceeding in world markets.