Most successful citizen open house by far

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, sliding- and fixed-head CNC lathe supplier and automation specialist Citizen Machinery UK offered visitors to its latest open house in October a 100% finance deal for machines ordered during the event. The company subsequently extended the no-deposit arrangement to the end of that month, resulting in a record order intake of 26 turning centres valued at £4 million.

Over the three days, 190 customers representing 86 manufacturing companies were welcomed through the door at Citizen’s Brierley Hill turning centre of excellence, a 40% increase on the number that attended last year. In time for the event, the open-plan showroom on the ground floor was reorganised into three separate areas to amalgamate different functions on one level.

The area at the front is a demonstration facility, with around nine Cincom sliding-head and Miyano fixed-head bar-fed CNC turn-milling centres permanently under power. It has been designed to replicate on a permanent basis the company’s stand at MACH 2024. In the centre is a pre-delivery inspection facility where lathes are prepared for delivery to customers. The final area is an innovative catering zone that hosts the best of the different culinary outlets that the local area has to offer.

Highlights of the show this year were cutting demonstrations on all nine machines in the showroom, Citizen’s Eco Function touchscreen monitor for lowering users’ power consumption, automatic tool change on a 32 mm capacity Cincom, Industry 4.0 compatibility of all Citizen lathes, and of course the manufacturer’s now legendary LFV chip breaking technology that for the last seven years has helped so many users increase productivity, especially when running lights-out. Additionally, videos were running of robotically-optimised processes and of in-cycle laser cutting capability that can be added to selected turning centre models.

As usual, supplier companies were there with stands exhibiting workholding equipment, cutting tools, probing, parts handling, barfeeds, coolant and high pressure delivery systems, filtration, dust and fume extraction, CADCAM and production control software, material suppliers, and more. Again, the number present was another record at 25.