Shiny Business

How Metallic Elephant turned hot foil presses into a global luxury must-have with the help of XYZ machines.

The alternative American rock band REM once had a hit with the song Shiny Happy People. That title could easily describe Karl and Ros French, the husband-and-wife team behind Metallic Elephant. Working from converted farm buildings in the village of Frating, Essex, they have built a thriving business that has become the benchmark for hot foil press manufacturing. Their machines, along with associated equipment, enable everyone from greetings card makers to global luxury brands to emboss and deboss materials to, as they put it, “make it shiny”.

Karl’s introduction to engineering came through a schoolteacher, sparking a career that saw him quickly rise to manage the business he first worked for. With encouragement from Ros, the couple struck out on their own. Metallic Elephant began by refurbishing hot foil presses. These machines operate by heating a die, usually brass but sometimes magnesium, to between 90 and 110 degrees Celsius. The die presses foil and backing material against a plate, transferring shiny initials or logos embossed or debossed into the surface.

The company’s big break arrived when a prestigious fashion house, famous for its tartan pattern, ordered ten presses to personalise in-store purchases. The client asked for the Metallic Elephant nameplate to be removed. Against Ros’s advice, Karl refused. The customer still placed the order, and the presses soon appeared in flagship high street stores. For such a large order, however, Metallic Elephant could no longer rely on refurbished machines and had to begin building presses from scratch.

Karl recalls: “When we started, things were tight. We did not have much capital but needed to make parts for refurbished presses. Outsourcing caused problems, so we relied on a manual turret mill and a pre-war lathe. We produced incredible results, but when the Health and Safety Executive visited, we were told to stop using them.”

It was a turning point. With volumes increasing, the business needed CNC technology. They turned to XYZ Machine Tools, investing in a ProTURN SLX 355 flatbed lathe. “The SLX 355 was perfect because we could produce runs of ten identical parts but also switch to manual mode for one-off jobs,” says Karl. “It delivered far more than promised and was a game changer for us.”

The company has since added several more XYZ machines: an RMX 2500 CNC bed mill with ProtoTRAK touchscreen control, three 1000 LR vertical machining centres with Siemens 828D controls, and a CT 65 LTY mill-turn lathe, also with Siemens control.

“XYZ kept their promises on the SLX 355 and supported us through the learning curve, so it made sense to return when we needed more capability,” says Karl. “With demand growing, we needed automatic tool changers. The 1000 LR’s capacity and 24-station changer meant we could leave the machine running while tackling other jobs. Being able to fit three vices on the bed was another big advantage. The 15kW spindle is more than enough for our press components.”

 

As demand for foil-feed rollers and pins grew, the company added the XYZ CT 65 LTY. With a 220mm maximum diameter and 490mm turning length, it tackled rollers easily. The 12-station driven tool turret allowed milling, drilling and tapping in a single setup. “This investment moved us beyond the ProTURN, reducing two or three operations to one,” Karl explains. “With the 17kW spindle, driven tools and barfeed, we could produce multiples with far greater efficiency.”

The machinists at Metallic Elephant are equally enthusiastic. Levi Battiste, who previously worked for a multinational with a wide range of machine tools, admits he was initially wary of the Siemens controls. “I was more comfortable with G-code,” he says. “But ShopMill and ShopTurn have been simple to use. The machine construction has given me confidence to push tooling further and make parts faster.”

Another success story is Jack Marciniak, who joined after a school work placement. “I never imagined that within such a short time I would be programming and running CNC machines,” he says. “The Siemens control has been intuitive, and with support from Metallic Elephant and XYZ I have learnt so much so quickly.”

Product development continues apace. Larger presses are in the pipeline, along with new ways of applying die pressure. Ros and Karl remain proud of their reputation for innovation. “We are often copied but never matched,” they insist. Ros draws on her design background in the print industry, while Karl champions his engineering heritage. Even the company name reflects their story: “metallic” for the shiny foils and “elephant” from a childhood gift that has brought Ros good luck.

With a customer base that reads like a who’s who of luxury brands and the ongoing support of XYZ Machine Tools, Metallic Elephant exemplifies the best of British design and engineering.