Smart thinking helps NCMT outpace market

Five years on from its MBO,Machinery & Manufacturing catches up with NCMT Managing Director Jonathan Smart to talk diversification and market gains at this progressive machine tool supplier.

Jonathan Smart has come a long way since he first joined NCMT in August 1995. Working through busy roles in the company’s Service Support and Commercial Departments, an opportunity arose that he couldn’t refuse. A management buyout saw Jonathan become NCMT’s Managing DirectorinFebruary 2020.

“We had some really good ideas about moving the company forward, but no sooner had we taken over, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived,” he says. “It was a challenging time. Customers needed our immediate support in keeping production running. Our key market sectors changed overnight with aerospace hitting the pause button and medical ramping up exponentially. It prompted our diversification into additive manufacturing and the enhancement of our automation offer.”

Five years down the line, NCMT is not only still here, it’s more resilient and relevant than ever before. Many things have changed but a key constant is the company’s long-standing customer-first focus, which has led to numerous long-term partnerships based on quality, value and support. Part of the credit must go the new management team’s supportive and collaborative approach.

“We’ve got a fantastic group of talented individuals at NCMT, whom we grant the space and freedom to develop optimal engineering solutions,” says Jonathan.

The race is on

Skills are clearly critical, not just for NCMT but industry as a whole. This criterion is among the reasons that the company is a sponsor of the University of Wolverhampton Racing (UWR) team, which competes in events like the Prototype Cup and the AR Morgan Challenge. NCMT’s sponsorship reinforces it’s commitment to nurturing engineering talent and innovation by providing students with real-world engineering opportunities and hands-on experience.

From its own perspective, NCMT established an apprenticeship scheme over 10 years ago. Four new apprentices joined in September 2025, focusing on future careers in automation, machine customisation, applications and service support.

“New talent is vital because there’s a skills gap in the market that we need to fill ourselves. We’ve also set up an in-house training school at our Coventry facility, where our youngsters get to work on current and previous-generation machines. It’s important for our apprentices to realise that some machines in the field are older than them.”

Partnership pride

As a trusted partner and UK representative of Japan-based machine tool manufacturers Makino and Okuma for 50+years, NCMT has created a strong platform upon which to build it’s reputation.

“Long-standing relationships with our principals provide customer confidence in the solutions we develop. The machine portfolio of these two brands covers every market, backed by long-standing after sales support and a dedicated network of 30+ service engineers. It means we can be our customers’ engineering partner for life.”

In a recent development, NCMT introduced an optional five-year extended service warranty for new and existing Makino and Okuma machines.