GTMA's 'Meet the Toolmaker' event links suppliers

Held during February 2017, in partnership with BPF (British Plastics Federation), the event once again provided a conduit between some of the UK’s most pro-active tool making specialists and visitors searching for tooling solutions and moulded component suppliers.

GTMA Chief Executive, Julia Moore, stated: “We have developed the Meet the Toolmaker event to be an informal, but very professional environment in which the exhibiting toolmakers and industrial sponsoring partners can interact with visiting manufacturing companies. And, the feedback for this year’s event has been extremely positive.

“The event falls neatly within our Reshoring UK initiative, which is a collaboration of leading industrial engineering and technology associations working together to assist manufacturers connect with trusted, accredited suppliers capable of delivering products and services that match their varied requirements. As a focused, connected network, Reshoring UK supports the various skill sets that cover the whole supply chain. It can engage from concept to product and process design, through process engineering, tooling and methods to finishing and inspection. We know there are significant projects being returned to the UK from overseas and the event provided the opportunity for positive progress to be made in this direction.”

The GTMA’s newest member, Fenton Precision Engineering, was one of the exhibiting toolmakers. Sales Director, Nick Skidmore, explained: “As a business we set ourselves a robust growth challenge, and identified membership of the GTMA as one of the routes to achieving this. Within a few days of joining we had received an enquiry from the association’s website, which I am pleased to say we converted into a new customer. That, along with the opportunities provided by events such as Meet the Toolmaker, makes membership a very justifiable business investment.”

“For networking and business enquiries the GTMA’s Meet the Toolmaker was a great event. Not too big; not too small. It seemed as though we spoke to almost everyone who visited, and I can confirm that every interaction had value, some of which was very high value. As such, the day was very worthwhile for us and being informal kept it light hearted and fun too,” says Marketing and Strategy Manager for Totnes-based Amtek Precision Engineers, Matt Jones.

Huddersfield–based KPT (Kelland Precision Tooling), which specialises in the production of tooling for the plastic injection moulding and die casting industries, used the event to cement its order for a new AgieCharmilles Cut E 600 CNC wire EDM machine in the GF Machining Solutions showroom and demonstration facility. Director, Simon Noon, said: “Meet the Toolmaker always provides us with a number of high quality enquiries from renowned UK manufacturing companies, and we knew we needed to bolster our wire EDM capacity. Fitted with the latest digital IPG generator technology for increased cutting speeds and surface finish quality, the new Cut E 600 machine will replace a 16 year old wire EDM currently on the shopfloor.

“We looked at other machines on the market, but selected the Cut E 600 from AgieCharmilles for its capacity, that was better than others, and for the excellent service we always receive from AgieCharmille. We take delivery of the new machine in just 4 weeks, with extensive training carried out beforehand to ensure we make the most of the advances provided by the new machine’s technology.”

“It’s impossible to put a tangible value on such GTMA events because many of the enquires and subsequent projects secured are subject to non-disclosure agreements, but we certainly see a benefit from letting all the industry sectors of UK manufacturing know about the advanced tooling and moulding capabilities available here in Great Britain,” concluded Julia Moore.