South African machine tool sales company MJH Machine Tools has been appointed the distributors and sales and service agent for one of the largest manufacturers of CNC machine tools in China – Headman Machinery.
Based in the eastern coastal Zhejiang Province, Headman Machinery Co., Ltd manufactures a large range of CNC lathes.
“Chinese CNC machines have been sold in South Africa for some time now. These machines have in most cases got the job done but the quality was always questionable, and many CNC shops will not have a Chinese machine in their company. However, with our ZAR falling against the USD it has become increasingly difficult for the average workshop to afford a new machine from Taiwan and other countries,” said Ricky Lazenby of MJH Machine Tools.
“MJH Machine Tools decided to look at a more affordable machine from China and focused on Headman Machinery. After ordering two economic style CNC lathes a few months ago, Martin Haslam and I went across to sign off the machines. What we found was that Headman Machinery was probably the most sophisticated CNC machinery manufacturing facility in China, in our opinion,” continued Ricky.
“Martin, who has been in the machine tool industry for decades and has visited multiple factories in China, Taiwan and Japan, was blown away by the sheer quality and state-of-the-art manufacturing and assembly setup at Headman.”
“Headman Machinery has three closed constant temperature and humidity manufacturing workshops, totaling 15 000m². The production plant is divided into unitization metal plate assembly, a machining workshop and a final assembly workshop. The machining side uses all the latest CNC lathes and machining centres from the leading manufacturers in the world to manufacture their own range. Going further you will see Kellenberger and Studer grinding machines in operation, Renishaw high precision laser interferometers, Schenck dynamic balancing machines, Wenzel three coordinate measuring equipment, Hommel roundness measuring equipment and Trimos tool setting gauges,” explained Ricky.
“Using all these well known brands in the production process, plus the fact that they now have many installations in China, Europe, America and Asia, and have exhibited at the EMO and IMTS exhibitions, gives one a warm feeling about the quality of the Headman machines and the confidence that they are serious about building their brand internationally,” said MJH Machine Tools founder and owner Martin Haslam.
After the tour of Headman’s manufacturing and assembly facilities Lazenby and Haslam visited the company’s showroom, demonstration and testing areas.
“We could see that the Headman technicians put the machines through a vigorous testing phase ensuring that customer satisfaction is achieved on every model they have. On display in the showroom were high speed, super strong, slant bed lathes to fully industrial automated loading and unloading robot assisted CNC lathes,” said Ricky.
“Headman now produce over 5 000 small to medium CNC lathes per annum, which according to statistics from the China lathe industry equated Headman as being 10th in total sales. This is a remarkable achievement since they are not competing in the same market as other low quality CNC manufacturers, and the company only celebrated it’s 20th anniversary last year,” continued Martin.
“In 2013 many companies saw a decrease in sales while Headman’s sales increased by 40%. 2014 was looking even better,” stated Martin.
Lazenby takes up the story: “Headman machines can be found in various fields and industries including military, automobile, aerospace, electronics, mould production, spinning and the general machining industries.”
“MJH Machine Tools ordered two machines, which arrived in January 2015, and both of these machines have already been installed at clients, one of them at Master Machinery in Centurion, Gauteng. We have already placed orders for more machines which will arrive in the first quarter of 2015. These lathes will be offered with the following options: manual or hydraulic collet or solid chucks, gang-type tool turret or 8-station turret,” continued Ricky.
“Headman’s range is not huge but they do cover most of the requirements for a machine shop, big or small. In total they have 27 different models and each model will have various size differences.”
“The introduction of the Headman product to the MJH product range will fit into many market areas where it was difficult to enter in the past. The lathes will be offered standard with Fanuc controls, however Siemens and GSK are available on request. MJH believe they have found a truly well priced CNC lathe without compromising on quality,” Martin finished.
For further details contact MJH Machine Tools in Johannesburg on TEL: 010 005 0634 or KZN TEL: 031 705 7514 or visit www.mjhmachinetools.com