A SMART, new machine tool for the UK & Ireland

SMARTEK CNC LTD has recently been appointed as the UK and Ireland agents for the Korean-manufactured SMART MACHINE TOOL (SMT) range of machine tools. As the UK & Ireland technical partner for the high-quality range of SMART MACHINE TOOL turning and machining centres, SMARTEK CNC LTD is already reaping the rewards of introducing this new brand of machines to UK manufacturers.

As a company, SMARTEK CNC was incorporated following a collaboration between two highly experienced CNC service engineers, Kevin Wright and Bobby Graham. Kevin and Bobby often had conversations regarding starting a machine tool business that could offer high-quality machine tools with an aftersales service and support package to match – a combination often lacking with many machine tool vendors.

The highly skilled engineers met when employed by another machine tool agency that also worked with a South Korean manufacturer. On achieving access to the SMART MACHINE TOOL range Kevin commented: “Even as an established agency, being selected to represent a machine tool builder is extremely rare, but to be presented with this opportunity as a new entity is unheard of. We are fully committed to ensuring that we do justice to these quality-built machine tools.”

SMART MACHINE TOOL has manufactured CNC machine tools in the Republic of Korea since 2018 and its brand and product portfolio continually expands. The shareholders of SMT have a combined experience within the machine tool industry of over 100 years, having worked previously for various prestigious South Korean machine tool manufacturers.

The Chairman and majority shareholder of SMART MACHINE TOOL is Mr Richard Layo, who is also the owner of Dynamic International, a Wisconsin-based dealership, that has been importing high-end CNC machine tools into North America since 1986.

Regarding the SMART products Richard states: “Since introducing the SMART NL series of CNC Lathes and NV Vertical Milling Machines, we have sold more than 2,000 machine tools to North America, Canada and Europe. Our NL range incorporates a boxway slide design that delivers a rigid and robust machine with genuine power and accuracy. This provides a highly productive platform that also has a reliable and aesthetically pleasing overall build.”

When questioned as to why SMT has chosen SMARTEK CNC to join the SMART family, Richard proudly responds: “We’ve had great success in recruiting machine tool service engineers to represent us in the form of agents, as we believe they have a unique relationship with prospective customers. These engineers have been trusted to repair existing machinery and have been relied upon to maintain expensive equipment. Who is better positioned than Bobby and Kevin to present our range of machine tools in the UK & Ireland, to their existing customers and enhance our growing reputation”
Discussing how SMARTEK CNC expects to sell an unknown product into a marketplace that already has a substantial amount of well-known machine tool suppliers, Bobby comments: “We have already been fortunate enough to have had an existing customer of Kevin’s, who respects Kevin’s opinion well enough to place his faith in us and they have already placed an order! As experienced engineers, we are extremely confident in these machines. We have visited various users in the USA and seen how well the machines perform – when you combine this with an unbelievable and completely open pricing strategy, we know more orders will follow. We are extremely grateful to Richard for giving us this opportunity and we are beyond determined to make our ‘SMART’ partnership, extremely fruitful and fulfilling for both parties”.