Mills CNC’s decision to offer machines with Siemens controls pays dividends.

Mills CNC’s decision to stock and be able to supply UK and Irish customers with Doosan (now DN Solutions’) lathes and machining centres with Siemens controls, taken back in 2015 and 2017 respectively, has paid dividends.

Machine tool sales have been on an upward trajectory ever since the decision was taken, with Mills’ share of the Siemens-controlled market, most notably through its DNM vertical machining centres, making a healthy contribution to company sales revenues.

Today, the company’s range of Siemens machine tools has grown exponentially, and now includes most DN Solutions’ models (i.e. lathes & turning centres, vertical, horizontal and 5-axis machining centres, mill-turn machines etc.).

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of DN Solutions’ and Zayer machine tools in the UK and Ireland, is renowned for its proactivity and its ability to act quickly and decisively to meet customers’ needs and requirements.

Proving the old adage that “if you give customers what they want – they will come”, the company’s decision, taken back in 2015, to stock and supply its range of DNM vertical machining centres with the Siemens 828D control to customers and, in 2017, to do the same with its Lynx and Puma lathe series, has delivered real business benefits.

Explains Tony Dale, Mills CNC’s CEO:

“Siemens-controlled machine tool sales today account for a significant percentage of our DN Solutions’ machine tool sales…not bad considering that nine years ago that figure was zero.

“The ability to supply customers with machine tools equipped with their preferred control choice has opened up new business opportunities for us specifically, but not exclusively, in the 3- and 5-axis vertical machining centre market.”

The continuing demand, amongst many component manufacturers, for DN Solutions’ machines with Siemens controls has meant that Mills’ machine tool stocking policy has adapted over the years.

No longer seen as a ‘special’ or as a one-off sale, many of Mills’ popular and best-selling models (i.e., DVF 5-axis machines, DNM 4500/5700/6700 machining centres etc.)., with Siemens controls, are now ordered and held in stock at Mills’ Technology Campus facility in Leamington…ready to meet the demand.

The company, as a direct consequence of its Siemens business, has also strengthened its CNC Training Academy operation to cater for its Siemens customers, with both operator and programmer courses proving popular.

Continues Tony Dale:

“Siemens controls, with their on-board conversational ShopMill or ShopTurn software interfaces, help make job set-ups quicker and the error-free creation of part programs.

“We provide a full range of Siemens operator and programmer courses to help customers get more from their machine tool investments and will, in the near future, be gearing up to provide courses on the new Siemens Sinumerik One control.”

The new powerful control which combines CNC, HMI, PLC, closed-loop control and communication tasks within a single PPU is both flexible and sophisticated, and enables user-friendly dialogue programming with ShopMill and ShopTurn.

Clearly, the decision by Mills to provide machines with Siemens controls was not, and could not be, taken in isolation. The company’s strong relationships with first Doosan, and now DN Solutions, that stretches back over many years means that Mills has always been able to influence the South Korean-based machine tool builder’s plans and decision making.

Indeed DN Solutions relies and encourages feedback from its subsidiaries and distributors from all over the world to share specific country and regional market trends and developments with them, and to actively become involved in their product development programmes.

“We knew that having machines with Siemens controls, as well as with Fanuc and Heidenhain CNC control systems, would generate new and profitable business for us”, says Tony Dale.

In addition to Siemens-controlled DN Solutions’ machines, Mills can also offer its Zayer ranges of CNC horizontal bed- and bridge-mills, and gantry-type and travelling column milling machines with Siemens, as well as Fanuc, Heidenhain and Mitsubishi, controls.