At the conclusion of a successful series of open days held at its showrooms in Blackburn, Nuneaton, Waltham Abbey and Burlescombe, XYZ Machine Tools looks set to exceed this year's GBP17 million turnover target. In fact, the August event at Blackburn, where around half of the companies represented placed orders there and then, was so successful that a second Blackburn two-day event was organised for November. A delighted Nigel Atherton, XYZ's Managing Director, says the first Blackburn event resulted in orders to date totalling more than GBP270,000 and set the scene for subsequent open days.

In all, the five events attracted visitors from 189 companies, with the September open days at the Burlescombe headquarters being particularly well-attended.

Machine sales topped GBP430,000 over the two days of the Burlescombe event, including an order for a XYZ BRM 80-150 CNC bridge mill, and have since been followed by further Burlescombe orders valued in excess of GBP170,000.

'The people who took the time to visit one or other of our open day events were clearly in the market for new machines,' says Nigel Atherton, 'and we are confident that further orders will follow.