Dugard Ltd has now become the sole UK & Ireland sales and distribution outlet for the world renowned Kitamura brand of machine tools. The Kitamura Machinery motto is ‘Limitless Creativity’ and this has been established on a global stage since its inception in 1933 with machine tool technology that is genuinely ‘World Class’.
The arrival of the Kitamura brand into the Dugard family is a huge coup for the Brighton based machine tool company, especially as it was the Japanese manufacturer that sought out the sales, service and distribution expertise of Dugard to enhance its footprint in the UK market. The Kitamura range is renowned for its quality, precision, productivity and speed that place the machines in a well recognised premium market position. Dugard has certainly jumped upon the quality of the brand, selling two machines in the first two weeks of the agency agreement, with dozens more enquiries already flooding in.
The HX800G
The range of products is extremely diverse with the Mycenter HXiG and HXiTGA Series of horizontal machining centres both offering best in class performance. The Mycenter HXiG is available in sizes from the HX250iG (254 by 254mm travel) to the HX800G with an envelope of 1550 by 1300 by 1400mm. The larger footprint HXiTGA range commences with the HX400iFTGA that has a 735 by 610 by 610mm envelope through to the largest HX1250i that has an area of 2m by 1.3m by 1.37m.
The HX250iG
Both machines offer unparalleled precision with a positional accuracy of 2microns and a repeatability precision of 1micron across the complete axes stroke. This is credit to linear scale feedback, patented twin ballscrew and twin servo motors and the hand scraping of every machine in the portfolio. From a productivity perspective, the twin-pallet configuration and astounding 60m/min rapids combine with tool-to-tool changeover times of 1.2 seconds to provide unfathomable productivity gains.
From the vertical stable, Dugard can now offer the Mycenter 3XG and 3XiG, the 4XiF and 7X and the 2XD Sparkchanger. Like all the machines in the Kitamura portfolio, the VMCs are available with the Arumatik CNC control system that provides processing speeds up to 16 times faster than alternate CNC controls. Of particular interest to manufacturers undertaking 5-axis machining, Dugard customers are already switching-on to the extensive XT, Mytrunnion and MedCenter-5AX variants available.
For high-precision machining of large components, Dugard can also offer the industry leading line of double column Bridgecenter machining centres. The smallest Bridgecenter-6G provides a work envelope of 1.5m by 1.1m by 710mm and this stretches up to the Bridgecenter-12G that offers an envelope of 3m by 1.6 by 800mm.
Commenting upon Dugard becoming the UK sales agent for the prestigious brand, Product Sales Manager at Dugard, Mr Colin Thomson says: “The arrival of the Kitamura brand marks an exciting time for Dugard and it genuinely brings a new dawn in the company’s evolution. We now have one of the most prestigious, high-end machine tool brands in the market. Kitamura will outperform the majority of high-end brands in the industry whether it is precision, productivity, capability or flexibility. The options available from Kitamura range from single, twin and multi-pallet systems with spindle, tool, build and control options that offer countless opportunities. By choosing to work in partnership with Dugard, Kitamura now has access to the Dugard service support network that delivers unparalleled levels of expertise and response times. This is already seeing existing Kitamura users in the UK approaching Dugard to find out more. We urge any existing Kitamura users to contact Dugard for more information regarding our services and support.”
