XYZ Machine Tools has made additions to its sales team with the appointments of Josh Adams and Lee Wilkinson, along with a change of role for John Aspinall. The most recent appointment is Adams (left), who will take on the area sales manager role covering Leicestershire, Oxfordshire and Coventry. He has extensive tool-making knowledge and experience in sales within the tooling and work-holding sector.

The second appointment is that of Wilkinson (centre), who will develop sales in the southeast of England, covering parts of Bedfordshire, Essex, London, Surrey and Kent. With an engineering background and broad experience in sales of high-quality tooling, work holding and machine tools, Wilkinson is looking forward to getting face-to-face with customers. A further new area sales manager is John Aspinall, who moves internally from education sales. Aspinall will cover South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and into the Walsall and Telford postcode areas.

For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has appointed Russell Harding as business manager for the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

Harding, a seasoned engineering solutions sales professional, takes over the business manager position from Adrian Jagger who, after 26 years in post, is taking on new and wider business development responsibilities within the company.

Harding is no stranger to the machine-tool and ancillary technologies sector, or to the Yorkshire and Humberside region for that matter, having worked as Fenn Tools’ business manager (covering a similar geographical area) for the past eight years. Prior to that, he worked as a CNC machinist for 15 years and has extensive knowledge and experience of machining and cutting-tool processes, as well as specific expertise in the aerospace sector.

For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Sawing equipment and industrial warehouse manufacturer Kasto has added a new solution to its range of equipment for stockholders and processors of sheet metal. The new plate handler allows safe unpacking and storage of sheet stacks, reducing the amount of manual handling required, which is especially beneficial for heavy plates. Kasto’s new system not only saves time, but helps to prevent accidents and injuries.

The Kasto plate handler consists of a drum-shaped turning device and a support table that raises and lowers. A stack of sheet metal to be stored is placed for stability in the centre of the table by a forklift before it is unpacked. The user first removes the straps, packaging and edge protectors from the top, then advances the stack into the drum, which rotates through 180°.

Then, the table rises to its upper position, retrieving the stack in its inverted orientation and lowering to allow easy removal of the remaining packaging and the wooden pallet.

After removing all the packaging, vertical and horizontal guides align the plates exactly on the table according to the user’s requirements, either centred or at one corner. Telescopic forks convey the plates to a waiting cart and then on to a storage pallet. In this way, automated handling is achieved without any heavy lifting or carrying. The result is greater efficiency and better workplace ergonomics, while avoiding accidents and injuries.

Kasto reports that the device is suitable for sheet-metal stacks weighing up to 5 tonne in small, medium and large formats up to 2000 x 4000 mm. The system can handle corrugated sheets and set them down on either side as needed, while it can also connect to all Kasto sheet-metal storage systems.

For further information
www.kasto.com