‘Look forward not back’ is the ethos at Daltons Wadkin today, in spite of its 118-year history of supply to the timber-using trades. Diversification is another key word you will hear a lot around the company’s Nottingham headquarters as directors Alex Dalton and Andy Walsh strive to open up additional markets in the plastics and metal industries for the company’s increasingly versatile and sophisticated range of equipment.
Owner of the famous Wadkin brand and IPR since their acquisition in 2010, the company not only continues manufacturing and updating some of the original Wadkin designs but has also integrated the name, and to some extent its image, into many of its activities, including operator training, servicing, rebuilding and even distribution. A new Wadkin website is currently being prepared and will be launched within the next few weeks.
But whilst a significant and important contribution to its heritage, this is no more than a confirmation of the company’s engineering pedigree, as greater emphasis is placed on an ever-expanding range of high performance and CNC-controlled equipment to meet the demands of the 21st century.
Alex and sales director Andy are successfully promoting the Kimla range of CNC routers, Salvador and Salvamac cross-cutting solutions to diverse industries in all parts of the UK and Ireland, and are already seeing substantial growth in these areas.
Add to this the distribution of established European brands like the highly successful Elcon vertical panel saw range, Altendorf sliding table saws, CEHISA edge-banders, Kuper planer moulders, Stenner band resaws, CML multi-rip saws, Greda CNC machining centres and a full range of Wadkin and other classical machines, and it will be seen that the company offers a range of undisputed quality equipment which it would be hard to match.
Much time and resources have been spent sourcing its product range exclusively from European manufacturers. Alex and Andy have travelled extensively in Poland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland and the Czech Republic, successfully establishing partnerships with major suppliers. Prospective customers are flown out as required to see the various manufacturing facilities for themselves, and visits to the dedicated Kimla CNC factory in Poland and the Greda CNC and Salvador facilities in Italy are becoming increasingly regular events.
Alex Dalton comments: “We are proud of the comprehensive service we provide to the industry and will continue to modify and update our activities to suit future demands. Having said that, we recognise also the significance of our 100-plus years of experience and the strength this brings to our market profile.
“Our engineering team continues to rebuild equipment to the highest standards as well as carrying out installations throughout the length and breadth of the country. Our go-anywhere service operation provides customer support wherever and whenever it is required and we are enabling increased levels of operator training to organisations large and small, either on site or within our purpose-made training facility here in Nottingham.”
A PIABC Quality Assured Training Centre, the Red Team of time-served machine operator trainers is being expanded to meet demand and both apprentice and experienced engineers and technicians are being recruited to support the increasingly diverse and advanced machinery range now within the company’s portfolio.
A new support team reporting directly to Alex Dalton has been set up to oversee installations of CNC and other programmable machines as well as providing a help desk to ensure that expert technical advice and information is always available.
Proven engineering values shaping future technology could be said to sum up the Daltons Wadkin philosophy. To quote managing director Francis Dalton, who has personally notched up over 60 years in the industry: “Our longevity is amazing and I think quite unique amongst UK woodworking machinery distributors or manufacturers, but our business is moving with the times and Alex and his team will ensure that wherever new technology and changes to working practises take us, Daltons Wadkin will be there to meet the challenge.”
