Holroyd appoint international sales and marketing director

Date published: 25/02/2006

Holroyd, a world leader in the development and manufacture of machines and processes for grinding and milling helical screw components, has appointed Neil English as its international sales and marketing director. Mr English will assume responsibility for sales of Holroyd's state-of-the-art thread grinding, gear grinding and super abrasive machines, and the company's sub-contract rotor manufacturing service, to key global industrial sectors such as automotive, aerospace, refrigeration, oil and gas and marine.

A highly - motivated industry professional with an excellent track record of success in senior sales manager positions both in the UK and overseas, Neil English brings a wealth of experience of operating within international engineering environments to his new position. Previously employed by the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, where he increased client and customer engagements by 150%, and before that by Japanese giant, Sumitomo, English has all the key skills required by Holroyd to further improve its penetration of worldwide markets.

"Holroyd is a real British success story, against a dismal backdrop generally for UK machine tool manufacturers," says English. "By continuous investment in its technology, knowledge and people, Holroyd has established itself as the leading supplier in its markets, which is no mean feat when the competition is coming from German and Asian manufactured machines. I am confident that we can build upon this success further, by harnessing the global resources of the Renold Group.  One of the particular areas for growth that I will be focussing on is Holroyd's range of super abrasive machines. The potential for these machines has yet to be appreciated in a number of key industries, but the savings in cycle times and reductions in machine stock that can be achieved are quite phenomenal. In one recent UK application a single 5 axis Edgetek super abrasive machine replaced seven conventional milling and grinding machines, providing a reduction in the throughput time for a complex finished part from 8 hours to just 12  minutes."

English joins Holroyd, a member of the Renold Group of Companies, at an exciting time. Holroyd has a healthy order book for machines and has recently concluded a major deal with the Mitsubishi Gear Technology Center in the USA for the latter company to add Holroyd's new "smart" Din2 GTG2 gear grinder to its machine portfolio. This is a major departure for the Mitsubishi Gear Technology Center, which is a highly successful US business serving the automotive & engineering services industries. The company is a direct representative for Mitsubishi, not a distributor, and has never before sold machines from any other manufacturer.

Holroyd is also enjoying major success in Asian markets, the company recently concluding a deal with a leading Chinese aerospace company for $1.2million turnkey production facility, based upon a Holroyd TG350E thread grinding machine, for the manufacture of jet engine drive shafts.

A Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and a member of the Institute of Incorporated Engineers, Neil English is 45; he is married with three children and lives in Hull. His interests are travel, cricket, and golf.