Lincoln fabricator Tradeglaze has taken delivery of a new CNC machining centre for its aluminium factory, representing a six-figure investment to boost the fabricator’s capacity.

The upgrade is part of an ambitious growth programme that the company accelerated last year to respond to unprecedented demand.

The new Emmegi Phantomatic X4’ CNC machining centre is the fourth addition to the fabricator’s portfolio in the past 12 months. Tradeglaze recently received a new glass table, a spacer bar cutting machine and a double mitre saw for its PVC-U and glass factories.

Tradeglaze group managing director, Jeremy Wetherall, commented: “We are acutely aware that our customers’ expectations are higher now than ever. Our customers are asking for more foil, more flush, more aluminium and lower U-values.

“To answer that demand we have upgraded several of our machines. The market is challenging for businesses and research shows that construction is one of the hardest hit. However, we feel that it’s important that we plan for the long term and that our colleagues are equipped with modern technology that helps with their workload, is faster and more accurate.

“The next step is a new CNC machine for our PVC-U factory. We aim to be able to produce windows and doors for buildings that are ‘zero carbon ready’ well ahead of the building regs changes expected in 2025.”

“The ‘Emmegi Phantomatic X4’ is a machining centre with four controlled axes, used for the handling of aluminium pieces up to 2mm,” he continued. “It’s a big upgrade allowing our aluminium team to work more effectively and efficiently, increasing precision and decreasing fabrication time. The machine comes with updated software which includes ‘Camplus’ for designing, ‘job’ for order processing and ‘drill’ for instructing the CNC machine.

“The Emmegi Phantomatic X4 holds an impressive tool magazine on board allowing it to easily change tools depending on need. Its electro spindle rotates from 0° to 180° continuously to operate on the whole contour of the workpiece, guaranteeing the possibility of working at all intermediate degrees including tenths of a degree changeovers.

“Our company has been making significant investments across all departments in recent months,” concluded Jeremy. “Demand has now returned to pre-pandemic levels but we continue boosting our capacity across all three factories. We have traded resiliently during previous difficult economic periods and with our growth plan well underway we will remain in a strong position and continue providing our trade, commercial as well as domestic customers with exceptional quality double glazing and a five-star service our group of companies are well known and recommended for.”