Competition winner has invested the prize money towards buying a larger CNC bed mill with a tilting head to machine machine much higher definition mould tools and so expand its business.

Brimbelow Engineering's role as a manufacturer and supplier to the leisure boating industry of marine sterngear, which embraces propellers, propeller shafts and rudders, explains its proximity to the picturesque Norfolk Broads. These days, however, the six-employee company is equally well known for its sub-contract machining expertise. Customers include Trend Marine Products, the world's largest manufacturer of marine windows for which Brimbelow Engineering makes press and stretch bending tooling, and Anglian Water.

Having served an apprenticeship with the CEGB and then spent several years offshore as a maintenance technician servicing X-ray equipment on pipe laying barges, managing director Gavin Seward bought out the two brothers who had set up the business in 1973 and began updating Brimbelow's production resource.

Conventional machines, which had required three more people on the shopfloor, have since been replaced with computer-controlled alternatives.

Recently, as the winner of XYZ Machine Tools' MACH 2004 competition, he has put the GBP 10,000 prize money towards the purchase of a 3.75kW variable speed XYZ SM 3500 manual/CNC bed mill.

This is equipped with a tilting head (45 degrees left and right) and a 1372mm by 356mm table capable of holding components weighing up to 600kg.

The new machine is installed in Brimbelow's 5000 ft2 workshop alongside a smaller XYZ SM 2000 manual/CNC turret mill bought some 18 months previously.

Both machines, which can be switched between manual operation and computer control as required, are fitted with the easy-to-use Prototrak control, contributing to a machine performance that is described by Seward as: 'absolutely fantastic'.

He recalls visiting MACH 2004 to look at turning centres: 'but as more and more of our work is milling, I opted instead for a larger capacity version of the SM 2000 and a three-axis control on the basis that it would bring in new customers.

With the greater vertical axis travel of the SM 3500 - 584 mm compared with 406mm - we can machine much higher definition mould tools and that's the new business we are chasing at the moment.

Overall, in terms of accuracy and surface finish, both XYZ machines are well suited to our type of work, whether it is machining plastics, bronzes or stainless steel.' Although Seward is a boating enthusiast, the Catfield, Great Yarmouth company's customer base also includes OEMs in the aircraft and agricultural industries.

Components for aircraft ground support equipment, for example, are a significant contributor to the company's GBP 500,000 turnover as are emergency replacement parts for boats and agricultural machinery.