§ Mr. Smallasked the Minister of Technology if he will publish particulars of the scheme evolved to promote the sale of advanced machines at home and overseas; what is the value of the orders to date, in itemised form, naming the firms who received such orders; and what opportunity is offered to firms in development districts to participate in the scheme.
§ Mr. Benn:The purpose of the preproduction orders scheme for machine tools is to reduce the gap between the completion of development of new and advanced designs of machine tools and associated equipment and their acceptance in industry on a scale sufficient to justify the
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Company Machine Value £ Bennett Tools Ltd. Double action Helical Spring Coiling Machine 17,000 Binns and Berry Lathes Ltd. TB Mk. IV Centre Lathe 19,000 BSA Electrochemical Machines Ltd. EC Deburring Machine 37,000 Churchill-Redman Ltd. NC P5 Lathe 156,000 Ferranti Ltd. Drawing Measuring Machine 92,000 Ferranti Ltd. Hydro-cord-3-D Measuring Machine 45,000 J. Goulder & Sons Ltd. Single Flank Gear Tester 29,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 2M Robot Lathe 123,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 3M Robot Lathe 79,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 2 Auto Flashcap Lathe 37,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 3 Programauto Lathe 229,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 4 Programauto Lathe 149,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 3/6 Vertical Auto Lathe 217,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. Robodrill Machining Centre 130,000 Alfred Herbert Ltd. 3 Turning Centre 247,000 Hydraquip Ltd. Hyvarmill Variable Speed Hydraulic Milling Unit 41,000 B. & S. Massey Ltd. Hydrostamp Double-acting Die Formating Hammer 240,000 Midland Machine Tool Co. (Birmingham) Ltd. 3-Spindle Turning and Boring Machine 44,000 Molins Machine Co. Ltd. 3 Axis NC Controlled Twin-Spindle Milling Machine 136,000 Optical Mechanical (Instruments) Ltd. Optimel MK. IIA Presetting Machine and Adaptor 16,000 Precision Machining (Swindon) Ltd. Preset Tooling System 5,000 Stats Systems Ltd. Preset Tooling System 29,000 Techne (Cambridge) Ltd. Fluidic Automatic Control System 9,000 Vero Machine Tool Co. Ltd. 2000 Series 20/40 Machining Centre 79,000 Wavis Engineering Development Ltd. Starmatic Machine 45,000 Wickman Ltd. Single Spindle Chucking and Secondary Operation Machine 44,000 Wickman Ltd. 1¾ in. Single Spindle Bar Automatic 81,000 Wickman Ltd. 345 Internal Grinder 35,000 Wickman Lang Ltd. 30 in. Numericon Tape Controlled Lathe 90,000 laying down of adequate production lines. This should assist the industry in competing in home and export markets in the future and also get advanced machines more quickly into industrial use.
Under this scheme my Department purchases advanced machines and places them with suitable users for appraisal and industrial conditions and for reports on their economic and technical performance. The information thus arising will be disseminated by the Ministry as a guide to other prospective users.
Originally£1 million was allocated to this scheme to cover machine tools and associated equipment and on 13th April 1967, a further£5 million was allocated covering applications for complete machine tools only made during the six months period ending 31st October 1967.
The scheme has been widely publicised by my Department and also by the Machine Tool Trades Association who have circularised their members. The scheme applied to all manufacturers of machine tools or associated equipment in the United Kingdom, including those in Development Areas.
The value of orders placed to date is£2.5 million, as follows: