Thursday, June 01, 2006

Heavy engineering retires its systems

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has revised the system governing treatment of its Directors and Statutory Auditors and will abolish the current retirement allowance system.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has revised the system governing treatment of its Directors and Statutory Auditors and will abolish the current retirement allowance system. In addition, with an aim to further enhance the motivation and morale of its Directors so as to improve the company's business performance, the company will grant to its Directors, excluding outside Directors, stock acquisition rights as stock options in a so-called stock-linked compensation scheme as part of the revision of its system. Accordingly, the company hereby gives notice that at the meeting of its Board of Directors convened today, a motion was passed under which the item described below will be submitted for consideration at the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for June 28, 2006.

Note: Currently, benefits extended to Directors and Statutory Auditors take forms including monthly benefits, bonuses, stock options and retirement allowance.

As a result of the revision, going forward benefits extended to Directors and Statutory Auditors will take the forms of monthly benefits, stock options for stock-linked compensation, and business performance-based compensation (equivalent to existing bonuses).

I.

Abolishment of Retirement Allowance System The current retirement allowance system will be abolished effective as of the close of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled to convene on June 28, 2006.

In accordance with guidelines set by the company, Directors and Statutory Auditors approved for continuing service at the General Meeting of Shareholders shall be furnished with the amount of retirement allowance appropriate to their service time to that date.

II.

Amount and Particulars of Stock Option Benefits, etc to Directors, excluding Outside Directors 1.

Maximum issue price of stock acquisition rights The limit will be a total of 200 million for the current year, taking into consideration grants of stock options in the past, the abolition of the retirement allowance, and other factors.

The stock acquisition rights will be issued within this maximum issue amount.

2.

Particulars of the stock acquisition rights to be issued (1) Type of shares to be issued upon exercise of the stock acquisition rights: Common stock of the company (2) Number of shares to be issued upon exercise of each of the stock acquisition rights: The number of shares to be issued upon exercise of the stock acquisition rights will be 1,000 ordinary shares of the company per stock acquisition right.

(3) Number of stock acquisition rights to be issued: The number of the stock acquisition rights to be granted will be calculated by dividing the total issue price of the stock acquisition rights by the fair value of a stock acquisition right calculated based on the Black-Scholes model, which factors in such conditions as the stock price on the day before the resolution of the Board of Directors concerning the issuance of the stock acquisition rights, stock price volatility calculated in accordance with certain criteria, the exercise period of the stock acquisition rights, etc, rounded down to the nearest whole number.

The total issue price of the stock acquisition rights will be determined by a resolution of the Board of Directors within the limit of the maximum issue price of the stock acquisition rights mentioned in item 1 above.

(4) Value of property to be invested upon exercise of the stock acquisition rights: 1,000 (5) Exercise period for the stock acquisition rights: A period to be determined by the Board of Directors, from not earlier than June 29, 2006 through not later than June 28, 2036 (6) Transfer restrictions on the stock acquisition rights: Any acquisition of the stock acquisition rights by transfer requires the approval of the company's Board of Directors.

Note 1: With respect to the said stock acquisition rights, we propose that the same amount of compensation as the amount payable be granted to Directors who were allotted the stock acquisition rights and that the stock acquisition rights be issued by a resolution of the Board of Directors on the condition that the compensation claims and the amount to be paid upon exercise of the stock acquisition rights are offset.

Furthermore, we would like to set the amount to be paid as the fair value of the stock acquisition rights.

Since the stock acquisition rights will be issued by offsetting Directors' compensation claims to the company and the amount to be paid, which is the fair value of the stock acquisition rights, such issuance does not fall under an issuance on especially advantageous terms.

Note 2: On April 28, 2006, a plan was adopted to provide stock options for stock-linked compensation to the Senior Vice Presidents of the company who are not Directors.

Name-change machines positive at show

The MACH 2006 exhibition came at the right time for Matchmaker M/C, as it was the first major opportunity for the re-named company to put itself before the general engineering public.

The MACH 2006 exhibition came at the right time for Matchmaker M/C, as it was the first major opportunity for the re-named company (it was previously known as Yamazen UK) to put itself before the general engineering public. Following a management buyout in January of this year, co-directors Colin Donhue and Mike Maskell now have complete control of the Surrey-based machine tool distributor. As Colin Donhue explained: 'MACH was a very positive experience for us this time around - unlike two years ago when the mood of the show was subdued.

We had a good number of visitors to the stand, received a healthy level of enquiries and took several orders.

While most people knew something about our name change, the exhibition provided us with the ideal opportunity to fill in some of the gaps and outline our future strategy.

Both the Mitsubishi horizontals and Matchmaker VMC machines attracted good levels of interest.' In one sense, things have gone full circle with the name of Matchmaker coming to the fore once again.

For back in the 1970s, Matchmaker Machine Tools started selling Matchmaker machines with Posidata and Heidenhain controls.

Some 20 years on the company was acquired by the Yamazen organisation of Osaka while in 2001 the Matchmaker brand was resurrected with the introduction of low cost vertical machining centres.

And in January of this year, the company was finally bought back from Yamazen and renamed Matchmaker M/C .

As co-director Mike Maskell commented: 'We are excited about the future as we now have much greater flexibility in terms of the machine tools we can sell.

Currently, we are looking at a number of new products to add to our portfolio.' The process has already begun with a couple of new additions to the Matchmaker stable - the Mini Mill 610 and the VMC 1600.

While neither machine was ready in time for the MACH show, both machining centres will be available in a few weeks time.

In typical Matchmaker tradition they combine precision and performance with productivity and value for money.

They join the other Matchmaker models - the VMC 820, VMC 1100 and the HSM 1000 (with the Heidenhain iTNC 530 control) - as well as the Mitsubishi DCH series of high speed horizontal machining centres and the M-V series of verticals.

Having moved to modern 18,000 ft2 premises in Leatherhead just a couple of years ago and now back under British ownership, the future for Matchmaker M/C looks highly promising to say the least.

Multi-function lathes for tailored specification

There are 32 basic models in the Dugard Eagle range of Multi-Function CNC lathes with a swing ranging from 560 mm to 1,100 mm designated by the model number.

There are 32 basic models in the Dugard Eagle range of Multi-Function CNC lathes with a swing ranging from 560 mm to 1,100 mm designated by the model number and between centre dimensions which can be up to 6,000 mm. In addition these, Fanuc or Siemens controlled flat bed lathes have a list of options that read like an upmarket German car brochure enabling the potential user to tailor the specification to best carry out its designated task. Available from C Dugard of Hove, Sussex, these fully programmable universal lathes are split into two categories, the HD 560, 660, 660A and 720 and the larger capacity HD 830, 970 and 1100.

The machines are all constructed on a wide, flat, hardened and ground cast iron bed with three vee slideways.

High quality proprietary components are common throughout the range from mainstream suppliers such as NSK and Sauter with quality slide-aside guarding having large visual panels.

Control is via either Fanuc 21i-TB with Manual Guide Assist or Siemens 840D with Manual Turn using electronic handwheels and digital readout, with the facility of macro assist programming and full CNC cycle repeat for batchwork.

There is even a choice of control mounting either by pendent or the unit being carried on an independent carriage mounted in front of the guarding.

All machines in the range provide the option of Multifix C manual, quick-change toolholder or a fully programmable Sauter eight-station VDI turret.

The HD 560 and 660 have a 105 mm spindle bore which is increased on the HD 660A and 720 to 140 mm diameter.

Between centre dimensions are 1,000 mm, 2,000 mm, 3,000 mm and 4,000 mm with the swing designated by the model number.

Up to 2.2 tonnes can be held between centres without steadies and the two-speed gearbox driven headstocks powered by high torque 15 kW motors have top speeds of 2,300 revs/min or 1,850 revs/min.

The larger HD 830, HD 970 and HD 1100 versions designate the swing with each machine being available with bed length in 1,000 mm increments between 2,000 mm and 6,000 mm.

Spindle power is 26 kW and spindle bores from 140 mm diameter to 450 mm are available.

Eight position Sauter turrets are also available in VDI 50 or VDI 60 as an option to the standard Multifix DI quick-change toolpost.

Linear scale measuring is also available on the X axis and longitudinal Z axis for higher accuracy positioning.

Typical of the C Dugard attention to detail in the Eagle range of machines is an extended neck to the extra large optional tailstock quills of 125 mm or 140 mm diameter.

This gives vastly improved access for machining close to the tailstock centre.

Included in the options listings are nine steady and three following rests plus three hydraulic self-centre types, 14 three and four jaw chucks and hydraulic chucks of different sizes and types.

There are six different swarf conveyors available, hydraulic tailstocks, automatic spindle speed change and a whole host of accessories.