YPIE Blog Day 11: Axminster Tools & Machinery

Sam Ryan, a participant on the Young Professionals Industry Experience, writes about the group’s trip to Axminster Tools & Machinery.

During our visit to Axminster Tools & Machinery head office in Axminster Devon, we were hosted by business development manager Charley.

Charley gave a presentation on the history of the family owned business, which was founded in 1972 by Ron Styles and now run by managing director Alan Styles.

The company has over 40 years of experience in the tool and machinery industry and currently employ 280 staff all over the UK.

Charley then took us on a tour to the Axminster Skill Centre where several woodworking courses are held.

The aim of the skill centre is to attract woodworkers and to offer to them the chance to learn new skills for their hobby or business.

This was followed by a tour of the warehouse, where we learned about the importance of the packaging process and how each product is coded for each customer.

Charley then took us to the wood workshop demonstration area and were shown how to use the Lamello jointing system.

Axminster is proud of the high quality tools and machinery that it produces. It offers a three-year guarantee on a large range of its products. The company aims to keep new and existing customers happy by offering free expert advice through the sales and technical teams.

Axminster makes its own tools & machinery as well as buying in various companies products to sell to furniture makers, like myself, for hobby or business use. Axminster have several ranges to cover each customer area, which include the hobby

All of my tools and machinery in my wood workshop have been bought from Axminster, as I know that they make high quality products.

Visiting Axminster Tools & Machinery was a great experience. To see the core of the business and understand more about how the business is run was very interesting.