Rye Technology‘s strategic decision to re-enter the US woodworking machinery market is paying dividends.
Following the official American launch of its specially developed QM CNC router range at the Atlanta show in August, Rye has already sold four machines. More orders are in the pipeline and the company is also looking to widen its geographic coverage of the market.
‘Rye used to sell traditional machines in the US, but that business died out about 10 years ago. We’ve really done nothing since and we never sold routers there,’ said managing director Adam Kingdon. ‘We decided, as part of our five-year company plan, to get back into the market and we’re very excited about the prospects.’
Earlier this year Rye appointed as agent Pruitt Machinery of Hickory, in the furniture factory-rich state of North Carolina, and began working with the company to develop the QM range.
‘In discussion with Pruitt we rapidly learned that we needed to produce a machine for the market,’ said Mr Kingdon. ‘American furniture manufacturers are generally not as techni-cally advanced as their European counterparts. They wanted a robust, reliable machine with gantry support both sides and also bigger sizes. We’re producing an 8×4 QM, a 5×10 and are now developing a 5×12.’
The first customers for the QM include EJ Victor which uses its QM2512 to machine solid hardwoods, veneered 5-ply and other materials. Fellow furniture maker Null Industries is using its larger QM3015 to process cherry, oak maple and other hardwoods for occasional tables, while Oyama Woodworking is machining hardwoods, plywood, chipboard and MDF for furniture and frame stock on its QM2512 and QM3015.
Mr Kingdon said that other orders are likely to be finalised soon and that Rye is now looking at appointing a further agent in Michigan.
This year, Rye also opened an office in Dusseldorf and in the next few years is aiming to increase exports from 25% to 75% of turnover.
