New Solutions for CNC Machining Supply

Q: What are ALTTEK’s ambitions for the Mexican market, and how will the company achieve them?

A: We have been able to create a good mix of product and service, at an extremely competitive price. Identifying our customer’s problems through in-depth analyses has given us the opportunity to retain clients for over three decades. As an example, customers that initially purchased one machine, now have over 150, of which more than 90% have been purchased from us. Correspondingly, we have created a strong loyalty bond with our customers due to our direct business relationship. It is extremely important for customers to have the assurance that their suppliers will comply with their specifications, which is something that we continuously focus on. At ALTTEK, we strive to ensure that every time a sale is closed, it becomes a success story. It is far more powerful and influential for a potential customer to receive feedback from their peers than to listen to the supplier.

Q: Which brand has been the most successful for ALTTEK?

A: Doosan Infracore is our main collaborative partner. The company is one of the industry’s machine tool leaders, manufacturing around 1,400 CNC machines on a monthly basis. It has adequate industry experience and the right products to fit the industry’s requirements. There are other brands we work with in terms of the automotive industry, but they are not as heavy duty oriented as Doosan is. Additionally, Doosan has a global presence, and with their help we are able to provide our clients comprehensive, turnkey solutions, meaning that customers are provided with a one-stop-shop encompassing our machinery, tools, and processes. As such, in terms of the automotive industry, we can offer automatic loading, measuring, multi-pallet systems and other capacities. We are helping our automotive customers produce front and rear axles, wheels, and brake components, as well as cylinder heads and blocks. Doosan machines have a high manufacturing quality and the brand responds quickly to requests for spare parts. For a job shop environment, where parts to be machined may vary within the same day and an easy-toprogram control is needed, we offer Milltronics machines. With unrivalled prices, this brand is the best option for a smooth migration from conventional to CNC machining.

Q: For those heavy-duty and complicated machines, how does ALTTEK help to train its clients’ workforces in order to best operate them?

A: We include complementary workforce training with each machine that we sell in aspects such as the machine’s operation, programming, and maintenance. We strive toward making our clients self-sufficient by training them how to identify the malfunctioning of a spare part, and how to read the machine’s manual. In terms of maintenance, we have a well-trained service team. We want our team to be extremely knowledgeable and capable in order for them to solve problems right away, hence the reason they receive training in countries like Korea or the US. We try to answer our customers’ problems within a 24-hour timespan, and we rely heavily on our team to do so. Additionally, our suppliers’ level of customer service is an important tool that helps us provide the best possible service that we can. We offer our clients preventive maintenance for a fixed timespan, but most importantly, we also empower them to perform such maintenance themselves.

Q: Due to the industry’s large desire to increase efficiency and productivity, how has the demand for CNC equipment increased?

A: Even though machines continue to improve in terms of productivity, the demand has continued growing. In previous years, the main reasons behind this trend were the development of the oil and gas industry, as well as the aerospace industry. Currently, the automotive industry is the main determining factor. With the introduction of new OEMs into the Mexican market, the demand for our products and services has intensified, which has a direct impact on ALTTEK’s business. Productivity is extremely important, and the way to obtain this is through a better integration of solutions.

Q: What new equipment have you imported into the country to keep up with these demands?

A: Customers are becoming increasingly anxious about streamlining maintenance time. They want to put the part in the machine and have the machine produce the final product, which is not always possible due to the complexity of the part. Efficiency of manual labor is not currently a competitive advantage for the Mexican market because productivity is achieved by highly technological machinery. We can set up monitoring systems on the machine that will allow our customers to trace product specifications. Additionally, we are selling a high volume of accessories for our machines that help measure the dimensions of parts, which in turn help our customers to become more productive. The aftermarket is also extremely important, although we do try to minimize the post-ownership costs that our clients might face. We teach our clients that their product is as a longterm investment, helping them to understand that our solutions can make them more profitable than those of our competitors. For this reason, we try to sell machinery that does not require much future investment in spare parts. The goal is to provide a machine that breaks down as little as possible, which allows the customer to manufacture more and spend less.