PrimeARC profile bending machines – reliable machines from Poland. From a debutant to a major player with international aspirations.
Two years have passed since the PrimeARC brand appeared on the market of machines for metal forming. How Vice President and COO of Primetec Marcin Jurasz evaluates this debut, and what are the plans and possibilities for further development. Read the article!
The role of a debutant, regardless of the industry or sphere of life, is a difficult role. How did the PrimeARC profile benders cope with it?
We could say that in the case of introducing the PrimeARC series profile bending machines to the market, we had an easier task. With 20 years of experience in the industry, we knew exactly what product was missing and what customers expected from this type of device. The three-roller bending machine market is highly competitive and very diverse in terms of machine types, the degree of operator intervention in the workpiece processing process, and consequently prices, not to mention the quality of workmanship or country of operation. Our assumption from beginning was that we wanted to design and build bending machines that would stand out with well-thought-out solutions, quality of workmanship, precision of operation and easy operation. We have undoubtedly managed to achieve this, which results not only in positive feedback from users, but also in the fact that tests of complex details that we perform on our machines for potential customers almost always end with success.
So the key question is: how has the PrimeARC series been received by customers?
As I mentioned, customer feedback is very positive, both among current users and potential customers visiting our stands at trade fairs where we present the capabilities of the machines. In 2023, the PrimeARC 50 CNC bending machine was also appreciated by the Targi Kielce S.A. competition jury – we received a distinction in the STOM-TOOL showroom category. Recently we heard from one of our customers who uses several profile bending machines from different manufacturers, including the PrimeARC 50 CNC, that since we installed our bending machine, all of their operators want to work only with this model! So we asked why this choice was made, and the answer was – the best machine in terms of ease of use, precision of work, reliable and on top of that… the prettiest: ). Such opinions make us very happy, especially since in this case the customer has committed to buying another machine this year! All this makes us aware of the product we offer, its quality and we are responsible for it not only with our company’s brand, but above all personally by each person involved in the production or sales process.
PrimeARC has made its presence not only on the Polish machinery market…
That’s right, in April this year we took part in the largest industry trade fair in Europe, the Tube trade fair in Dusseldorf in Germany. We had the opportunity to present our machines to a wide group of recipients, including potential distributors from many parts of the world. We knew that for us, as a new brand, still unknown outside of Poland, creating a good and effective presence would not be easy. However, the way we were received by industry experts, including machine manufacturers and distributors, exceeded our expectations. It turned out that the technical solutions we propose, the level of advancement of CNC control and even the design of the machines, not only do not differ from competitive products, but also practically set new trends. This strengthened our belief that the path we have chosen is the right one and we believe even more strongly in the international success of the brand. Of course, we are aware that we are still at the beginning of our activities, but such a success at an international trade fair really gives us wings.
Are there any aspects that, from the perspective of recent months, could have been resolved better and require improvement?
Absolutely, I think that there will always be an area that could have been done better, more efficiently or faster. In our situation, I would especially emphasize the word “faster” :). We have many ideas for development, from designing new machine models, through introducing additional accessories to the offer, to extending the functionality of the CNC control system, but we are limited by time. I believe that the actions we intend to implement will bring the desired results, which will accelerate of development of the PrimeARC brand.
To sum up, what do you think was the main reason for such a positive response and interest in the solutions offered?
The international machinery market is changing and, as a result, customers’ expectations regarding the capabilities of the machines in which they invest their money are also increasing. I remember when I started my career in the industry 20 years ago as the owner of the company TFM, the most important criterion for the customer to choose a device was the price. Currently, in an era of problems with qualified staff, including machine operators, the customer expects that the machine will perform the intended work itself with the least possible interference from the employee.
That is why our assumptions regarding the functionality of the CNC control systems used in PrimeARC bending machines were clear from the beginning – we create a precise and functional system in such a way as to limit the operator’s role to the necessary minimum. In this case, the machine and its hardware and software solutions are responsible for loading the material and unloading the workpiece. However, we want to go a step further and we plan to completely automate the loading and unloading process using a collaborative robot. We have experience in this field and we assume that the idea should be successful, the only problem is the mentioned time, or rather the lack thereof :).
What are your plans and ideas for future activities with the PrimeARC series?
We have many plans and ideas, although for now we are focusing on a few of them. We are working first of all on two new machine models. PrimeARC 60 CNC – this is a continuation of the current PrimeARC 40 CNC series with two lower forming rollers, but it will be a larger and more efficient machine with 60mm shaft diameters, capable of forming much larger profiles and pipes. The PrimeARC 50 NC model, provisionally called “Basic” by us, will be a completely new construction – – a machine with a less advanced control system, but still with the precision of operation, high quality of workmanship and design known from the current PrimeARC bending machine series. The work on this model is the result of our talks with several potential distributors during the Tube trade fair. They notice that they would like to see a less technically advanced machine in their portfolio, let’s say a basic version, which would allow them to find a wider interested recipients among their customers. So we had no choice but to fulfill the wishes of our distributors.