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Working in all materials, particularly high-grade stainless steel and aluminium, and in small volumes of often only one-off up to 100, Marcus Allum has steadily invested in CNC to satisfy customers' demanding turn-round times. Visitors to Allum Precision Engineering's rural site in Berkshire are easily lulled into a false impression of the company as they travel down a dirt track, with open fields on either side and towards a series of traditional farm buildings. From the outside, there is no indication that the ageing stable block is home to a high-tech machining centre and other CNC machines that are proving key in the supply of precision components to a wide range of local manufacturers.
Even since Marcus Allum formed the company in the mid-'90s, when the initial manual machines - a lathe and a turret mill - were being operated from a trailer while awaiting planning permission to use the outbuildings for light industrial use, he has continually strived to at least remain on par with his competitors, but preferably one step ahead.

This he has succeeded in doing through combining clever and innovative engineering with regular investment in CNC machining - the latest of which is a Gate Challenger VMC-610 vertical machining centre, fitted with Anilam CNC, from Gate Machinery International.

His current order book includes a wide range of precision-engineered parts for the automotive sector (ie, exhaust fittings), telecommunications (mobile 'phone components), aircraft (microlite wing struts) and oilfield and chemical industries (vacuum compressor heads) as well as a plethora of 'hobby' jobs such as the refurbishment and replacement of locks and keys for churches.
Working in all materials, particularly high-grade stainless steel and aluminium, and invariably in small volumes of often only one-off (prototype work) and batches of no more than 100, Marcus Allum has steadily invested in CNC to not only utilise the machines' higher speeds and feeds, to satisfy customers' demanding turn-round times and the required consistent quality of often complex components, but also to overcome a problem that is familiar to many companies - lack of skills.

'Although I have the services of two or three skilled operators on a part-time basis, the use of CNC milling and turning has largely enabled me to solve this perennial problem,' he says.



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