ISSUE 114 AUTUMN 2024 INTERVIEW


PRODUCT NEWS


THE LASER USER


OUR PEOPLE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET


AN INTERVIEW WITH MARK HUTCHINSON CEO, HUTCHINSON ENGINEERING


Hutchinson Engineering is a family business founded by my father Creighton in 1971. When I joined in 1997, we had only five employees and a £500 K turnover. Local agriculture, the main target sector, was struggling due to Mad Cow disease and Foot and Mouth. My goal, fresh from A-levels, was to diversify into other markets, our first machinery acquisition that year was a plasma cutter from Esprit.


We realised that a laser cutter was needed to improve quality over plasma, so we purchased a laser cutting system with 9 trays storage from Amada. At this point, in 1999, we were the first in Northern Ireland to run “lights out” for night time and weekends. Steady growth has enabled


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us to reach a size of 175 employees, turning over £21 million.


We currently serve coach builders, yellow goods, crushing and screening equipment manufacturers. Our people are the most important asset we have, and I learned early on to delegate.


I have pursued education, reaching the level of a Chartered Directorship with the Institute of Directors (IoD) in 2022.


We now have 2 TRUMPF 12 kW flatbed cutting lasers and a 3.2 kW tube cutting CO2


laser. Three years ago we


invested £4 million in a STOPA system to store everything from raw materials to finished parts.


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