Taking accuracy to a new level!

Tell us about the history of QCT?

QCT have been in business for 31 years, starting as a service company for CMMs (coordinate measuring machine).

We initially developed our own CMM operating software, and quickly realised we needed to develop our own CMM hardware interface for manual and CNC CMMs, which allowed us to retrofit or upgrade all makes of CMM. We are now many generations of both software and hardware further on. 

We manufacture our own machines in the UK, (Quantum MK 4) and are UKAS accredited to carry out ISO10360 -2 :2009 and ISO 10360-5:2020 calibrations. We also offer service and repair of all makes of CMM.

QCT’s original owners have all now retired, and the company was subject to a management buyout from senior employees within the business, Lee (27 years at QCT), Garry (12 years) and Scott (26 years).

Tell us about your products

We design and build our own CMM, the Quantum 4, (the 4th generation of QCT CMMs) which is available in a variety of frame sizes as both a manual or CNC operated machine. They are all supplied with QCT’s own interfaces and CMM software, Inspect3D Pro64.

Another new product available from us is the Kreon Ace-Arm, which is supplied with a standard probe or laser options.

What are your unique selling points?

Once customers visit our state-of-the-art facilities in our new building and we show them our workshop, subcontract and calibration areas, customers quickly feel reassured. We are a ‘one stop shop’ - everything we add to a CMM is developed by us, including interfaces, software and refurbishment. We are not reliant on buying in software solutions, as our industry-leading Inspect 3D pro software demonstrates. Being self-reliant reduces our costs, which we pass on to our customers because we don’t have third parties to pay.

As well as our new machines, we also sell a large range of Refurbished CMM’s from Mitutoyo, Hexagon and Zeiss to name but a few. They are sold fully retrofitted with the same equipment and software as our Quantum 4 and fully backed up with a full 1-year warranty. A lot of the OEMs will now not support older frames and will insist customers buy new machines. We know we can extend the life of these high quality CMMs by 20 years or more with careful maintenance and, more importantly, with no loss of performance. We also retrofit our equipment onsite onto most makes of CMM, breathing new life into older machines and saving our customers a substantial amount of money at the same time.

How do you typically work with customers?

Our service engineers have access to the latest equipment and diagnostic tools, we respond to customers’ needs and service requirements with a ‘can do’ attitude, our highly skilled workforce are kept up to date with industry requirements and technology.   

We pride ourselves on customer support from the very first contact - we don’t force a product onto a customer. We listen to their request and suggest the best solutions for each requirement. 

Our technical sales people are engineers first.

In many cases we’ve guided our customers to a far simpler or cost efficient solution than they had been advised they needed by other suppliers elsewhere.

We want the customer relationship to be right from the start and build customer confidence in QCT. We aim to discuss and understand our customers’ requirements and supply them with a cost-efficient solution in as short a lead time as reasonably possible. 

If you’re happy to divulge this, what’s the price range of your products?

Our software solutions start from £3,000 and our CMMs start from £8,500 upwards, depending on the customer’s requirements of machine and software.  

Does it make a difference to your customers that you’re a British-based firm?

It certainly makes a huge difference to our UK based customers; however, we have many customers both in the UK and overseas. What they’re all after is confidence in their investment and with us as a supplier.

They need to know that they can be assured of our first-class support, whatever situation arises.

What is FFI’s role? 

FFI are now our go-to provider for finance when requested by one of our customers.

They are assured when financing a QCT CMM, (new or refurbished), that our CMM portfolio can meet the most demanding of customers applications. Backed up with a 12-month warranty, QCT can confidently stand by our CMM products with proven accuracy via UKAS calibration procedures to back this up. 

It’s great knowing we can point a customer to a highly professional company like FFI and they will help all they can to create the best package for a potential customer. 

What are your predictions for your sector, moving forward?

Software is becoming king, more capable and more intuitive than ever before, and QCT’s innovative solutions ensure we are right at the top for workshop ease of use.

Quality requirements are becoming ever more demanding as machine tools improve; however, many of the OEMs are now dropping the manual CMM, but we feel they still have a place in the workshop and engineering because it’s a great introductory machine at a great price point for new and older businesses.

Automation and laser scanning is becoming more common and it is great to see, however, the price point for a lot of customers is too prohibitive. QCT now offer laser scanning with a high accuracy very competitive price point. 

What are QCT’s plans for the future?

Investing in people. We currently have several vacancies for new positions, including software engineer, and application and service engineers.

Developing our software and interfaces to encompass an ever widening service, including innovative laser scanning and probe scanning solutions.