Brembana CNC milling machines, which wholesalers Pisani started distributing last year in a coup that deprived A J Lopez of exclusivity on the range, are now being distributed exclusively by CMS directly through a company in High Wycombe they bought 40% of last year, Rye Technology.

Rye, re-named Rye CMS after the merger, were originally involved in supplying routers for the furniture-making industry in High Wycombe, but had branched out into machining centres for joinery, plastics and aluminium trimming (for aerospace and motorsports) by the time they joined forces with the massive Italian group CMS last year.

CMS produce CNC routers and machining centres for wood, aluminium, plastic and glass, as well as the Brembana stone working machines, and have more than 3,000 machining centres operating worldwide.

The machines being produced by Rye and CMS were not technically dissimilar, says Adam Kingdon, managing director of Rye Technology, which was what made the union appropriate.

Pietro Aceti, the managing director and chief executive of CMS in Sogno, Italy, said in May last year when the association with Rye was announced: "This partnership gives us a big opportunity in the important UK market."

Adam Kingdon said at the time: "The combination of the CMS product range with Rye\'s back-up and support will offer enormous benefits to customers in the UK."

At first the CMS Brembana stone-working machinery was not included in the range being sold by Rye CMS, but from 1 January Brembana joined the Rye stable.

Kingdon says the Brembana range will benefit from the company\'s large team of service engineers.

In addition, they have recruited Phillip Haith, the man brought up in South Africa who was particularly successful in developing the American market for CMS and who was recruited by Pisani when they gained the Brembana agency last year.