Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in Sunderland
Most of the engineering plant around Sunderland exists to feed one car plant and the battery factory beside it. Tier one and tier two suppliers on the Washington estates run press lines, injection moulding ancillaries, welding cells, automated assembly and the toolrooms that keep all of it going. When a model changes or a contract moves, that kit has to find a new home.
Some of it is very specific. A robot cell built around one component is worth more as a set of robots, controllers, grippers and a fence than as a cell. Some of it is general, and a toolroom lathe or surface grinder from a supplier's maintenance shop sells to any machine shop in the country.
We sort out which is which when we catalogue, and we sell it all in one online sale. Tell us what you have through the contact form.
Automation cells and what they fetch second hand
Robots have a market beyond the motor trade. A six axis robot with its controller and teach pendant suits packaging, food, plastics and general fabrication, and buyers bid on make, payload, reach and controller hours. Tooling built around one part is another matter, because it only fits the job the cell was doing.
So we split cells. Each robot is lotted with its own controller, cables, pendant and manuals. Guarding, conveyors, vision systems and welding power sources go as separate lots so a buyer who wants a robot for a new job is not paying for a fence they will scrap.
The same thinking applies to press shop ancillaries. Coil cradles, decoilers, straighteners and transfer units stay with the press they feed when a buyer would want the line whole, and go separately when not. We decide that machine by machine on the first visit, and we photograph the control screens so buyers can see which generation of control they are bidding on.
Toolroom machines from the pressings and plastics trade
Every supplier has a toolroom, and the toolroom is where the general purpose machines live. Die sinkers, wire eroders, surface grinders, toolroom lathes, turret mills and coordinate measuring machines, kept in good order because the press tools and the moulds depend on them. These lots have the broadest market in the sale. Die and mould shops across the country use them, and so do the subcontract machine shops in Durham, Peterlee, Seaham and Gateshead, which are an easy drive from a viewing day.
We catalogue them with the numbers that matter. Table size, travels, control system, spindle taper, the tooling and workholding included, and the calibration record on a measuring machine.
Getting them out is checked before the catalogue is written. The Washington estates and North Hylton were laid out for articulated traffic, with level yards, wide gates and roller shutter doors on ground floor units, and we measure the door, the floor and the loading point at each one. What a machine costs to remove is part of what a buyer can bid.
What these sales can include
- CNC turning centres
- CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres
- Manual and toolroom lathes
- Milling machines
- Surface and cylindrical grinders
- Press brakes and guillotines
- Laser, plasma and waterjet cutters
- Bandsaws and cold saws
- Radial arm and pillar drills
- Welding sets and positioners
- Coordinate measuring machines
- Tooling, chucks and workholding
- Compressors and dust extraction
- Cranes, hoists and forklifts
Viewing, bidding and the buyer's premium
Machinery sales run as online timed auctions. The catalogue is published with photographs and specifications. Buyers register, view the machines on the viewing day, and bid online until the lots close. The sale is advertised to the engineering trade, and bidding is online and open to buyers across the UK and beyond.
The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. VAT is charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Ask and we will go through the specifics for your sale. Where a buyer is overseas, they arrange their own export.
Machines are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the viewing day matters. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate them where that is agreed, and everything else is isolated and left safe.
The machinery and engineering auctions page covers what the buyers want to know, what affects demand, reserves and estimates, removal and access, when a private sale beats an auction.
Questions about selling in Sunderland
- Our supply contract ends when the model changes next spring. When should we start?
As soon as the end date is known. A model changeover has a fixed date, and the plant tends to be needed right up to it, so the sale has to be planned around the last production shift. We can catalogue while you are still running, publish the sale so that bidding closes shortly after production stops, and hold the viewing on a day that suits the shift pattern. Collection follows in a window we agree after that. Working back from the changeover date gives you the plan.
- Some of the press tools belong to the car maker. How do we keep them out of the sale?
Tell us before we catalogue. Customer owned tooling is common in the supply chain, and it is usually marked or listed in the supply agreement. We walk the shop with you, tag anything that belongs to a customer or a lender, and leave it out of the catalogue. It helps to separate it physically before the viewing day so nobody bids on it by mistake and nothing leaves on a collection day that should not.
More questions about machinery auctions
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.