Jenkinson joined the Japanese company as sales and technical director in 1999, after previously running secondhand dealer Kenmart and working for rival Komori.

It is a cultural shift and a vote in confidence from parent company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which has never appointed a managing director of MLP from the UK ahead of one of its own Japanese directors.

Jenkinsons remit is to expand MLPs penetration in the B1 and B2 market to 20% of total UK machine sales, spearheaded with its Diamond range of presses.

When I first came here four years ago, MLP had sales of around 3% of the market. This has grown to 12% today with 165 installed presses and we have set ourselves the target of achieving 20% sales by 2007, he said.

As part of that plan, Mitsubishi is investing 4.5m into the service and supply department in Leeds, primarily to cover the manpower and costs of running an expanded department. The aim is to provide cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week to any customer in the country and Jenkinson is looking to recruit engineers for the roles.

Im a firm believer that service drives sales, not the other way around. A few years ago we persuaded Mitsubishi to use Leeds as the European spare parts hub, and we have expanded from holding 1m of spare stocks to more than 6m,
Jenkinson said.

We can despatch 90% of all spare parts within 24 hours to anywhere in Europe. We now aim to provide a similar level of service support, and that all costs money.