Manufactured by Machine Tools of Norwich, the Austic-Layton Centamax lathe was intended to be used as part of a high-volume production process. In a machine shop turning out quantities of turned bar and tube turned between centres - or on capstan lathes - the Centamax could centre and face stock in one operation. It could also be employed as a "second-operation" lathe where jobs needed further work such as chamfering the bores and diameters of tubes, point drilling and boring - most of these being able to be carried out in fewer operations than would have been possible on a conventional lathe.
Unfortunately, no information survives about the Austic-Layton company nor how many Centamax machines were produced. As this was a specialised machine, one wonders, have any survived - and were many firms convinced by a claim that might have read " Upgrade your workshop today with the exceptional Austic-Layton Centamax lathe from Machine Tools of Norwich and take your production process to the next level."?