Hutchinson Engineering invests £4m

Hutchinson Engineering has bolstered its business with a £4m investment in state-of-the-art laser cutting machines and an automated storage facility at its headquarters in Kilrea, Northern Ireland. This latest development, which represents the company’s largest capital investment to date, substantially increases the company’s capacity and fuels its vision to becoming the leading provider of engineering solutions in Ireland.

CEO Mark Hutchinson says: “This major investment is partly in response to the growing number of enquiries we’re receiving from clients seeking to nearshore their supply chains in materials handling, agriculture, coachbuilding and road transport. The markets in which they operate have seen immense volatility over the past few years due to Covid-19, increased fuel and shipping costs, and carbon reduction targets. Our clients are adapting to this changing market landscape and our latest investment means that we can build long-term partnerships to help keep their businesses ahead of the curve.”
For further information www.hutchinson-engineering.co.uk

Family business flourishes with Anca

Clorindo Mattei started Clortech in 1987, after quitting another specialty toolmaking enterprise in Montreal, Canada. The company has grown to about 20 employees, but maintains founder and president Mattei’s enthusiasm for detail, his work ethic, and his pride in what he has created on the shop floor.

Today the company has two each of Anca’s TG7 Plus, TX7 and TX7 Linear tool and cutter grinding machines, as well as CNC lathes, mills, and an assortment of manual machining equipment in its workshop. The customer base has also expanded, with maintenance and repair gear going out to the Canadian Armed Forces, and drills to railway sleeper installers, as well as tools for traditional clients like Pratt & Whitney.

“The slowdown in aerospace was absorbed by the increase in commodities being shipped by rail,” says Patrick Mattei, vice-president of production and son of founder, Clorindo.

Aviation, however, remains important to Clortech. Part of its offering – besides MRO kits, tool production and contract tool development – is AOG 911, a quick-response tool production and repair service.

“Aerospace is not strictly about complex tools, but often the urgency of tools,” says Patrick. “A lot of the time we get requests for aircraft that are on ground, be it in Montreal or around the world. These aircraft have to fly, so they’ll call us and request a tool on a turnaround that’s within the day, within a couple of hours or within the next day. We’ve got to make it as quickly as possible and make it right first time.”

He adds: “Anca software allows us to be able to program the machine in a time-efficient fashion when producing low-volume parts. It’s so conversational, so user-friendly, that it’s simply plug and play.”
For further information www.anca.com

Over 19,000 visitors at LAMIERA

Over 19,000 visitors attended LAMIERA 2022, the international trade show for sheet metal-forming machine tools and related technologies held in Milan. Promoted and organised by UCIMU, it was the quality of visits that distinguished the audience of operators attending the four-day event. Most exhibitors, interviewed on their stands, reported the presence of knowledgeable visitors and received guests mainly intent on making purchases.

Of the total visitors, 12% were from abroad, representing about 60 countries. The most numerous delegations came from Austria, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the US. Over 365 exhibitors covered a total exhibition surface area of over 40,000 sq m. The next edition of LAMIERA is scheduled for 10-13 May 2023.
For further information www.lamiera.net

Online support ticketing system

Sheet metal processing machinery specialist LVD is introducing a new online service and support portal for its customers worldwide. Online Support Ticketing System (OSTS) provides customers with 24/7 access to initiate a support ticket on any service-related concern: request a service intervention, enquire about spare parts, schedule preventative maintenance, register for training, or simply ask a question. The portal streamlines LVD’s support response to address customer requests more quickly and efficiently.

Customers must register for OSTS to receive a private, secure logon to the portal. The service is free. OSTS makes it easy to submit a ticket at any time. LVD then routes the ticket directly to the responsible local service team for immediate action. Information on the status of the ticket is provided in real time. The OSTS portal also documents the communication chain for a customer’s complete LVD machine inventory.
For further information www.lvdgroup.com

Tapping into a complete threading range

Floyd Automatic Tooling is the new UK and Ireland distribution partner for German cutting tool brand JBO, a specialist in precision tools for manufacturing and checking threads.

Established in 1849, the JBO brand encompasses: thread-milling cutters; shell-type thread milling tools and combination tools; PCD, CVD and CBN tools; thread-cutting dies and rolling dies; and precision thread gauges.

With such an expansive range of options, Floyd Automatic will be paying particular attention to thread mills, threading dies and thread gauges. With more than 80 pages in the JBO thread milling catalogue, the options now available from Floyd Automatic are extensive.

As an overview of the thread-milling options, JBO manufactures tools for all metric, metric fine, Whitworth, UNC, UNF, UN, UNJF and NPT requirements, plus a host of other thread-form designations. Within the thread geometries, Floyd can offer everything from standard solid-carbide thread mills to tools with chamfers, special tools, coated tools for challenging materials, and combination tools from M1 upwards.

The threading dies come in all recognised thread designations and pitches, with solid-carbide, coated, high-precision solutions and thread-rolling options. Also available are special dies with projected noses for confined spaces, re-cutting dies, split dies, special dies for external threads inside bores, bell-form dies for cutting two dies simultaneously, deburring tools for cross-drilled holes, and coated or uncoated elastic thread-cutting dies.

JBO also has a large range of precision thread gauges to match. Indeed, the company has more than 10,000 different thread dimensions and tolerance bands from 0.5 to 300 mm available for quick delivery to UK manufacturers via Floyd Automatic. The thread gauges include go and no-go gauges, box sets of plug and ring gauges, extended thread length gauges and the Multicheck range of digital gauges.

For further information
www.floydautomatic.co.uk