Renishaw hosts innovation strategy launch

The Welsh Government recently announced its new innovation strategy for Wales at the Miskin facility of Renishaw. During the launch event at the company’s manufacturing site near Cardiff, the Welsh Government outlined its aspiration to become an innovation-based nation and bring better healthcare, jobs and prosperity for businesses and local communities.

At the event, the Minister for Economy, Vaughan Gething, outlined the Welsh Government’s vision of an innovation strategy for a stronger, fairer, greener Wales, with its plans to cover four mission areas: education; economy; health and wellbeing; and climate and nature. To support this strategy at the event, Renishaw showcased its STEM education centre for local schools, spoke to visitors about its £65m investment to increase manufacturing capacity with a focus on sustainability, and gave tours of its advanced manufacturing facility.
For further information www.renishaw.com

New training centre at MTC Liverpool

The Manufacturing Technology Centre’s Liverpool facility is to be the base for a new advanced manufacturing training centre delivering skills to businesses and learners in Liverpool and the northwest.Courses offered will include a new Level 2 Lean Manufacturing Operative apprenticeship. The one-year apprenticeship programme includes subjects such as lean manufacturing, production, quality control, problem solving, workplace organisation, and health and safety.

The centre will also deliver an HNC in Engineering course over a two-year period. The programme aims to empower students to develop the specialist knowledge and skills to help their organisations effectively harness the power of new and emerging manufacturing technologies.Both courses begin in October with further programmes announced soon.
For further information www.the-mtc.org

Unison’s Steve Haddrell doubles up Nukon Lasers UK

Steve Haddrell, key account manager at Unison Ltd – inventor of all-electric tube manipulation -is now sales director at sister company, Nukon Lasers UK. In addition to his fulfilling his new role, Haddrell will continue to support Unison’s tube-bending machinery customers in the Midlands and south of England. Nukon Lasers UK became the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor for Nukon’s European-made fibre laser sheet and tube-cutting machines in autumn 2021. Previously working for 600 Group’s laser division and Yamazaki Mazak’s optonics division, Haddrell has been akey account manager at Unison since 2009.
For further information www.nukonlasers.co.uk

Next-generation Puma DNT lathe series unveiled

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of DN Solutions and Zayer machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has introduced a new range of high-performance, box guideway lathes into the market. The next-generation 8-10” chuck (67-81mm bar diameter) DNT Puma 2100/2600 lathe series is inherently flexible and provides manufacturers with capacity up to 460mm turning diameter and 658mm turning length.

The new series comprises of eight models in total.Fundamental to performance is their rigid design and build, which boasts box guideways on all axes to help prevent vibration and, as a consequence, ensure high part accuracies, long tool life and improved surface finishes even during heavy-duty machining operations.

Spindle power and speeds vary (up to 26 kW and 4500rpm) and are model dependent. A high torque option (378Nm) for the DNT 2100M lathe is also available.

DNT lathes feature 10-12 station servo-driven turrets for fast (0.15 second indexing time) and accurate tool selection: driven tooling models are supplied with the rigid BMT 55P or 65P (base mounted) turret that can accommodate 5.5 kW/6000-10,000rpm rotary tools and facilitate fast and precise milling, drilling and tapping operations.To ensure the machining of longer workpieces, DNT lathes are equipped with manual, programmable or servo-driven tailstocks.

The new lathes feature the FANUC iPlus control with 15” touchscreen iHMI that is both intuitive and attractive.

Says Tony Dale, Mills CNC’s CEO:“New DNT 2100 and 2600 lathes are now available.Their impressive technical specification will, I am confident, have a universal appeal among component manufacturers looking to increase their productivity and deliver ‘right-first-time’ turned parts to their customers.”
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

New chair for EngineeringUK

EngineeringUK, a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to inspire the next generation of engineers, hasnamed Iain Conn as its new chair, taking over from Malcolm Brinded on 1 October 2023. Conn’s career includes 34 years’ executive experience in the energy sector at BP and Centrica, alongside non-executive roles at Rolls-Royce and BT. He was an external member of the Council of Imperial College, a trustee at Movement to Work, and was responsible for BP’s early role in Project Enthuse, which supports STEM teaching and learning across the UK, helping to improve young people’s engagement in STEM subjects.
For further information www.engineeringuk.com