Entries Now Open For Automate UK Awards 2026

Entries are now being accepted for the Automate UK Awards, the annual recognition event celebrating excellence in automation, robotics and industrial vision. The organisation also announced that comedian Frank Skinner and soul singer Heather Small will perform at the presentation. The deadline for entry submissions is 17:00 on 7 August. Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on the second evening of the UK’s biggest processing and packaging machinery, robotics and industrial vision exhibition, PPMA, which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham, from 22-24 September.

More information www.tinyurl.com/3sxy3b9h

Whitehouse Wins Mitsubishi EDM Agency in UK

Whitehouse Machine Tools has been appointed the UK sales and service agent for Mitsubishi Electric’s range of wire-cut and die-sink EDM machines. The strategic partnership represents a significant expansion of the agent’s portfolio, which currently includes notable machine tool brands such as Brother, Spinner and Biglia, spanning machining centre and CNC lathe technologies.

As part of the new agency agreement, Scott Elsmere and Dean Barnes, have both joined the team at Whitehouse Machine Tools to ensure seamless continuity of service. Experienced engineers with decades of technical sales experience and applications expertise in the manufacturing industry, Elsmere and Barnes have recently been engaged in the sales of Mitsubishi Electric EDM machines.

More information www.wmtcnc.com

BodorGenius Third-Fen 10 kW-Class Laser Head Unveiled

Bodor Laser has launched its BodorGenius third-generation 10 kW-class laser head, a major in-house development designed to deliver higher precision, greater reliability and improved productivity in high-power laser cutting applications.

As the core component of a laser cutting system, the laser head has a direct impact on cutting quality, machine stability and long-term operating costs. Developed to meet growing demand for high-volume, high-intensity metal processing, the new design addresses many of the limitations associated with conventional laser heads, including contamination, accuracy drift and maintenance requirements.

A key feature is an upgraded sealing system incorporating a dual-layer drawer-style structure and twin protective lens barriers. The design prevents dust, smoke, oil and metal debris from entering the optical path, while improving fault tolerance by protecting critical components even if the outer lens is damaged. The result is longer component life, lower maintenance costs and greater process reliability.

Bodor has also redesigned the laser head’s internal architecture by separating the clean optical chamber from the transmission structure, reducing wear, contamination and accuracy loss. Following more than 1000 hours of extreme-condition testing, the design maintained stable cutting performance with no internal debris generation.

To improve reliability, the laser head undergoes extensive dynamic vibration testing, simulating thousands of kilometres of transportation and more than 15,000 high-frequency vibration cycles before shipment. An integrated intelligent safety system continuously monitors operating conditions, providing early warnings to help prevent abnormal machine operation.

The new laser head also benefits from an industrial ultrasonic three-stage cleaning process during manufacture, ensuring maximum optical cleanliness from the outset.

The launch reflects Bodor Laser’s continued investment in proprietary laser technology and reinforces its commitment to advancing the performance, precision and reliability of high-power laser cutting systems.More information www.bodor.com