Laser helps Hope keep pace with orders

Bicycle aftermarket component manufacturer, Hope Technology, has installed a 4 kW BySprintFiber 3015 laser-cutting machine at its factory in Barnoldswick to help relieve its existing BySprint CO2 laser cutter (installed in 2015) of ever-growing workload.
“We use relatively thin materials, such as 2 mm stainless steel for brake discs and up to 6 mm aluminium for some sprockets,” explains production manager Lindley Pate. “For thinner gauges, compared with an equivalent CO2 source, the fibre laser produces components three times faster. It has made a fantastic difference in helping us to meet the sheer volume of orders.”
The machine is equally capable of handling much thicker material. Hope often processes 12 mm thick aluminium tooling plate to produce fixtures for other machines on the shop floor.
A further advantage of fibre-laser cutting, according to Pate, is the high quality of cut using exclusively nitrogen as the cutting gas: “The as-machined edges on stainless steel appear polished, so brake discs for example need no edge finishing. They go straight to heat treatment.”
Pate added that other factors in favour of fibre-laser cutting over CO2 are more consistent accuracy, less machine maintenance and more economical running costs, both in terms of the amount of electricity used and the lower requirement for cutting gases. There is now no need to use any helium gas, which runs all the time on a CO2 laser machine, resulting in a further significant saving.
The bike components cut on the BySprintFiber are mainly brake disc blanks from 410 stainless steel sheet in the soft condition.
For further information
www.bystronic.co.uk

70 at Hexagon

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence recently hosted a special event to demonstrate its latest measurement solutions to businesses in the Midlands. The breakfast meeting, held at the company’s Telford head office, was attended by 70 delegates who were able to watch six product displays
and listen to a series of talks. The event also gave visitors an opportunity to showcase their companies and highlight areas for collaboration during a 60-second pitch session.
For further information
www.hexagonmi.com

White retires

Nick White, Mills CNC’s sales director, announced his retirement from the company at the end of last month. White joined Mills CNC, then located in Norwich, in December 1988 as the business manager responsible for sales growth in the southwest of England and Wales. This was a position he held for a number of years, during which time the company changed its name, relocated to Leamington Spa, and became the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland. He was appointed as the company’s UK and Ireland sales manager in 2008 and, following a management buyout in 2014, became Mills CNC’s sales director and a major shareholder in the business.
For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

£65m overpayments

Manufacturers could be missing out on up to £65m of unclaimed refunds and incorrect charges on their energy bills, according to business energy experts Inenco Group. Inenco has conducted analysis on business bills, identifying that one in five energy bills contain errors that frequently go unnoticed by organisations. The most common issue in the manufacturing sector is incorrect rates applied to bills, followed by meter read errors. Inenco’s team of data analysts process and validate over one million invoices each year on behalf of businesses.
For further information www.inenco.com/missingmillions

Metaltech Malaysia

Momentum is beginning to build for Metaltech Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, 24-27 May), which is the country’s largest exhibition for the metalworking and machine tool industries. Established for more than 20 years, the four-day show will feature some 1400 companies across exhibition space spanning 35,000 sq m. Six national pavilions will also be present: Austria, China, Germany, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
Around 27,000 buyers from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and other countries
are expected to attend.
For further information www.metaltech.com.my