£26m plant

British Steel has opened a new £26m manufacturing plant to serve the forklift truck mast industry. The investment at British Steel’s Special Profiles business in Skinningrove, Teesside, will significantly increase throughput over the next two years. The facility includes four new CNC lathes for turning mill rolls, three automated bandsaws for cutting stock to length and a laser measurement system for process control. British Steel also says the plant incorporates one of the finest large-capacity (14 m) bed mills in the world, enabling it to meet precise customer requirements for very tight tolerances.

More information www.britishsteel.co.uk

Horn secures Industry 4.0 award

Cutting tool manufacturer Paul Horn GmbH has received a second Allianz Industrie 4.0 Award Baden-Württemberg, underlining the company’s continuous pursuit of innovation and its pioneering role in digitalisation. Horn’s innovation has been to map the lifecycle of tools digitally, principally to enable the recording of quality-critical data using a web-based solution customised for specific groups of tooling products. The Horn Service Platform (HSP) prevents errors and reduces lead times by digitally automating and accelerating administrative tasks.

More information www.horn-group.com

Machine tool damping breakthrough

The Fraunhofer Institutes for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU and Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials Research IFAM have made a breakthrough in materials research. HoverLIGHT composite material is said to set new standards for the construction of machine tools: by combining aluminium foam and particle-filled hollow spheres, HoverLIGHT achieves a combination of lightness, stiffness, and vibration damping. Tests show that HoverLIGHT can dampen vibrations by a factor of three. All this comes with a weight saving of 20% compared with the original assembly.

More information www.iwu.fraunhofer.de

Bigger voice for manufacturers

A trade body that represents 200 manufacturers has placed a Minister for Manufacturing, greater SME involvement in the Industrial Strategy and ongoing lobbying around the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) at the top of its action list for 2025. The Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM) wants to give members an even greater voice on key issues impacting their ability to compete over the next 12 months.

Despite recent challenges, the CBM believes there are still plenty of opportunities for manufacturers if there is more stability in the automotive sector and if the ongoing resurgence in aerospace continues. It also believes that serious government backing and funding towards ‘Made in Britain’ could dispel some of the economic gloom and generate numerous possibilities.

More information www.thecbm.co.uk

New era for Floyd Automatic Tooling

UK cutting tool distributor Helix Tool has acquired Floyd Automatic Tooling following the decision of Richard and Chantal Floyd to retire from the business after 35 years. “Over the decades, our offering has expanded exponentially in line with both the technology and the requirements of the marketplace,” says Richard Floyd. “We’ve built partnerships with suppliers and clients that have spanned decades. The staff and management team at Floyd Automatic will undoubtedly take the Floyd brand, relationships, service and product portfolio forward with new vigour – and I wish our new owners every success in the future.”

More information www.floydautomatic.co.uk