Up to 20% faster processing speeds

GF Machining Solutions recently supplied a new wire EDM machine to Bedestone Ltd, a wire erosion and jig-grinding specialist based in Birmingham. The machine, an AgieCharmilles CUT P 550 Pro has taken its place alongside two, previously acquired, large-capacity wire EDM machines and two EDM hole drills, to create a flexible, responsive and high-precision wire EDM resource for its growing customer base.

Says co-owner and director, Richard Stanley: “The new machine has replaced an older Charmilles 330F wire eroder which, while still able to meet our accuracy and surface finish requirements, was relatively slow by today’s standards and was experiencing some reliability issues that, if left unchecked, would likely impact on our ability to meet customer lead times in the future.”

He continues: “We spent time identifying the key features and characteristics of the new machine we needed and approached a number of EDM machine tool manufacturers with our plans. We had also devised a challenging test cut [machining a precision spline] that we asked the participating machine tool manufacturers to undertake.”

The key performance indicators of the test cut were part accuracy and cycle time. On both measures, as it transpired, the CUT P 550 Pro wire EDM machine from GF Machining Solutions came out on top.

Says Stanley: “The CUT P 550 Pro was the best performing machine in the test cut, but our decision wasn’t just based on the results of the test. We also liked and responded positively to the business approach adopted by GF Machining Solutions. From the outset they were interested in what we were doing and where we wanted to get to. It felt more collaborative rather than merely a supplier providing a new machine to a customer.”
For further information www.gfms.com/uk

Erodex inspires greater health and wellbeing

Erodex UK, a Black Country based supplier of graphite and EDM consumables to the aerospace industry supplier, is supporting the ‘Workplace Health at One You Walsall’ and ‘Healthy Years Ahead’ initiatives to help its employees and local community become more aware of the benefits of living a healthy, active lifestyle.

Workplace Health at One You Walsall, funded by Walsall Council, is a free healthy lifestyle service dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of all residents across Walsall. Services exist to help residents make the best choices for their lifestyle, from health and fitness to emotional wellbeing.

Erodex HR manager Deborah Bayliss says: “As a business we were looking to engage our employees in health and wellbeing initiatives and saw the opportunity to become involved with Workplace Health at One You Walsall, in addition to the Healthy Years Ahead initiative, which works with individuals of 40 years of age and older. So far, we’ve held a workplace event to engage employees and introduce the initiatives. From this we gained expressions of interest in services offered by the organisations.”

She adds: “There’s been a great response and we’re looking to book in a practitioner to deliver two full days of health assessments for our employees. From these we’ll plan future health and wellbeing sessions in the workplace and signpost to outside services.”

Erodex employs 85 people across two sites in Halesowen and Darlaston, West Midlands, as well as a site in Croydon.
For further information www.erodex.com

Accelerating towards digital transformation

Celonis and Accenture are teaming up to support Mann+Hummel, a global filtration solutions provider for markets that include EDM, to accelerate its company-wide digital transformation and become a data-driven enterprise. By leveraging intelligent insights and actions, Mann+Hummel will improve and optimise its processes to increase operational excellence and become even more customer-centric.

Accenture has supported Mann+Hummel’s data-driven enterprise journey since 2019. Together with global execution management specialist Celonis, Accenture will foster the firm’s process capabilities by helping to roll out Celonis’ execution management system across Mann+Hummel in a multi-year program.

With this strategic collaboration, Mann+Hummel will gain new levels of transparency and an objective, fact-based understanding of how its core business processes really run. This will enable the company to identify performance barriers in real-time and take automated action to remove inefficiencies and improve processes. Insights from the initial stages of deployment have already created process standardisation and optimisation in the areas of supply, distribution and production. This will be expanded on in the coming months across materials, planning and logistics, to improve cycle times and productivity, reduce rework, optimise inventory, increase automation and streamline global execution.

Emese Weissenbacher, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Mann+Hummel, says: “Our efforts and investments in standardisation are all targeted towards being able to stay a step ahead of customer needs. Deploying Celonis market-leading process mining and execution management capabilities enables us to drive more intelligent, data-driven insights, measures and decisions. I am convinced with this transformation we can take our business processes to the next level and create an agile platform for continuous improvement.”
For further information www.mann-hummel.com

Too few aware of super deduction tax relief

In a new survey conducted by auction specialist BPI Auctions, only one in eight (12%) of those questioned said they were aware of the super deduction tax break. The support runs until 31 March 2023 and enables companies to claim a 130% capital allowance on qualifying plant and machinery investments, along with a 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets. The super deduction also allows businesses to cut their taxes by up to 25p for every £1 they invest.

David Boulton, managing director at BPI Auctions, says: “The super deduction tax break is a significant support to businesses across the manufacturing and engineering sectors, especially those that have been affected most in the past two years. If you’re looking to take advantage of the relief to upgrade your plant and equipment, disposing of used or old items through online auctions is an efficient and easy way to raise funds quickly.”
For further information www.bpiauctions.com

Knowledge exchange

Northumbria University’s Newcastle Business School has entered into a strategic partnership with the Advanced Manufacturing Forum (AMF). A community of industry experts, the AMF brings together the northeast’s manufacturing and engineering sector to engage with the wider business community. A key remit of the AMF is to exchange ideas and knowledge in order to generate business growth, share opportunities and champion advanced manufacturing. The move will facilitate the dissemination of current thinking directly into industry, while allowing new questions and areas for investigation to emerge.
For further information www.northumbria.ac.uk/nbs