Best of British casting

A company that tripled the size of its business in weeks to support the UK Covid-19 effort was named as the ‘Best of British Casting’ at the UK Cast Metals Industry Awards. Andover-based MRT Castings secured ‘Company of the Year’, impressing judges with the way it scaled up rapidly to supply cast aluminium components to one of the world’s largest producers of critical care ventilators. Bosses at the firm invested over £3.5m in two additional die-casting cells, seven additional CNC machines and recruited 45 staff to meet huge increases in volumes that saw it grow from £7.8m to £20.8m in a matter of months.
For further information www.castmetalsfederation.com

Hack event unlocks value chain impact

Apollo Forum recently staged its first hack event at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), focussing on aligning the value chain across different sectors to explore digital twin opportunities. The ‘Value Hack’ investigated one of the four key themes outlined in the Apollo Protocol white paper, and was held at the AMRC’s flagship Factory 2050 facility in Sheffield, attracting professionals working in the field of digital twins or broader information management problems across the manufacturing and built-environment sectors.
For further information www.bit.ly/3VwE2Fw

TIMTOS 2023 will launch fresh themes

The Taipei International Machine Tool Show, also known as ‘TIMTOS’, will return in 2023 on 6-11 March at the Nangang Exhibition Centre. According to the organiser TAITRA, all exhibition spaces are now sold. TIMTOS 2023 will accommodate more than 6000 stands to showcase a full line of metal-cutting machines, CNC units, key components, smart manufacturing solutions and more. What’s more, there will be a trio of new theme areas: ‘Advanced metalworking Technology’, ‘Additive Manufacturing’ and ‘Future Manufacturing’.

Key players at the show will include FANUC, Heidenhain, Mazak, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Takisawa, Trumpf and Victor. Switzerland, Germany, the US and Denmark will also set up national pavilions at TIMTOS 2023, ensuring that the latest models and smart manufacturing technologies will be present in every aisle of the show.
For further information www.timtos.com.tw

Team Penske invests in stereolithography

Team Penske, one of the most recognisable and successful teams in world motorsport, notably NASCAR and IndyCar series, has purchased a new Stratasys Neo 800 3D printer. The system is Team Penske’s first stereolithography-based 3D printer from Stratasys, and will perform the rapid 3D printing of scale model components for aerodynamic testing.

“As additive manufacturing’s applications continue to evolve in motorsport, Stratasys continues helping us improve race performance ahead of the competition so we can turn ideas into parts and get them on the track faster and with greater reliability than ever before,” says Matt Gimbel, production manager at Team Penske. “We can now make parts in ways not possible through traditional manufacturing.”
For further information www.stratasys.com

Ward CNC strengthens customer offer

TW Ward CNC Machinery (Ward CNC) has announced key appointments that will further enhance the customer-endorsed levels of service provided by the machine tool supplier.
Heading up the newly shaped department in the position of head of service and operations is new appointment Nigel Hudson (pictured second left). Other recent appointments include Steven Bridges as spares co-ordinator and Fiona Waite as customer service administrator, while Ellie Radford gains a promotion to customer service team leader.

The new structure will continue to provide high-level focus on customer demand and response times across Ward CNC’s customer base in the UK and Ireland. Managing director Simon Whitworth (far left) states. “Nigel will further improve what we believe is one of the strongest levels of engineering support available in the industry today. This customer support extends to the expertise we’re able to leverage from working so closely with the principals that we exclusively represent, notably Hyundai-Wia, Hartford, Soraluce, Takisawa and Hankook.”
For further information www.wardcnc.com