FlexxCORE up for award

Flexxbotics’ FlexxCORE has been nominated as a finalist at the 2025 Humanoid Robotics Industry Awards. FlexxCORE enables robots to communicate with machines, empowering robots in production scenarios to interpret each machine’s job, processing routines and operational status. It securely connects and co-ordinates humanoid robots with factory equipment, IT systems and people to deliver robot-driven manufacturing. By enabling humanoid robots to take on increasingly complex workflows, Flexxbotics is accelerating the industry’s shift toward fully digitalised, human-robot collaborative factories.

Voting is open at http://bit.ly/3J5RvD8

RARUK enters new partnership with GRIP

RARUK Automation, a UK-based automation distributor, has entered into an exclusive partnership with GRIP. Headquartered in Germany, GRIP is a specialist in intelligent tool-changing systems for collaborative robots. This agreement will bring GRIP’s innovative solutions to the UK market, enabling manufacturers to enhance the flexibility, safety and efficiency of their collaborative robot (cobot) cells. RARUK Automation is a long-standing distributor of the Universal Robots range. GRIP’s tool changers are designed to integrate seamlessly with Universal Robots, with a URCap for easy set-up and programming.

More information www.rarukautomation.com

Casting plant switches to solar power arrays

A major green energy upgrade has been completed at Doncasters’ Droitwich manufacturing site, with 2,400 solar panels now powering the Deritend Precision Castings facility, marking a significant milestone in the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainable manufacturing. Already operational, the solar panels are generating a substantial share of the site’s electricity requirements, helping to reduce carbon emissions and enhance energy resilience. By integrating renewable energy at site level, the business is aligning innovation in engineering with innovation in environmental responsibility.

More information www.doncasters.com

Birds Precision flies high with Sodick wire EDM

Nuneaton-based Birds Precision Engineering has recently invested in a Sodick AG 600L wire erosion machine from Sodi-Tech UK, marking a significant advance in the company’s capabilities and service offerings. This strategic investment represents the latest chapter in the evolution of a business that has been growing steadily since its inception over three decades ago.

The story of subcontract CNC machine shop Birds Precision Engineering began in 1991 when Chris Bird established B&C Engineering in Nuneaton. What started as a sole trader operation quickly expanded, necessitating a move to larger premises. As demand grew, the business relocated and transformed into the name Birds Precision Engineering. Chris’s son, Tom Bird (pictured), joined the company and immersed himself in all aspects of the operation, eventually becoming managing director in 2023.

The latest advancement came earlier this year with the acquisition of a Sodick AG 600L wire erosion machine from Sodi-Tech. This investment was driven by practical business considerations, as Tom Bird explains: “We’re predominantly a subcontract CNC machine shop and focus mainly on the special-purpose machine tool industry. We invested in the wire eroder because, in the tooling industry, there’s a lot of complex components with tight tolerances.”

The Sodick AG 600L is a high-precision, linear motor-driven wire EDM machine utilising advanced linear motor technology to achieve remarkable precision, with accuracy on all axes (X, Y, Z, U, W) of ±0.001 mm.

This level of precision is crucial for Birds Precision, as Bird notes: “Customers are always after accuracy. The components that we’re machining are getting tighter and tighter on tolerances every time we see the drawings. It’s a major factor, and this machine helps to set us apart as we always guarantee to hit those tolerances for our customers.”

More information https://sodi-tech.co.uk/

21% faster processing speeds with Turbo Tech

Turbo Tech cutting technology, a standard option on new AgieCharmilles wire EDM machines from GF Machining Solutions (now United Grinding), is said to deliver faster processing speeds with no compromise on quality (part accuracy and surface finish). In a recent benchmark test cut conducted by GFMS engineers, Turbo Tech cutting technology was pitted against the company’s ‘Speed Tech’ cutting technology in a timed trial – the objective being to find out which would deliver the fastest processing speeds.

The cutting process undertaken involved two CUT P 350 Pro wire EDM machines, simultaneously machining an identical punch die component using AC Brass 900 wire (0.25 mm diameter). The punches were both cut from 30 mm thick steel, and the requirement was to achieve a 0.45 µm surface finish.

With the first CUT P 350 Pro, the ‘Speed Tech’ setting was selected from the machine’s UNIQUA iHMI control, with the ‘Turbo Tech’ setting deployed on the second. The cutting process, involving a main cut followed by three trim cuts, was timed for each, with the part being machined using Turbo Tech taking 30 minutes to complete as opposed to 38 minutes with Speed Tech.

Says Martin Spencer, GFMS UK managing director: “In this relatively straightforward test, the processing speed of the part being machined using Turbo Tech was 21% faster. For more complex parts this can be increased to over 40%, demonstrating that Turbo Tech delivers increased productivity and improved accuracies, whatever the flushing conditions and irrespective of the wire in use.”

More information www.gfms.com