FABTECH set for Chicago return

After in-person events came to a halt due to the pandemic, FABTECH will be the first large-scale manufacturing trade show to return to McCormick Place in Chicago on 13-16 September. The event brings all aspects of the metal fabricating, forming, welding and finishing industries together to showcase technology, innovation and solutions.

“FABTECH is one of the largest events held at McCormick Place, bringing $73m worth of delegation spending to Chicago,” says Ed Youdell, president and CEO of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association. “Our last event in Chicago employed just short of 4000 labourers with over 110,000 hours of work. This contributed $5.3m of labour to the overall Chicago workforce. We are looking forward to bringing these jobs back. In addition, FABTECH will provide an important boost to the hospitality industry, utilising over 40 hotels as well as many entertainment and restaurant outlets during the 19 days.”

FABTECH facilitates connections between exhibitors and attendees in order to conduct business, share knowledge and shine the spotlight on advanced manufacturing equipment and technology. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore three halls filled with cutting-edge technology, new product debuts and first-hand product demonstrations from over 1000 exhibitors.

FABTECH has co-ordinated with state and local public health guidelines to develop a plan for its return, which should see around 30,000 visitors in attendance.

McCormick Place is fully prepared and ready to welcome events back. As North America’s largest convention centre, the entire McCormick Place Campus holds the Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s GBAC STAR accreditation, the gold standard for clean and safe facilities.

Attendee registration for FABTECH 2021 is open now.

For further information
www.fabtechexpo.com

Change of owner at Sheffield Forgemasters

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is acquiring Sheffield Forgemasters to support a substantial recapitalisation of the company’s defence-critical plant and equipment over the next 10 years. This investment will secure Sheffield Forgemasters’ role as a critical supplier to the next generation of UK defence programmes, while continuing its independent commercial activities, serving markets such as civil nuclear, oil and gas, power generation, renewables, and steel processing. The MoD has agreed to buy the company’s entire share capital at an offer price of 121 pence per share, equating to total consideration of £2.56m.

For further information
www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

New area sales manager for WH-Lead

WH-Lead, sole sales and service agent in the UK and Ireland for Taiwanese machine tool manufacturer Leadwell CNC Machines, has appointed Daren Waring as area sales manager for the West Midlands. Until recently Waring was active in a sales capacity within the production engineering community, having sold cutting tools and work-holding equipment for the last five years. The CNC machines he is now responsible for selling in the West Midlands include a growing range of turning machines (including VTLs), as well as three- to five-axis machining centres encompassing high-speed variants.

For further information www.wh-lead.co.uk

Control includes roll forming tools

COE Press Equipment’s latest ServoMaster Touch controller comes with a new larger 7” (178 mm) touchscreen, an additional Ethernet communications port and a host of tools that are particularly suited to the needs of roll formers. These roll form features include a stretch compensation tool. During roll forming, material can elongate or stretch. COE’s tool enables the user to enter the actual length of the stretched part, as well as the desired length. By pressing ‘accept’, the control applies a scaling factor to each step, thus compensating for any elongation.

Another feature is sequence mode. The ability to switch to sequence configuration permits the creation of multi-step jobs, enabling up to 50 steps per job to a total of 4000 steps of storage. Many applications that use sequence mode require a further new feature of the control – programmable outputs – which allows the addition of up to six programmable output cards (36 outputs) to a standard ServoMaster controller. Programmable outputs can be set to come on before, during or after the index, or not at all.

Interrupt is a function for roll forming applications that allows the mill to consume a loop of material after a punch operation. When the input is disabled by the roll form mill or other device, the controller pauses the index until the input is re-enabled. Once enabled, the feed will complete the index and resume operation.

Last but not least, FSP is a feature that enables the ServoMaster controller to close a contact and thus signal auxiliary equipment when each index is completed.

For further information
www.cpec.com/servo-and-plcs

Innovation strategy launched at Factory 2050

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng highlighted South Yorkshire’s history in engineering, manufacturing and high-level innovation as he launched a new Innovation Strategy at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). The strategy is the Government’s long-term vision to boost private sector investment and put the UK at the front of the global innovation race.

Kwarteng addressed invited guests who included representatives from Boeing, Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Rolls-Royce, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield SME Magnomatics and UK Research and Innovation. Factory 2050 is the UK’s first state-of-the-art factory entirely dedicated to conducting collaborative research into reconfigurable digitally assisted assembly, component manufacturing and machining technologies.

For further information www.amrc.co.uk