KraussMaffei Austria sold

KraussMaffei Group has sold KraussMaffei Austria to Luger GmbH. With this sale, the KraussMaffei Group is aiming to further intensify its sales and service business in the Austrian and Hungarian markets for injection moulding and extrusion machinery. Following the takeover of the previous KraussMaffei employees, more than 60 experts will be responsible for sales and support of plastics machinery under the KraussMaffei and Netstal brands. Both brands belong to the KraussMaffei Group. Luger intends to expand its market presence in the coming years, particularly in Hungary.

For further information
www.kraussmaffei.com

Belgrave & Powell acquires Trufab

Belgrave & Powell Ltd, a specialist engineering services group, working in conjunction with Realta Consulting and Strala Investments, has acquired the business and assets – including all IP and goodwill – from Rochdale-based Trufab Ltd. All 29 employee jobs have been retained, and the new business will continue the 30 years of trading from incorporation in 1990. Operating from the same 68,000 sq ft facility, the business will now trade under the name Trufab Technologies Ltd. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Trufab is a supplier of stainless steel fabrication components to the food, pharmaceutical and machine-building industries. Paul Ward, a partner in Belgrave & Powell, will lead the company as part of Belgrave & Powell’s Machine Technology Group. He says: “Trufab will form a key part of our UK manufacturing growth plans in stainless steel fabrication for specialist applications and we look forward to growing this business into adjacent sectors within our complementary customer base.”

For further information www.belgrave-powell.com

Healthy order book at LK

LK Metrology, a UK CMM manufacturer is reporting strong ongoing business performance three years after becoming a fully independent company again following its change of ownership in 2018. In 2021, LK Metrology, which has its headquarters in Derbyshire will celebrate its 58th year of trading.

The new proprietor, Angelo Muscarella, who also runs Italian firm ASF Metrology, is keen to share the progress that LK has made: “We’re delighted to find ourselves entering our fourth year of operation in April 2021 with a healthy order book. Revenue met budget in the last financial year and we even made a profit, despite incredibly difficult trading conditions due to the pandemic. Machine service and upgrade activities actually performed ahead of budget every month since July 2020.”

For further information www.lkmetrology.com

Large investment at Barton Cold-Form

Barton Cold-Form, an expert in cold-forging technology since the 1932 and part of the UK manufacturing division of Optimas Solutions – has completed machinery and technology upgrades totalling over $3.6m. Operating from a 55,000 sq ft facility in Droitwich, the investment is allowing the manufacturer to substantially increase capability, capacity and solidify its market position in the production of highly engineered, bespoke fastening solutions.

The company’s capacity list has been bolstered with the addition of Nedschroef NH518L and NH515 five-die cold formers, a Smart NG W40 SEMS thread roller and a Smart NP 24-DD pointing machine. Notably, the Nedschroef cold-heading machines enable Barton to produce fasteners with an increased range of dimensions (6-175 mm length, 2-18 mm diameter) and in even greater volumes, yielding upwards of 7000 fasteners per hour.

For further information www.optimas.com

New investment follows repair success

Within six months, Schuler Service repaired two machines damaged in a fire at the plant of Mühlhoff Umformtechnik in Uedem, Germany. Now, part production on a new 2000-tonne press from the Schuler TSD series can also start on time at the automotive supplier. In the record-breaking time of just 12 months, Schuler delivered the line, assembled it at the customer’s site, and provided quick commissioning to keep downtime to a minimum.

As the drive components with long delivery times were already in transit, Schuler was able to shorten the time to commissioning by a quarter of a year – and this despite the fact that experts on site had to contend with challenges such as the foundation, which was designed for the previous and significantly smaller 800-tonne line.

“With our decades of experience in press construction and the necessary flexibility, we always succeed in overcoming these challenges,” says Schuler managing director Frank Klingemann.

“We had been discussing such an investment for some time,” adds Christian Pennekamp, production and project manager at Mühlhoff. “When we could no longer manufacture from one day to the next, this future-oriented step was implemented.”

The firm’s courage has paid off: orders have already been received for the largest system to date and the run on the system “continues to be great”, reports Matthias Stockmans, head of sales and development.

Mühlhoff managing directors Markus Wermers and Pascal Hagemann also attach high importance to the latest technologies. The line features some solutions from Schuler’s ‘Digital Suite’ for process monitoring and predictive maintenance.

For further information
www.schulergroup.com