Engineer Retires After 50 Years on The Shop Floor

An engineer is hanging up his micrometre after spending more than five decades on the shop floor. Gerry Dunne, who started his working career as an apprentice toolmaker with Brandauer in Birmingham in 1976, will retire as operations director of Pre-Met in Redditch at the end of this month. Dunne has spent the past seven years supporting the growth of the metal stampings and pressing specialist. 

The industry veteran has used his hand-on leadership style to champion lean manufacturing and just-in-time processes, helping the firm achieve more than £3m of new orders across automotive, rail and, more recently, defence. “It’s been a fantastic 50 years,” he says. “I’ve made so many lifelong friends and been involved in manufacturing businesses that make products we use in everyday life.” 

More information www.metalpressingsandstampings.co.uk 

Kennametal Named NASCAR Official Tooling Supplier 

Kennametal is now the Official Tooling Supplier of NASCAR. Dave Bersaglini, Kennametal vice president and president of metal cutting, unveiled the designation at the company’s ‘Next Level Shop’ exhibit on the first day of the IMTS exhibition in Chicago earlier this month. The designation builds on years of collaboration between Kennametal and NASCAR,  

including on-site testing, application support and tooling solutions. 

“Every thousandth of an inch matters in NASCAR, and that’s exactly the kind of precision 

Kennametal brings to its customers,” said Bersaglini. “We’re proud to work alongside  

NASCAR’s engineering and manufacturing teams to meet the sport’s unique machining  

demands and deliver the speed, precision and reliability required to keep this sport  

performing at the highest level.” 

More information www.kennametal.com 

HBK Opens eRgistration for Online Technology Days

Test and measurement expert, Hottinger Brüel & Kjær (HBK) has named the dates for its annual durability and reliability technology days. Now in its seventh year, the free virtual series will take place on  3, 10 and 17 November 2026, bringing together HBK experts and industry specialists for six 90-minute technical seminars (in English). This year’s programme spans the engineering lifecycle - from understanding and monitoring the behaviour of physical structures, to analysing vibration and shock, predicting reliability, and exploring the growing role of AI in engineering workflows.   
More information www.tinyurl.com/mr2xhwdy 

London’s Largest Factory Since World War II Opens

Isembard is opening its new global headquarters and factory in Southwark, London, the largest factory to open in the capital since World War II. The announcement comes as the company expects to raise significant additional funding to support its ambitious expansion plans on a global scale, having grown revenue by 10 times year-over-year in the past 12 months. Isembard expects headcount at Southwark to grow to 200 by the end of 2027. 

The Southwark site spans 160,000 sq ft and will serve as Isembard’s global head office alongside a working CNC machining facility, producing components for aerospace, defence and robotics customers, including Anduril, Babcock and Tekever. Located just a few minutes from Westminster and the city. The factory houses an array of three- and five-axis milling machines, turn-mills, and wire EDM machines, alongside a climate-controlled metrology lab.  

More information www.isembard.com 

Optical Sensors Detect Precise Hole Depth in Turned Parts

Precise hole depth is a critical quality feature in turned metal components made from materials such as copper. Conventional testing methods often reach their limits, particularly with deep or very fine bores, as material properties, surface properties and limited accessibility can make measurements challenging. With the optoCONTROL CLS1000 series of controllers, combined with the CFS4-A11 light guide reflex sensor from Micro-Epsilon, machine shops can detect hole depths on a non-contact basis, reliably and with high precision. 

To detect depth, the CFS4-A11 reflex sensor measures into the bore from above. The deeper the hole, the less reflected light the sensor receives, and the weaker the electrical signal. This allows the detection of extremely small differences in depth, down to 50 μm. Measured values are output directly via the optoCONTROL CLS1000 display, enabling rapid identification of deviations. 

Thanks to its small beam angle of 22°, the CFS4-A11 is particularly suited to measuring deep bores up to 132 mm. The non-contact measurement is independent of material and surface, enabling stable testing even with demanding materials such as copper. As sensors are adapted to customer-specific applications, the solution integrates smoothly into existing manufacturing and testing processes, ensuring consistently high product quality and reducing testing effort in series production. 

The optoCONTROL CLS1000 system comprises a controller and sensor (sensor head and glass fibre-optic cable), with a wide variety of fibre-optic sensor heads and cables available for demanding environments, including high temperatures, aggressive chemicals and vacuums. With a sensing range of up to 2000 mm and ambient light resistance of up to 50,000 lux, the compact, robust controller suits confined installation spaces on machines, robots and production lines, and offers straightforward configuration via its OLED display. 

More information www.micro-epsilon.com