Record month at galvaniser

The UK’s oldest hot-dip galvaniser is bouncing back from COVID-19 disruption after it processed a record amount of steel from one plant in a single month. Corbetts the Galvanizers used downtime in the summer to improve productivity and modernise processes, and this paid off with nearly £1m of orders completed in October.

Celebrating 160 years in business in 2020, the Telford-based company processed 34% more volume than the same time last year for customers involved in the street furniture, transport and construction sectors. “This is a phenomenal achievement by our workforce and highlights growing optimism in our sector,” says Sophie Williams, the company’s finance director and general manager.

For further information
www.wcorbett.co.uk

Multi-million pound investment

AJ Engineering is expanding its premises in a £2.5m investment over the next three years that will allow the firm to more than double its production capabilities and employ more staff. The company has expanded its Forres-based manufacturing sites by adding 4.7 acres through the acquisition of neighbouring land owned previously by Moray Council. Existing buildings at the former sawmill site at Waterford will be refurbished and a new automated fabrication facility installed.

Owned by Alan James, the company currently employs approximately 80 staff over the existing Greshop Industrial sites at Forres, including seven apprentices. However, the expansion plans means that the next three years will see the creation of up to 36 jobs. Phase one is to refurbish the existing buildings at Waterford and purchase and commission a cut and drill line. Phase two will be the installation of an automatic shotblaster, while the third phase will see the arrival of a plate processor.

For further information www.ajengineering.co.uk

Investing to meet demand

As part of an ongoing strategy of investing in manufacturing assets for maximum long-term benefit, so far in 2020 Dawson Shanahan has spent over £500,000 on new machinery.

Along with a further Miyano ABX turning centre and Schmid T200 orbital forge, which is for making plasma-nozzle components to reduce both material waste and cycle times, the company has also replaced an older machine with a more modern Studer CNC cylindrical grinder. Furthermore, a rotary transfer machine is being completely refurbished for CNC control, while cobots (collaborative robots) also form part of the investment.

For further information
https://dawson-shanahan.co.uk

MTA names new president

The MTA’s first ever virtual AGM held earlier this month saw the association name its new president: Andy Hodgson, strategic lead – digitalisation at Siemens. Hodgson has played an active role in the MTA for many years as a board member and served as the technical committee chairman for the past two years, stepping down to take on this new role. He will serve a two-year term as president.

Hodgson, who has a wealth of experience in the manufacturing technologies sector, as well as first-hand experience of industry digitalisation, says: “It’s a great honour to be appointed as president of the MTA and I hope that I can build upon the successes we have shared and bring the projects we have started to fruition. I look forward to steering the association, supported by the board, through the troubled waters that still lie ahead with a pandemic still upon us and Brexit just around the corner.”

For further information
www.mta.org.uk

Energy-saving tool grinders

Walter Ewag UK, a member of the United Grinding Group, reports that energy savings of up to 40% are possible through the optimised operation of its Walter Helitronic tool grinding and erosion machines by, for instance, sensible warm-up and shutdown routines, the recovery of thermal energy and enhanced production via machine control software routines.

This figure also includes an 11% reduction in the machines’ energy consumption because Walter now uses more environmentally-friendly components in builds compared with those available 15 years ago. All measures and claims are independently assessed by experts from the German Steinbeis Sustainable Energy Competence Centre.

Walter’s awareness of climate protection begins with the design and construction of its machines – for example, by utilising modern drives and improved part loading, compressed air and extraction, as well as via the use of energy-saving LED lights and frequency-controlled coolant pumps.

This ethos continues through production by optimised machine operation. Some of the technology improvements include feed and spindle drives: the use of efficient synchronous motors and regenerative braking energy feedback into the power grid, including linear motors in the vertical axis and passive weight compensation. Another enhancement is coolant supply via a frequency-controlled pump. Here, high-efficiency motors (class IE4) and up to six individually switchable coolant valves serve to optimise coolant supply.

Further advances include the use of LED lights in all machines, including the status light, and centralised ‘impulse’ lubrication, where the lubricating oil pump runs only for a few seconds until lubricating pressure builds sufficiently. The pump then switches off until the next lubrication cycle. In addition, each machine’s vapour separator is equipped with potentiometer control and a free-running fan wheel, which allows optimal adjustment of the extraction volume.

For further information
www.walter-machines.com