School receives PP C&A backing

A UK manufacturing outsourcing specialist has thrown its support behind a Shropshire school vying for national honours. PP Control & Automation (PP C&A), which employs 230 people at its facility in Cheslyn Hay, has been mentoring three teams at Newport Girls’ High School (NGHS) in the Young Enterprise Awards programme. It has been a successful partnership with NGHS winning seven out of 10 categories at the Shropshire awards and Tag-Along (a newly developed product) chosen to represent the county at the West Midlands final, where it again came out on top.

More information www.ppcanda.com

£1bn for Sunderland gigafactory

The Government says working people will benefit from 1000 jobs at a new state-of-the-art gigafactory in Sunderland in a £1bn auto deal that will accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and boost growth. The new AESC gigafactory will manufacture batteries to power up to 100,000 EVs each year – a six-fold increase on the country’s current capacity.

In the landmark transaction, the National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance will provide financial guarantees which unlock £680m in financing from banks including Standard Chartered, HSBC, SMBC Group, Societe Generale and BBVA. This will cover construction and operation of the new plant. The remaining £320m has been secured through private financing in addition to new equity provided by AESC.

More information www.gov.uk

College Invests in CNC Machines

Following its successful tender submission, MACH Machine Tools has fulfilled a contract to supply Gateshead College with four new CNC machine tools equipped with the DynaPath control. This latest machine tool investment is an integral part of a wider strategic modernisation and refurbishment programme, implemented by Gateshead College, to upgrade the machining capacity and capabilities of its engineering workshop.

The machines comprise a MACH MDS 900-4T toolroom mill, a MACH MDS 845-8T three-axis vertical machining centre, a MACH MDL 1600 flat-bed lathe with driven tooling and a recently-launched MACH MDS 202 slant-bed lathe. All four have been installed in a purpose-built, CNC-designated area within the revamped engineering workshop facility.More information www.machmt.co.uk

New deal will bring Medusa to life

A UK provider of robotic additive manufacturing systems has signed a new ‘outsourcing’ deal that will bring a world-first to market next year. In a match made in the southwest, Rapid Fusion and Applied Automation have expanded a two-year business partnership by agreeing to work in tandem to productionise Medusa – a UK-built large format hybrid 3D printer. It will see engineering teams from the two companies join forces to turn the ‘prototype’ into a machine ready for shop-floor use, with interest already coming from companies involved in the automotive, aerospace, medical and renewables sectors.

More information www.rapidfusion.co.uk

Toyota to build GR Corolla in UK

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) will begin production of the Toyota GR Corolla at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) from 2026. Preparations have been underway since 2024, when the team at TMUK and key suppliers were first informed about the project. Details related to the markets of sale, volumes and investment levels will be confirmed at a later date.

“We’re proud that TMUK, our first plant in Europe, has been selected as the first overseas Toyota plant to produce GR vehicles in securing this expansion project for TGR worldwide,” says Yoshihiro Nakata, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe. “We really appreciate the historical support and recognition of the UK and would like to continue to contribute to UK society as a ‘Best In Town’ company.” 

More information www.toyotauk.com