Digital manufacturing event at MTC

The Manufacturing Technology Centre’s fifth annual digital manufacturing conference will bring together some of Europe’s leading experts on the digital revolution sweeping through the manufacturing industry.

This high-level conference, which takes place at the MTC’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre in Coventry on 4-5 November, is aimed at helping UK manufacturers embrace the latest digital technologies to improve their businesses.
Named ‘Digitalising Manufacturing 2019: Making Digital a Reality’, manufacturing leaders from across Europe will inform delegates that digital advances and smart factories are as much about people as technology. While Industry 4.0 opens up huge potential for UK manufacturers, companies have to invest in people and skills to reap the benefits of technology and industrial automation. The conference will aim to give manufacturers support on how to progress the digital journey in their own organisations, based on previous experiences and lessons learnt.
For further information www.the-mtc.org/digital2019

XYZ makes impression on Metallic Elephant

Metallic Elephant, based near Colchester, developed its own range of hot-foil presses around five years ago, a move that led to the company fulfilling demand to many household brands around the globe, including Samsonite, Next, Harrods, Burberry, Hackett, Prada and Tiffany.

Demand is such that Metallic Elephant typically builds and delivers 350 presses along with associated dies and letter sets every year. Key to Metallic Elephant’s success is its speed of response to customer orders for both machines and dies. However, with 25% year-on-year growth over the past four years, the company was drawn to the prospect of bringing machining in-house.
“Delays caused by quality were beginning to impact on our ability to maintain deliveries, so we had to make changes,” says Wayne Mason, Metallic Elephant’s manufacturing manager. “The first step was our turning capacity, so we replaced an old manual machine with an XYZ SLX ProtoTRAK-controlled lathe. This addition made us realise
the potential of CNC
as the ProtoTRAK control was so straightforward and it certainly influenced our next purchase,
an XYZ 1000 LR vertical machining centre.
“The arrival of these two machines has given us control over manufacturing as we are now machining around 30% of our parts in-house, a figure that is sure to increase,” he adds. “As a result, we’re also making things better and more efficiently, which in turn makes us more cost effective and able to compete globally.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Air saw specialist acquires grinder

A Micromatic grinding machine supplied by Master Abrasives has been installed at Cengar Ltd, a manufacturer of air saws based in Halifax.

Cengar’s team took advantage of a special showroom offer that Master Abrasives is holding this summer. The company’s new grinding machine, the Eco 200, will be used in the production of parts for the tools manufactured at its facilities in Yorkshire.
As a distributor of Cengar air saws, Master’s technical team fully understood the application requirements and provided complete support for the installation and training process.
Cengar’s air saws are used worldwide in many industries. The saws are designed for pipe cutting, metal work and many other applications on a range of materials, from stainless steel to GRP. All Cengar saws are ATEX certified, and are said to be reliable and fast, with a long working life and low vibration, allowing unrestricted use under most conditions.
The company’s production manager Steve Randerson says: “This new machine has met all expectations and we were delighted that it was fully operational within two days. Our operators were trained on the functionality of the machine and soon gained confidence in producing production parts. This investment is part of a continuous improvement programme which will see productivity rates increase to meet customer delivery demands. We’re grateful to Master Abrasives for continuous advice in achieving this goal and their aftersales support.”
Master Abrasives’ applications engineering manager Ian Meredith adds: “It’s been a pleasure working with our partner Cengar on the installation of their new machine. Communication with Cengar has always been excellent and this has only strengthened our business relationship.”
For further information www.master-abrasives.co.uk

LVD purchases Italian automation firm

Industrial automation solutions provider Compac Srl of Urbino, Italy, has been acquired by LVD.

The pair have partnered together since 2016 to produce automatic warehouse systems for numerous LVD laser-cutting machine installations in Italy. LVD will add Compac systems for metal fabrication to its automation portfolio, broadening the choice of solutions for its punch press, fibre laser and tube-laser cutting machines for customers worldwide. The metal fabrication systems will be branded as LVD, while Compac will retain its brand for automation solutions supplied to other markets.
For further information www.lvdgroup.com

MEP acquired by Legris Industries

Legris Industries has achieved another milestone in its growth strategy by acquiring MEP Group, an Italian company with consolidated sales of €52m and a workforce of 280. MEP designs and manufactures precision metal-cutting equipment for steel, aluminium and other metal alloys, providing automatic and semi-automatic systems and solutions to many industries.

Thanks to its capacity, range of products and modern production infrastructure, MEP Group is now a major global player in its market, with industrial sites and sales units in Italy, Canada, the United States, China and Brazil. Through its network of distributors, the many products offered under the MEP and HYDMECH brands are sold in over 60 countries. A part of Legris Industries, MEP will be able to step up its growth by tapping into group resources.
In the past two years, MEP’s business has expanded by more than 25%, and the group will work with its existing management team, led by William Giacometti, to continue that growth.
Erwan Taton, chairman of the Groupe Legris Industries’ executive board, says: “In acquiring MEP we are pursuing our diversification strategy by integrating a company that meets all of our investment criteria. A major player in a worldwide niche market, MEP has powerful technical expertise that generates continuous innovation to drive growth.”
Stefano Guidotti, managing partner of the seller Aksia Group, a leading Italian private equity player, adds: “We’re really proud of having contributed to the growth and internationalisation of our portfolio company, and are firmly convinced that Legris Industries is a perfect fit to bring MEP Group up to a further phase of development.”
Says William Giacometti, CEO of MEP Group: “To join Groupe Legris Industries is for MEP a great opportunity and will have a positive effect in the acceleration of our growth path.”
For further information www.legris-industries.com