Ford develops automated hot forming

Once it was a technique that helped protect knights in armour from the crashing blows of their rivals. Now, Ford is applying a cutting-edge version of the same technology to help make its cars safer than ever. The first fully automated hot-forming process shapes and cuts parts of the all-new Ford Focus – which are integral to protecting drivers and passengers – using large furnaces, robots and 3000°C lasers.

The hot-forming line – fully integrated within the company’s Saarlouis vehicle assembly plant in Germany – was built as part of a recent €600m investment in the facility. Hot-formed steel pieces are subjected to temperatures of up to 930°C, unloaded by robots into a hydraulic press that has a closing force up to 1150 tonnes, and then shaped and cooled in just three seconds. The boron steel is so strong by this point that a laser beam hotter than lava is used to precision-cut each piece into its final shape.
For further information www.ford.com

Gewefa at Hurco open house

Gewefa UK will be exhibiting at the forthcoming Hurco open house and this year will be highlighting – among other products – its expertise as a supplier of face and taper tool-holding products. The Hurco open house takes place on 4-5 December at the company’s UK headquarters in High Wycombe. With its long-standing relationship with Hurco in the UK, Gewefa is the primary supplier of tooling packages supplied on new Hurco machines. Gewefa supports users of these machines with a range of tool holders, covering BT and DIN formats in SK30, 40 and 50 tapers, to offer capability for heavy-duty and very high-speed machining applications.
For further information www.gewefa.co.uk

Live Machining demonstrations

On 20 November the University of Wolverhampton will be hosting a live machining demonstration at its Telford Innovation Campus. The primary aim of the event will be to bring students, academics and industry experts together to demonstrate the relationships that the university has with industry. Cutting tool specialist Tungaloy will be supporting the event, along with technical partners Hurco and Autodesk. Among the live machining demonstrations will be an EN24 aerospace bracket. This part will involve the use of the latest DoFeed, DoTwistBall, TungRec and TungMeister cutters from the Tungaloy portfolio.
For further information www.tungaloy.com/uk

ITC team expands

Continued growth at UK cutting tool manufacturer Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) has resulted in a further expansion of the company’s sales team. With two new additions to the team in recent weeks, ITC is now announcing Graham Fuller as a technical sales engineer in the southeast. This addition to the team is due to the efforts of long-standing technical sales engineer Dave Cleeve, who ITC says has become a “victim of his own success”. Cleeve today finds himself spending more time servicing key account clients. To support Cleeve in his efforts to further expand the ITC brand, Fuller has joined the team.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Citizen secures sales of £2.7m

Citizen Machinery UK’s (CMUK) recent three-day open house added a further 15 machines worth over £2.7m to its existing order book of record sales involving some 100 Cincom sliding-head and Miyano fixed-head turn-mill centres stretching into 2019. Says deputy managing director Darren Wilkins: “Over 350 people came through our doors over the three days with several bringing important future projects for us to investigate. This influx of interest was from both the OEM and the subcontract sectors, and in particular involved oil and gas, aerospace, and automotive companies.”

Citizen’s patented Low Frequency Vibration (LFV) programmable chip-size machining technology was a major focus of attention at the open house, adding to the ratio of seven out of every eight orders currently featuring its inclusion. This ratio was confirmed with interest at the event in the new 38 mm capacity Cincom L32-VIIILFV sliding-head and Miyano BNA-42GTYLFV moving-headstock machines.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk