EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Citizen Machinery Names Open House Dates

On 8-9 April 2025, Citizen Machinery UK will hold an open house at its Bushey, Hertfordshire
headquarters, showroom and solutions centre. The occasion will mark the UK launch of a
new range of sliding-head lathes, the third generation of the Cincom L20, a best-selling
model with platen-type tooling and front and rear tool posts. Citizen’s Cincom L20 is
available in five variants, including a top model with or without B-axis automatic tool
change, both of which support simultaneous five-axis control for complex machining cycles.
Citizen says the turning centre’s specification has been considerably uprated.
More information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Green Light For Large Machining Plant

Sheffield Forgemasters has been granted planning permission to build a landmark 30,000 m²
machining facility on brownfield land in the City’s Meadowhall district. Located on a 16-acre
plot at Weedon Street, the company says the new facility will form one of the world’s most
advanced large machining facilities to support UK defence manufacturing programmes.
With work to prepare the site already underway, the building will cover a space equal to 12
Olympic-sized swimming pools and contain large WaldrichSiegen five-axis vertical turning
lathes installed and maintained by McDowell Machine Tools. Plans for the facility detail a
main building with a 272.5 x 110 m footprint, standing 32 m tall, located close to the River
Don and designed to complement the historic look of the company’s existing buildings.
More information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

20-year collaboration

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aero Engines, a group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,and Rolls-Royce, held a ceremony in Komaki Cityrecently to mark the 20thanniversary of their partnership. The two companies began their collaboration with the Trent 1000 engine program that powers the Boeing 787 fleet, since expanding it to encompass engine programs that power four aircraft types: the Trent XWB-84 program for the Airbus A350-900 fleet; the Trent XWB-97 program for the Airbus A350-1000 fleet; and the Trent 7000 program for the Airbus A330neo fleet.

More information www.rolls-royce.com

Big Bang Fair opens for registration

The UK’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people - the Big Bang Fair – is returning this summer and registration is now open. Taking place on 17-19 June 2025 at the NEC in Birmingham, the free event will welcome students aged 10 to 13 from across the UK. The annual fair, which is run by EngineeringUK, is designed to ignite a passion for STEM and showcase the exciting career possibilities in these sectors. Over 20,000 young people aged 10-13 years-old attended the Big Bang Fair last year.  

Register at www.bit.ly/4aRHXoS

Saab opens plant in Fareham

Saab UK has officially opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Fareham, Hampshire, marking a milestone in the company’s continued growth. The campus was opened by the Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

Saab UK’s new site will develop, manufacture and support the company’s radar systems and Seaeye underwater robotics portfolio.

The site will support up to 400 jobs and provide local opportunities for apprenticeships. It is already a centre of excellence meeting future customer radar requirements and servicing, in addition to supporting in-service radars operated by the UK Armed Forces, such as the Giraffe 1X and Giraffe AMB air defence radars, and TAIPAN (Arthur) artillery locating radars.

More information www.saab.com