EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Machine Shop Tops Out At Sheffield Forgemasters

Sheffield Forgemasters has marked an important milestone in the development of its 30,000 m² new machine shop with a topping out ceremony for the installation of the final steel roof beam. Attendees were invited to sign their names on the final roof beam before Sheffield Forgemasters’ longest serving machinist, Paul Haxton, and first year apprentice, Joe Garrett, were invited to tighten the ‘golden bolt’ to hold the beam in place.   

Gareth Barker, COO at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “Our new facility means we can bring together our years of expertise and investment in state-of-the-art machine tools to deliver incredible accuracies and improve our ability to innovate, making Sheffield Forgemasters more competitive on the world stage. For many of our machinists, this was the first time they had visited the new site, which will eventually be their new workplace.”

More information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

Enginuity And CBM Agree To Strengthen Skills

Enginuity has signed an MoU with the Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM), marking the beginning of a partnership to strengthen SME manufacturing skills, workforce development and employer engagement. The agreement brings together the charity’s expertise in addressing industrial skills challenges with CBM’s 200-strong network of metal-forming businesses. The organisations will collaborate to understand sector needs, develop workforce solutions and ensure skills provision and training offers are fit for purpose, aligned with employer requirements and responsive to changing industry demands.

More information www.thecbm.co.uk

Easier Racingmotorcycle Measurement And Compliance

Measurement technologies specialist Hexagon and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) are partnering to modernise how FIM validates and verifies racing motorcycle designs. The multi-year agreement will help FIM improve and standardise technical homologation and compliance using measurement equipment from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence for the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). 

For the 2026 season, FIM is already using Hexagon’s Absolute Arm seven-axis portable measuring arm and Absolute Scanner AS1 laser scanner to measure motorcycle dimensions and individual parts that are tightly controlled and determine compliance with FIM regulations. The homologation work of FIM guarantees a level playing field for competitors in WorldSBK and other motorcycle championships under the FIM’s authority. 

More information www.hexagon.com

Composite Circularity

Global composites manufacturer Exel Composites is partnering with glass-fibre innovator Original Composites and Fiberglass to accelerate the use of circular materials in industrial composites manufacturing. The partnership will see the adoption of SUSTAINA continuous filament mat (CFM) for commercial-scale use across Europe. Potentially using several hundred tonnes of SUSTAINA annually, the move supports Exel’s wider sustainability ambitions while maintaining the consistent performance required for demanding pultrusion applications. SUSTAINA is an ISCC+ certified glass-fibre solution with 50% circular content. More information www.exelcomposites.com

Associations Join Forces

Automate UK, the UK trade association for the processing/packaging machinery, automation and manufacturing sectors, has aligned with a collective of European trade associations to found a federation dedicated to influencing policy around the challenges impacting the industry. EUROPAMA has been founded as the European umbrella organisation for the processing and packaging machinery industry. It unites national trade associations to advocate for the sector’s interests with EU institutions, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange regarding policy, sustainability and technological transformation. More information www.europama.eu/en