EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Made in Britain to Tour National Events

Made in Britain is standing up for excellence in British manufacturing this autumn at some of the UK’s most influential events, including the Advanced Engineering Show (29-30 October, NEC Birmingham). The not-for-profit organisation will use each stage to amplify the voices and impact of its more than 2200 members – and show just how far the Made in Britain mark can take a UK business. John Pearce, CEO of Made in Britain, says: “We’re making sure British manufacturers are seen, recognised and valued for the great products they make and the impact they have on society.”

More information www.madeinbritain.org

Pre-Met Invests £0.5m in QSP Relocation

Pre-Met has invested £500,000 into relocating the operations and welding technology of Quality Springs & Pressings (QSP) – a business it bought at the start of January. The metal pressings and stamping specialist has upgraded factory-wide electrical supply, freed-up 10,000 ft² of production space and created dedicated welding bays to support new opportunities in defence, aerospace and transportation.


All staff members are now operational at the firm’s Studley Road factory in Redditch, with the management team keen to use the acquisition to capitalise on enhanced wire form and spring manufacturing expertise, as well as embedding robotic welding and assemblies into its overall service offer. Four new jobs have been created, and this number could increase.

More information www.metalpressingsandstampings.co.uk

HMI/SCADA software adds advantageous features

Emerson has released Movicon.NExT Version 4.4, a modern HMI and SCADA platform. Movicon.NExT HMI/SCADA empowers users to create interoperable automation architectures for discrete and process manufacturing applications in the commercial, industrial and municipal/utility industries. The update delivers enhancements boosting functionality, performance and flexibility, with an emphasis on user-centric improvements to maximise development efficiency.

Updated industrial communication protocol drivers – for OPC UA, EtherNet/IP and others -provide support for multi-station, advanced arrays and more. A new DNP3 driver enables Movicon.NExT HMI/SCADA to integrate seamlessly with power industry and electrical utility networks. Optimised I/O operations more efficiently aggregate read/write tags for greater throughput, while open connectivity helps users easily connect with digital assets.

Native support within Movicon.NExT for Python runtime scripting enables custom, cross-platform logic, so developers can create sophisticated strategies while building on proven work. Updated user interfaces, new graphical properties for controls and streamlined licence management (both local and network-based) enhance and simplify the overall user experience, while accelerating project development.

Emerson also provides new support for TimescaleDB in the historian, which delivers improved storage efficiency and higher performance, especially with large data volumes. Other enhancements increase data precision and SQL database compatibility, while recipe and alarm management are performed through a centralised connection. Movicon.NExT is built to meet the increasing demand for data to support visualisation and analytics.

A full migration to .NET 8 for core Movicon.NExT applications, and unified and encrypted password management applied across the entire platform, are just two examples of built-in security to help users defend their digital systems and achieve regulatory compliance. CFR21 compliance has now been enhanced with the addition of user group information logged alongside usernames.

More information www.emerson.com

Matsuura Open House

Matsuura UK will launch new products at its annual open house on 4-6 November 2025. Taking place at the company’s newly expanded and refurbished facility in Leicestershire, the event will see the unveiling of two new automated multi-pallet five-axis machining centres: the MAM72-70V PC6 and MX-520T PC7. The company’s Additive Manufacturing Centre will also unveil the latest in metal 3D printing, the HP Metal Jet, while also on show will be the Muratec line of fully automated CNC lathes. Lunch will be served daily by Matsuura UK’s friends at Oregano Pizza.

More information www.bit.ly/4m5c0gH

£10bn UK warships deal

Billions of pounds will be pumped into the UK economy following Norway’s decision to select British warships for its Armed Forces, securing thousands of jobs in Britain for years to come. The UK, in its biggest ever warship export deal by value, will supply Norway with Type 26 frigates designed for anti-submarine warfare in the deal, which is worth £10bn. The deal will support 4000 jobs across the UK supply chain until well into the 2030s, including more than 2000 at BAE Systems’ Glasgow shipyards. The programme is also expected to support 432 business, including 222 SMEs across the UK. 

More information www.gov.uk