EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

National success for MTC Training apprentice

An MTC Training apprentice has become SME Apprentice of the Year and winner of the top accolade, Best of British, in the 2023 Enginuity Skills Awards.The two honours, presented to Anisha Roberts at the Park Plaza in London, recognise the 31 year-old apprentice’s inspirational journey into engineering, as well as her dedication to the profession.

Inspired by an older colleague, Roberts left her teaching assistant role to pursue an engineering career at the age of 29. She felt that university was not a viable option with two small children, so she started an apprenticeship. Judges for the SME Apprentice of the Year category were impressed by Roberts’ support in helping her now employer Williams Jet Tenders (WJT), in Wallingford, become more sustainable, saving the company money in the process.
For further information www.mtc-training.co.uk

£10m HIP Centre

With a £10m investment, Wallwork Group is establishing a state-of-the-art Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) centre at its Bury site in Lancashire. Housed in a newly prepared 2500 sq m facility, the company expects its HIP to be fully operational in September 2023. “As the UK’s premier independent heat treatment, vacuum brazing and advanced ultra-hard coatings company, this is a significant expansion of Wallwork’s thermal processing services and is part of a commitment to invest £20m over the next five years,” says director, Simeon Collins. “It cements our position as the UK one-stop shop for component manufacturers.”
For further information www.wallworkht.co.uk

Largest laser DED AM cell at GKN Aerospace

GKN Aerospace now has the world’s largest known laser directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing (AM) cell as part of its new Global Technology Centre in Texas. Cell 3 is the next step in pushing the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing of titanium aircraft structures through the process of laser metal deposition (LMD) with wire.

Shawn Black, GKN Aerospace’s president of defence, says: “Cell 3 will create opportunities to deliver a whole new level of additively manufactured titanium components to the sizes needed for safety-critical air and space structures. The technology is a game-changer and has shown its proficiencies in producing components faster and with significantly reduced lead times.”
For further information www.gknaerospace.com

Emag building Mexico plant

The symbolic ground-breaking ceremony recently took place for the new plant of machine tool builder Emag Group at the San Isidro Business Park in Querétaro, Mexico, marking the start of an ambitious investment programme in the region. Taking shape on a total area of 2880 sq m, the production area will span 1800 sq m and offer 30 machine assembly stations. In addition to the production hall, the new building includes support space on three levels with a total area of 1200 sq m. For instance, the second floor will house offices for administration, quotation preparation, sales and engineering.
For further information www.emag.com

New Airbus hub for next-generation wings

Airbus is investing further in its UK innovation capabilities with the opening of a new Wing Technology Development Centre (WTDC) at its Filton site that will build and test demonstrators for a range of programmes and research projects. Alongside engine optimisation, making wings longer, leaner and lighter is one of the biggest opportunities to improve fuel efficiency, reduce CO2 and ultimately work towards the aviation industry’s ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Airbus head of Filton site and Wing of Tomorrow Programme Sue Partridge says: “The new WTDC will help us to ground our research in practicality. A key element of how we deliver technology for next-generation wings is through Wing of Tomorrow [WoT], our largest research and technology programme led by the UK team.” The WoT programme allows Airbus to explore new manufacturing and assembly technologies so future generations can continue to benefit from flying.
For further information www.airbus.com