EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Nick Peter retires from Hainbuch UK

After 16 years of dedicated service, Nick Peter has retired from work-holding specialist Hainbuch UK Ltd. As the general manager of the UK subsidiary, Peter has been instrumental in the growth and success of the company during his tenure. Stepping down from his role, Dave Thompsell is now in place as the new manager. With over 35 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, Thompsell brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the role. He pledges to uphold the quality and standards established by Peter and to continue the company’s success.

More information www.hainbuch.com

Plans for landmark machining plant

Sheffield Forgemasters has submitted a planning application for a landmark 30,000 m²machining facility on brownfield land in Sheffield’s Meadowhall district. Located on a 16-acre plot at Weedon Street, the new facility will form one of the world’s most advanced large machining facilities, supporting the company’s manufacture for the UK defence programme.

With work on the site planned to start in Q4 2024, the building will cover a space equal to 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools and contain 17 new machines, including some of the largest and most advanced five-axis vertical turning lathes (VTLs). Gareth Barker, COO, says: “The planning application covers an ambitious new project to create a facility that will deliver some of the world’s most advanced, large-scale machining capabilities.”

More information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

Renishaw opens new technology centres

To help service its growing customer base in India and Japan, UK-based Renishaw has recently opened two state-of-the-art technology centres: one in Chennai, India, and one in Nagoya, Japan. These upgraded facilities will strengthen Renishaw’s presence in both countries and improve customer access to the company’s engineering services and technologies.

Renishaw is continuing to invest in upgraded and new facilities to better support its customers. In addition to the facilities in India and Japan, within the past year the company has also opened new offices in Brazil and created its first subsidiary operation in the United Arab Emirates. The latter will serve the rapidly growing manufacturing and advanced engineering sectors in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and Egypt.

More information www.renishaw.com

Sustainable Materials Hub

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) has invested in a new hub for sustainable additive manufacturing (AM), thus opening avenues for research and development to support the design and manufacturing of net zero products with end-to-end circularity.  

The new hub features polymer and ceramic AM machines to manufacture net-zero products alongside material reprocessing equipment that recycles waste AM materials and parts into feedstocks. Notably, a new Carbon M3 machine will enable processing of high-performance polymers for net zero products in sectors including aerospace, defence, and energy.

More information www.the-mtc.org

Sustainable tool packaging

Cutting tool specialist Walter is now supplying its products in packaging made from up to 95% recycled plastic. Known as PCR, a material that is fully recyclable, this new packaging strategy is an important step in increasing economic circularity to above 90%, a goal which the Tübingen-based company wants to achieve by 2030. “And that’s not all,” says Gerhard Schüßler, head of sustainability at Walter. “Our main goal is to be climate-neutral by 2050. It’s essential that we take every opportunity to reduce our CO2 emissions. On multiple levels, PCR packaging plays a part in this ambition.”

More information www.walter-tools.com