EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

XYZ Tackles Europe’s Skills Shortage

XYZ Machine Tools extends its help in tackling the skills shortage far beyond UK shores. A good example is the Czech Republic, home of Rexim spol, an XYZ distributor for 15 years. Many of Rexim’s machine installations have been into training and technical schools. Indeed, two recent installations have been for large numbers of machines to provide a foundation for skills training within the Czech Republic.

To help modernise the secondary technical school and business academy in Uhersky Brod, Rexim supplied six XYZ SLV manual mills and four 1550 VS manual lathes. Another regional Vocational School benefitting from XYZ machines is SOS Frydek Mistek following the purchase of 12 XYZ 2000 manual mills, 12 1330 Trainer lathes, six RMX 2500 CNC bed mills, six RLX 1630 CNC lathes, a 660 HD Vertical machining centre and a CT65 turning centre.

More information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Robot Idea Comes to Life

Winners of the WorldSkills UK’s ‘Designathon’ took their innovative concept from idea to reality during a hands-on experience at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) Training in Coventry recently. The Designathon, part of WorldSkills UK’s competition-based learning programme, challenged students to tackle real-world engineering problems with creative, practical solutions. The winning team from New College Lanarkshire in Scotland impressed judges with its robotic grabber design, a precision tool for automated picking and placing that shows strong potential for real-world application.

More information www.worldskillsuk.org/learning-lab

Automation Centre Opens

Zebra Technologies Corporation, a global specialist in digitising and automating frontline workflows, has launched the Industrial Automation Centre of Excellence in collaboration with Clearview, a Zebra industrial automation distributor. Located in Oxfordshire, the centre will offer relevant services, training advisory, and practical demonstrations for manufacturing specialists across the EMEA region. The centre will support end users, machine builders and systems integrators looking for machine vision, 3D and AI solutions to secure greater asset visibility and support intelligently automated operations.

More information www.clearview-imaging.com/coe

Enginuity Skills Awards winners take a bow

The best of British engineering and manufacturing grasped glory at the Enginuity Skills Awards 2025 in a glittering ceremony hosted at the Park Plaza London Riverbank in London. Mohammed Mahmood, from Stoke, was deemed by the judging panel of industry luminaries, to be the Best of British Engineering – the winner of winners, having picked up the Best T Level student category earlier in the evening. Arriving in England with limited English and no industry experience, Mahmood pursued a T Level in Building Services Engineering to gain technical knowledge and practical skills.

More information https://enginuity.org/

SYSPRO grows smart manufacturing prowess

SYSPRO, a global software provider for the manufacturing and distribution industries, has acquired riteSOFT, a US-based developer of mobile warehouse and time tracking and scheduling software for small to mid-sized manufacturers and distributors. The acquisition strengthens SYSPRO’s smart manufacturing capabilities and advances its strategy to offer integrated, industry-specific solutions that accelerate time-to-value and simplify operations for customers worldwide. SYSPRO users will benefit from a unified solution stack with aligned product roadmaps that improves operational efficiency and deployment speed.

More information www.syspro.com