EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Mills takes 30 machine orders at MACH

Mills CNC reports that its attendance at MACH 2024 last month was a huge success. Hundreds of visitors made their way on to the stand over the five days and, in addition to generating a significant number of leads and enquiries, some 30 machine orders were taken during the event.

A cursory glance at the 30 machine tool orders reveals multiple orders for DN Solutions Lynx and Puma lathes and DNM vertical machining centres, along with others for an SMX mill-turn machine, a SYNERGi automated manufacturing cell and two high-speed tapping centres. The company also says a number of leads related to turnkey and process improvement project work, specifically involving Zayer machines.

For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Deburring EXPO to join new trade fair

Deburring EXPO will no longer take place as an independent event, but will be incorporated into a new trade fair called Parts Finishing, taking place for the first time on 12-13 November 2025. The new two-day event will combine the subjects of deburring, component cleaning and surface finishing. It will be held at the Karlsruhe exhibition centre.

Hartmut Herdin, managing director of the organiser fairXperts, says: “In future, the subject of deburring technologies will be combined with the fields of parts washing and finishing at the new two-day trade fair.” The topic of surface finishing will include the process steps of fine and ultra-fine grinding, polishing, honing, lapping, vibratory grinding, blasting and brushing.

For further information www.parts-finishing.de

Robotics contest entries up over 50%

Industrial automation expert FANUC UK has reported a 53% year-on-year increase in the number of young people applying for the WorldSkills UK Industrial Robotics competition. A record 80 young people have registered to take part in the 2024 initiative, which aims to give students and apprentices the chance to learn key robotics programming and operating skills with help from FANUC experts. This is a significant increase on 2023, which attracted 52 applicants. The first stage of the competition will see contestants work in pairs to take on a simulated entry-stage task using FANUC’s ROBOGUIDE system.

For further information www.fanuc.eu

Hexagon and Microsoft partner in cloud project

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division is entering a strategic partnership with Microsoft that aims to redefine how engineers collaborate. The collaboration will also enable the discrete manufacturing industry to innovate faster, with more confidence, using new solutions that combine data from virtual engineering processes with real-world measurement of manufactured products.

Modern cloud infrastructure will connect manufacturing and engineering systems in Hexagon’s Nexus digital reality platform for manufacturers, and help employees increase their productivity through cloud-accelerated simulation and AI. Hexagon and Microsoft have partnered closely on the development and scaling of the open-source Fluid Framework and Azure Fluid Relay service, allowing data created in one system to be immediately available to any other person or machine operating in another.

For further information www.hexagon.com

700+ robots for VW Spain

Robot manufacturer Kuka and Volkswagen have signed a framework agreement for the delivery of more than 700 robots in 2024 and over the coming two years.The robots, which includeKuka’s best-selling KR Quantec, will be installed at VW Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, where they will see service in body-in-white production. Kuka and VW have maintained a successful partnership in Pamplona for almost 30 years. “Kuka has been a strong and global partner to the automotive industry for decades,” statesPeter Mohnen, CEO of Kuka AG. “We are pleased to continue our trusting co-operation with Volkswagen.”

For further information www.kuka.com