EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Sheffield Forgemasters to regain accreditation

Sheffield Forgemasters is positioned to expand into nuclear fabrication after passing a highly testing audit to regain coveted ASME status as a key supplier of heavy forgings and castings to the civil nuclear power market. Ian Nicholls, group technical director, says: “Sheffield Forgemasters has passed the ASME audit to qualify as a Materials Organisation with NPT status. The accreditation is a huge development with enhanced requirements and disciplines embracing all our processes, employees and selected sub-suppliers. The ASME code is the world’s most comprehensive series of guidelines for civil nuclear manufacture.”
For further information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

NI firms lead way in smart manufacturing

Four Northern Ireland manufacturing companies are preparing to transform their production operations and improve their output after graduating from the latest Digital Catapult Smart Nano NI Accelerator Programme. Following the completion of the programme, and by adopting new digital solutions,it is hoped these companies will further accelerate smart manufacturing in Northern Ireland. Delivered by Digital Catapult, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging, Aeroblue Software, Terex and NuPrint Technologies showcased their solutions at the latest graduation event atNorth West Regional College’s Industry 4.0 Centre.
For further information www.digicatapult.org.uk

New CAO for NMITE

NMITE has appointed David Oloke as its new chief academic officer and first professor of civil engineering. Oloke will take up the role and leadership of NMITE’s academic mission in February. NMITE says this will add to an exciting year ahead because 2024 willyield its first graduates, the pioneers who, in September 2021, embarked on the accelerated Master’s Degree in Engineering. The appointment of an experienced civil engineer to NMITE’s leadership team will further drive NMITE’s commitment to the sustainable built environment, a key area of NMITE’s academic focus. Oloke joins from the University of Brighton.
For further information www.nmite.ac.uk

Recycling initiative supports circular economy

Metal cutting expert Sandvik Coromant, together with the wider Sandvik Group, is launching an upgraded tool recycling scheme. Building on the success of its existing buy-back programme, the new scheme will make the process of repurposing worn carbide tools easier for customers, while also boosting material circularity across the supply chain.With the scheme, customers can sell their worn-out tools to Sandvik Coromant, which then extracts and reuses the materials in the production of new cutting tools. It is possible to recycle up to 95% of a used carbide insert. Rollout to all customers will take place by 2025.
For further information www.sandvik.coromant.com

Hurco bucks the trend with record sales

Against a backdrop of difficult trading conditions in the UK machine tool industry, Hurco Europe’s turnover to the end of its financial year in November 2023 was surprising. It turned out to be a record year for sales, higher than the best previous figure, achieved in 2018.Managing director David Waghorn says: “We delivered a few more lathes than last year and, while the number of machining centres we sold did not increase, their unit price was significantly higher.”

There was also an increase in large machine sales, which increases the value per sale, while many negotiations included requests for extras like mist extraction, through-spindle coolant, probing and longer warranties. Notably, the addition of a collaborative robot raised the value of some orders:the number delivered was two and a half times up on the previous year.
For further information www.hurco.co.uk