EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Winning trophy design revealed

Arron Wilcock, a reliability maintenance engineering apprentice at Amazon, who is part of a Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) Training apprenticeship programme, is the winner of this year’s Enginuity Skills Awards Trophy Design Competition. Industrial automation specialist FANUC will now manufacture the trophy ready for presentation at the Enginuity Skills Awards 2024. Over 150 engineering apprentices on MTC Training apprenticeship programmes submitted designs for the trophy. Entrants were asked to design a CAD model, 3D-print a prototype and present a business case for their design.

For further information www.bit.ly/445VjdN

UR names Distributor of the Year

UK-based automation company RARUK Automation has been named Distributor of the Year by its principal, Universal Robots. The award recognises the distributor which has achieved the largest growth and sales globally over the past year. Danish robotics manufacturer Universal Robots has a network of over 300 distributors worldwide. RARUK Automation has also been awarded Platinum Plus status.

“Universal Robots is delighted to honour RARUK Automation with our Distributor of the Year award,” says Mark Gray, UK & Ireland Country Manager for Universal Robots. “This award marks all of the hard work carried out for the previous year and the continued investment in growth from one of our key partners. RARUK Automation has shown the dedication and vision to bring collaborative automation to businesses of all sizes and offer training to the next generation of engineers.”

For further information www.rarukautomation.com

Cadline to sell CAM Assist AI in UK

CloudNC says that Autodesk Platinum Partner Cadline is to sell CAM Assist, the world’s first AI solution for CNC machine programming, to customers in the UK. Cadline, part of the global Arkance group, works with thousands of UK machinists and CADCAM programmers, supplying them with manufacturing technology and services. According to Cadline, manufacturers using CAM Assist can raise productivity and shorten lead times, while also estimating for more work, more quickly – saving an average workshop over 300 hours of programming and estimating time a year.

For further information www.cadline.co.uk 

£10m heavy engineering plant

Subcontract manufacturer, WEC Group, is constructing a state-of-the-art 60,000 sq ft heavy
machining and fabrication facility in Blackburn. The development marks a significant
milestone in the group’s ongoing expansion strategy and is set to become one of the largest
subcontract machining plants in Europe, serving sectors such as nuclear, defence, offshore
and general engineering.


The facility will feature six large CNC machining centres capable of handling components up
to 20 m in length and 5 m in diameter. This will significantly expand WEC Group’s existing
capabilities, which include a trio of large Correa and an Asquith Butler travelling column
milling machines. The new plant is expected to create 60 new jobs, including 10 additional
machining apprentices.
For further information www.wec-group.com

The die is cast

Phase two of a demolition project has started at Sheffield Forgemasters to make way for the
UK’s largest open-die forging line. Unused buildings on the Sheffield Forgemasters site,
north of Brightside Lane, are being removed as the second phase of work gets underway to
create space for a new 13,000 tonne heavy forge and its 12,700 sq m housing. Victorian-era
forge and foundry buildings will make way for the new facility, creating one of the most
efficient open-die forging operations in Europe and the largest in the UK. The demolition will
eventually expose the whole footprint of the new facility, which will dominate the skyline.
For further information www.bit.ly/3Ubjxyq