EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Good year for German machine tool exports

In 2023, the German machine tool industry sold machines including parts and accessories to the value of €9.5bn abroad, some 9% more than in 2022. “It means we’ve defended our title as world champion ahead of China and Japan,” says Dr Markus Heering, executive director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association). Within the triad of Europe, America and Asia, exports to America grew the fastest, increasing by 18%. The US purchased machines to the value of €1.4 billion, while Mexico also performed strongly. Indeed, exports to Mexico rose by 28%.

For further information www.vdw.de

World-unique forging research centre opens

The world’s most advanced research and innovation hot-forging platform opened on 21March at the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), part of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland. The new facility connects the $75bn global forging sector with the Scotland-based team and industry-scale testbed no matter where they are in the world.

Based in Renfrewshire, FutureForge is a world-unique platform for hot-forging innovation with advanced industry 4.0 capabilities that enables companies from overseas to connect in real-time with the AFRC remotely. FutureForge comprises: a tri-modal 2000 tonne press offering open-die, closed-die and isothermal forging capabilities; instantaneous data analytics;two furnaces;and a custom-built smart robotics manipulator arm.

For further information www.bit.ly/3vqwGvo

Future engineers get busy

Young students got hands-on with crawler robots, drone simulators and 3D printers at a state-of-the art engineering centre to celebrate British Science Week. More than 50 children were treated to an immersive experience at Sellafield Ltd’s Engineering Centre of Excellence, shining a light on the exciting careers available in automation, AI and more. The visit from Distington Community School to the centre at Cleator Moor saw children aged seven to 11 set a series of engineering challenges. They enjoyed a host of activities led by the team at the centre, each set up to show the diversity within engineering.

For further information www.bit.ly/3IBtEaG

Sector expansion

UK accountancy and business advisory firm Johnston Carmichael is expanding its sector focus to offer greater specialist support to the engineering and manufacturing industry.

Engineering contributes an estimated £645bn annually to the UK economy and the recent Budget announcement includes an extra £4.5bn for strategic manufacturing sectors over the next five years to bolster economic growth. Johnston Carmichael’s service expansion follows the appointment of new partners, Jim Lockhart in Glasgow and Paul Shields in Newcastle, who will act as joint heads of the new service sector

For further information www.johnstoncarmichael.com

Mastercam announces new president

Mastercam, a global provider of CAM software, has appointed Susan Brandt as its new president. This strategic move will leverage Brandt’s extensive experience to drive Mastercam’s growth and reinforce its advanced manufacturing solutions. Brandt brings over 25 years of global business leadership and GTM (go-to-market) strategy expertise within the B2B software/SaaS domain, as well as infrastructure design and engineering software. Notably, she has held several senior leadership positions during her career, including at Bentley Systems, holding executive roles in sales and business development.

For further information www.mastercam.com