Hutchinson Engineering has bolstered its business with a £4m investment in state-of-the-art laser cutting machines and an automated storage facility at its headquarters in Kilrea, Northern Ireland. This latest development, which represents the company’s largest capital investment to date, substantially increases the company’s capacity and fuels its vision to becoming the leading provider of engineering solutions in Ireland.

CEO Mark Hutchinson says: “This major investment is partly in response to the growing number of enquiries we’re receiving from clients seeking to nearshore their supply chains in materials handling, agriculture, coachbuilding and road transport. The markets in which they operate have seen immense volatility over the past few years due to Covid-19, increased fuel and shipping costs, and carbon reduction targets. Our clients are adapting to this changing market landscape and our latest investment means that we can build long-term partnerships to help keep their businesses ahead of the curve.”
For further information www.hutchinson-engineering.co.uk

Located north of Stockholm in Taby, Signcraft AB is a sign manufacturer that is celebrating its 30th year in business. The Swedish business offers a comprehensive service that ranges from company signage and displays, through to 3D scanning and vehicle decoration. For 20 years, the company has been purchasing its cutting tools from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC).

Recently, the company manufactured 3.4 m high stage prop ‘hands’ for the Swedish version of ‘The Voice’ TV programme. On this occasion, Signcraft AB applied a 20 mm diameter ball nose tools from ITC to cut more than 20 m3 of Styrofoam.

“We use a lot of ITC’s LG series single-flute tools for machining our plastic materials, and the STA series for machining aluminium or similar metals,” says company founder Henry Barker. “On occasions, we also use special ITC tools for machining stainless steel or other challenging materials.”

In Sweden, the government has committed a percentage of its budget for infrastructure and new buildings to creating art. One artist with a commission for a project to create sculptures for highway roundabouts approached Signcraft AB to manufacture ‘Selectric Typeballs’ from 1970’s typewriters. Standing at 2.5 m high, the spherical Selectric Typeballs was constructed from 22 cast aluminium sections measuring 1 m x 750 mm. The respective aluminium sheets were cast in a foundry, with Signcraft making the mould tools from high-density polyurethane sheets. The 3D forms were rough-machined on the company’s Kimla CNC routing machine with a 20 mm diameter ball-nose LG series tool from ITC, while finishing operations took place using a 6 mm diameter ball-nose LG series tool.

“We’ve found that the quality, tool life, quality and performance of ITC cutting tools is outstanding,” concludes Barker.

For further information
www.itc-ltd.co.uk

MSC Industrial Supply Co UK, a distributor of metalworking and MRO supplies, has announced a partnership with Colchester Machine Tool Solutions, bringing two of Colchester’s CNC machines (a Storm 1050 VMC and L65M Typhoon turning centre) to MSC’s newly launched, Midlands-based Technology Centre.

This collaboration between the businesses will offer a complete package to manufacturers, with the Technology Centre providing space for MSC to demonstrate how these highly accessible and versatile machines, when paired with the correct tooling and consumables, can drive up productivity. The team aims to create cost and/or time efficiencies using MSC’s wide portfolio of products.

For further information
www.bit.ly/3PSlKfe

Subcon 2022 will open its doors next week (7-9 June) at the Birmingham NEC. Now in its 45th year, Subcon visitors will be able to explore the opportunities available from over 200 world-class suppliers. This year, the show will once again be co-located with The Engineer Expo and Manufacturing Management Show (MMS), bringing together even more of the best suppliers, latest innovations and practical advice.

The Engineer Expo is an event dedicated to the advanced engineering community that drives manufacturing and design solutions. It provides a platform for engineers to source the latest advanced engineering technology, products and services, enabling them to optimise production and processes throughout the manufacturing cycle. MMS is also back this year, unifying everything that plants need to know about running a successful operation under one roof, including maintenance, materials handling, sustainability, skills, IT, and health and safety.

For further information www.subconshow.co.uk

Given that recovery from lockdowns was slowly gathering pace, XYZ Machine Tools was understandably happy when, in the first six months of its just-ended financial year, sales totalled £12m. This figure was encouraging and extremely pleasing.

However, better was still to come with the last six months of the year far outstripping that performance, adding a record breaking £21m to the company’s turnover, giving a total of £33m and bringing XYZ back to pre-Covid business levels.

“At the end of the six months we were happy with our sales in the first half of the year, but to set a company record for a six-month period to close out the year is a fantastic achievement and testament to the hard work and dedication shown by everyone at XYZ Machine Tools,” reports managing director Nigel Atherton.

For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com