Renishaw, is to invest over £50m at its Miskin site in Wales to increase manufacturing capacity and help meet its net-zero emissions targets. The investment will see 37,000 sq m of additional low-carbon buildings created at the 193 acre site to the west of Cardiff, consisting of two new production halls and an employee welfare facility. Renishaw currently employs 650 people at the site. The company will also refurbish the existing production halls to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Construction will take place in phases, with a 15-month programme of work starting in July 2022 to build the first of the new halls, the welfare facility and supporting infrastructure. The basic shell for the second new production hall will be built by December 2024 and be fully constructed when business levels require its use. The details of the operations that will take place in each of the new halls is yet to be fully determined, but the additional capacity will allow for increases to machining operations and the assembly of products already built at the site.
For further information www.renishaw.com

The announcement of an increase in Corporation Tax to 25% was met with obvious dismay from across industry, but for manufacturers that want or need to invest in new capital equipment the rise has a silver lining. The first-year 130% tax relief provided by the Government’s super-deduction scheme, introduced in April 2021 and applicable to any new equipment with unlimited value, now provides a bigger investment incentive.

“When applied to the new Corporation Tax rate, customers can make significant savings on new machine tools,” states Nigel Atherton, managing director of XYZ Machine Tools. For example, the purchase of a machine tool valued at £100,000 would generate tax relief of £130,000, at the old rate of Corporation Tax, saving the customer £24,700. With the tax rate at 25% that saving increases to £32,500. If a company kept the £100,000 of profit in the bank it would cost £25,000 in tax instead.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

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