A £4m state-of the-art training hub was officially opened earlier this month with bosses urging other manufacturers to step forward to avoid a skills drain caused by the uncertainty of Brexit. The Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology (MCMT), which is run by a consortium comprising Classic Motor Cars, Grainger & Worrall, In-Comm Training and Salop Design & Engineering, was unveiled in front of 250 people with many delegates receiving their first glimpse of the 36,000 sq ft facility.

Managing director Matthew Snelson used the event to issue a rallying call for more firms to work together in a bid to stop ‘cannibalising’ the pool of industry talent in the UK: “We need to flood the market with new talent and ensure there are enough individuals to satisfy the growth expectations of industry. There is an urgent need for more skilled labour and that is where we come in by creating a dedicated centre that will deliver more than ‘2020 learning opportunities by 2020’.
For further information www.mcmt.co.uk

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has reported that its open house last month saw over 200 visitors attending the two-day event.

Taking place at the company’s technology campus in Leamington, Mills used the open house to show manufacturers a number of new Doosan machines, many of which were making their UK debuts at the event.
“As well as generating significant machine tool sales during the two-day event, the number of serious and genuine sales leads and enquiries taken at the open house was also particularly encouraging, especially as a high percentage of these came from new customers [OEMS through to precision subcontractors] visiting our facility for the very first time,” says managing director Kevin Gilbert.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

More than 100 people attended Dugard’s recent two-day open house at the company’s headquarters in Hove. Many came from subcontract firms specialising in sectors such as automotive, aerospace, medical and general engineering, although representatives from a several large OEMs were also in attendance. The company says that 11 orders for machines were placed at the event, with lots of strong leads collected.

Dugard vertical machining centres proved popular, including the company’s range of five-axis models. Indeed, two five-axis machines were officially unveiled at the event: the large-capacity Dugard X5-800 and the X5-320. A number of turning machines were also introduced, including the Dugard 52SY Swiss-type CNC lathe, Dugard i42U production CNC lathe and Samsung SL2500bSY CNC lathe with Siemens control.
For further information www.dugard.com