”2022 has a good chance of being a successful year for the German machine tool industry,” said Franz-Xaver Bernhard, chairman of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association) at the association’s annual press conference in Frankfurt last week. The industry has been experiencing a strong and broad-based upswing in terms of its markets and customer sectors since last year. In fact, orders received by the German machine tool industry in the fourth quarter of 2021 were 51% up on the previous year’s figure. The VDW is now forecasting a 14% increase in production for 2022.

For further information
www.vdw.de

Lathe builder CMZ achieved a turnover of €85m in 2021, the largest figure in the company’s history. Sales of the company’s digital control lathes were up 53% compared with 2019, with 660 machines sold. The consolidated turnover figures, including those corresponding to services, spare parts and the e-commerce department (CMZ Store), recorded a total of €85 million with 515 machines delivered, 6% more than in 2019. CMZ is using 2019 as the benchmark year as it was the last ‘normal’ financial year before the pandemic. The company continues to be an eminent exporter, with 80% of sales leaving Spain.

For further information www.cmz.com

The UK National Measurement Office (NMO) will no longer provide Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) services as of 30 April 2022. Former NMO customers will now need to turn to other CABs for any necessary certification services. The announcement follows news that NMi, the Netherlands Measurement Institute, has become the first European notified body operating in the measuring instrument sector to set up in the UK and secure appointment as a UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) approved body. NMi can now serve as a single point of contact for businesses looking to acquire both UKCA and CE product markings.

For further information
www.nmi.nl

CG Tech will exhibit Vericut 9.2 on Stand C15. Vericut 9.2 increases productivity and sustainability with improvements to collision checking and overall performance, as well as enhanced support for ‘intelligent’ cutting tools with performance information and detailed tool reporting. Also added is a 3DLive interface to import GDML files, enabling users to quickly and easily create realistic digital machines and introduce other moving components (rotary tables, articulating heads, fixtures with moving clamps, etc.) for more realistic simulation.

For further information
www.cgtech.co.uk

Open Mind Technologies will be giving a UK exhibition premiere to the latest version of its hyperMILL CADCAM software. Version 2022.1 incorporates more features, optimised strategies and a host of major enhancements for more powerful and simplified machine and controller-independent NC programming. On Stand B210, experts will demonstrate optimisations that include enhancements to the five-axis strategies in Virtual Machining. These improvements provide users with better results in terms of surface quality, new options for 2D functionality as well as efficient innovations in electrode manufacturing.

For further information www.openmind-tech.com