In 2021, cutting tool manufacturer Seco proposed an idea: the Industrial Sustainability Assessment – a tool to help Seco’s production units assess their sustainability level, making it easier to prioritise and identify actions toward effective and impactful improvements.
Since 2024, the Sustainability Assessment Tool has provided support in tracking progress towards Seco’s global sustainability goals. The company has now initiated work to explore the potential for an externally adapted version of the tool for stakeholders and customers who may also find this approach relevant.

More information www.secotools.com

FANUC has received a significant order to supply a state-of-the-art paint system, including paint robots and advanced application technology, to a European luxury carmaker. Almost 50 FANUC robots will paint both car bodies and plastic add-on parts such as bumpers. FANUC impressed the customer with an innovative cabin painting concept that requires fewer cabins and robots. FANUC’s paint lab near Stuttgart, Germany, also played a crucial role in securing the order. The robots will automatically open the bonnet and boot and apply multiple layers of paint.

More information www.fanuc.eu

Mazak has produced advanced machine tools in North America since 1974 and is now celebrating the completion of its 40,000^th machine built in the company’s Mazak iSmart™ Factory in Florence, Kentucky. The 518,320 ft² facility produces many of Mazak’s most popular machine models, including its Quick Turn, VTC and Ez series machines, and is home to the company’s US R&D efforts. Mazak designated the facility as its iSmart Factory because it fuses advanced manufacturing cells and systems with full digital integration to achieve free-flow sharing of process control and operational monitoring data.

More information www.mazak.com

One of the Black Country’s fastest growing exporters has achieved another major milestone by recording its best-ever year of trade with India. Alloy Wire International (AWI) – a specialist supplier of round, flat and profile wire – sent more than £650,000 of material to customers in the subcontinent over the past 12 months, a 50% increase since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. This now accounts for nearly 10% of the firm’s overseas sales and marks a 45-year working relationship with Indian agent Amit Banerjee. The Kolkata-based representative has built up a strong customer base that is now rapidly expanding.

More information www.alloywire.com