Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Schunk pavilion at the recent Hannover Messe exhibition and learnt about the future of smart production. She looked on while the managing partner/CEO of the family-owned company, Henrik Schunk, presented smart gripping modules that enable direct human/robot collaboration (HRC).

In other news, the company has received the Hermes Award for its Schunk JL1 co-acting gripper, the world’s first intelligent gripping module for HRC that directly interacts and communicates with humans. “The JL1 is a decisive step on the way to highly flexible handling scenarios for Industry 4.0 and, therefore, for smart production,” says Schunk. It was the first time in the history of the Hermes Award that the trophy has been awarded for a gripping module.
For further information www.schunk.com

ABB and IBM have announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB’s digital offering, ABB Ability, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in industry. Customers will benefit from ABB’s domain knowledge and portfolio of digital solutions combined with IBM’s know-how in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The first joint industry solution powered by ABB Ability and IBM Watson will bring real-time cognitive insights to the factory floor. “This combination moves beyond current connected systems that simply gather data, to industrial operations and machines that use data to sense, analyse, optimise and take actions that drive greater uptime, speed and yield for industrial customers,” says
ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer.
For further information www.abb.com

Press & Shear has concluded a sole agency agreement with Dutch machinery manufacturer Wemo, covering sales and service of its sheet metalworking production lines in the UK and Ireland. Wemo’s modular equipment includes punching, bending and joining lines fed with sheet metal coil, mostly designed and built to customer order, although standard products are also produced. Welding, clinching, cutting and other operations can be incorporated to suit user requirements. The automated lines are intended
for high-volume manufacturing applications in the electrical, storage, building, automotive and domestic-appliance industries.
For further information www.pressandshear.com www.wemomachines.com

Invest Northern Ireland is to increase its presence in the Middle East with a new regional manager based in Doha, Qatar. The announcement comes as Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton (pictured left) visited the country to meet the UK Ambassador to Qatar, Ajay Sharma (right), and the Department for International Trade team.

“This new post in Qatar will strengthen the support we already offer in the IMEA region through our offices in Dubai and Jeddah. The new regional manager will have a specific focus on Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iran, where we see real potential for companies in Northern Ireland to grow their exports, particularly in sectors such as engineering and manufacturing.”
In the year up to December 2016, companies in Northern Ireland directly exported goods to the value of almost £29m to Qatar. Machinery and transport equipment accounted for the majority of this, at almost £16m.
For further information www.investni.com

Churchill Drilling Tools is celebrating after winning the ‘High Growth Markets Exporter of the Year’ category at the 2017 HSBC Scottish Export Awards. Mike Churchill, CEO and commercial director, says: “Our export journey has been incredible. For example, in the Middle East, we have gone from a standing start in 2016 to today being the leader in our market. Our export success is testament to the added value that our technologies bring to our clients and the experienced support we are able to provide 24/7.” Churchill Drilling Tools opened a new 11,000 sq ft workshop facility in
Abu Dhabi, UAE, last November.
For further information www.circsub.com