National Apprenticeship Week 2020 earlier this month was celebrated by Yamazaki Mazak with an innovative twist, by allowing the company’s current crop of young engineering talent to turn the tables on senior management and interview them on their own careers in the manufacturing industry.

Mazak currently employs 48 apprentices and has trained in excess of 200 in recent years. In honour of NAW, the company invited a selection of its current class of 47 apprentices to put their own questions to a selection of senior staff, including Alan Mucklow, managing director UK & Ireland sales division.
For further information www.mazakeu.co.uk

XYZ Machine Tools’ drive to increase sales across mainland Europe has taken its next step with the appointment of Marcin Drozd as a directly employed area sales manager for the company’s range of ProtoTRAK-controlled and CNC machine tools.

The appointment is the first phase of a longer-term project in Poland that will see XYZ Machine Tools extend its direct presence with additional sales, service and applications support personnel.
Says Howard Bamforth, the company’s export sales director: “The potential for our products across Europe is significant, and while we’ve had success in certain countries working through distribution, the time is right to maximise the potential business. Directly employing a sales manager in Poland is the initial stage of that process. Marcin brings to the role extensive experience of our product range, particularly the ProtoTRAK control system, which we see as one of the key products for developing sales in the region.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

From Stand G205, 1st Machine Tool Accessories will show for the first time in the UK the Kitagawa Swift Klamp, a rigid work-holding product that uses the proven HSK tool interface to provide a secure, low-interference, quick-change clamping arrangement which resists bending forces generated during metal cutting.

Developed for five-axis machining applications but equally suited to use on three- and four-axis machines, the system consists of three parts – the clamping head, work holder and workpiece. The head is supplied either as a manually or automatically operated HSK clamp, while the work holder comprises an HSK interface at the base and multiple options at the top for holding the workpiece, including flange clamps and side clamps.
For further information www.1mta.com

XYZ Machine Tools (Stand J210) will shine the spotlight on automation, five-axis machining and the latest ProtoTRAK control system developments.

The company’s robot-based automation cell, Robo-Tend, will take centre stage. This modular and mobile robot automation system is designed for use with XYZ vertical machining and turning centres fitted with Siemens controls. At Southern Manufacturing, the system will be demonstrated attached to an XYZ 750 LR vertical machining centre.
Robo-Tend has been designed to bring automation within the reach of traditional subcontract engineering businesses, offering potential payback in just a few months. Also at the show, for those seeking full, simultaneous five-axis machining, the XYZ UMC-5X with front loading 600 mm diameter trunnion rotary table will be demonstrated.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

The turning range from XYZ Machine Tools has been extended with the addition of the ProTURN RLX 780, a 3 m gap-bed lathe with a swing of 780 mm that has been engineered to use the latest ProtoTRAK control.

Previously, XYZ Machine Tools’ XL series of lathes had been restricted to the Siemens 828D ShopTurn control system, but with developments in drive technology, the first of these large-capacity lathes can now be married with the ProtoTRAK control, opening up opportunities for existing ProtoTRAK users who previously may have resisted the move to Siemens.
Nigel Atherton, managing director of XYZ Machine Tools, says: The ProTURN RLX 780 is the first of our large-capacity lathes to be given the option of the ProtoTRAK control, but it won’t be the last. With the development of the Delta drives and motors they are now fully compatible with the ProtoTRAK control, meaning we can scale up the range of machines available, which will be a very attractive proposition for existing ProtoTRAK users. With the option of an eight-station turret, along with the ProtoTRAK control, the RLX 780 is now a cost-effective competitor for any large capacity turning centre.”
XYZ’s ProTURN RLX 780 shares all the attributes of its sister machine, the XL 780, with a between-centre distance of 3 m, 160 mm diameter spindle bore and a 32 kW spindle coupled to a gearbox providing two speed ranges between 20 and 1300 rpm. A 500 mm diameter three-jaw chuck and four-station automatic indexing turret are also standard equipment.
Most notable among the changes is, of course, the ProtoTRAK control, with its 15.6” touchscreen control enhancing ease-of-use and programming.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com