THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Record production month at Corbetts

One of the UK’s oldest hot-dip galvanisers has recorded its highest-ever volume from a single facility in July, with over £1m of new customer orders secured since returning from lockdown.

Corbetts the Galvanizers, which celebrates 160 years of trading in 2020, has seen a 48% rise in volume from the fencing sector, with ‘wins’ also achieved in utilities, infrastructure and transport. The company is processing all of this demand in just one plant after taking the decision to temporarily close its other facility until early 2021.

In June, the Telford-based company announced 17% more output than its average performance and this rose a further 7% in July, driven mainly by investment in operational efficiencies and a bespoke loading system. “We are bouncing back from what has been a very difficult period of volatile sales due to the impact of COVID-19,” explains Sophie Williams, finance director and general manager. “Now, however, we have average output at an all-time high and some excellent new customer wins that will generate about £1m of additional revenue.”

For further information www.wcorbett.co.uk

CNC Robotics celebrates 10 years

CNC Robotics, a supplier of robots for machining applications, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary by opening a second site in Liverpool and recruiting five extra staff.

The addition of the second site will enable a clearer separation of the company’s business in the supply of standard cells for single functions, typically trimming or drilling, and its R&D projects for more challenging applications.
Along with the five new recruits, the management team has been strengthened with the recent promotion of Philippa Glover to managing director and the addition of former Autodesk and Delcam director Bart Simpson as the company’s non-executive chairman. The expansion follows an increase in turnover of more than 30% during 2019, with CNC Robotics on course for even higher growth this year.
For further information www.cncrobotics.co.uk

Renishaw joins AM post-processing project

Renishaw is collaborating with UK start-up business Additive Automations as part of a project to automate the post-processing of metal parts made by additive manufacturing (AM).

Using collaborative robots (cobots) for support structure removal could reduce the average cost per part by 25%, furthering AM’s potential as a cost-effective option for large-volume production lines. Called ‘Separation of Additive-Layer Supports by Automation’ (SALSA), the project aims to use robotics and deep learning to digitalise some of the few remaining manual processes left in AM.
Additive Automations is a Sheffield-based start-up that creates robotic systems for use in AM processes. Renishaw has already provided four examples of AM builds for medical, oil and gas, automotive, and mechanical engineering applications. Testing its robotic system on parts already being used in industrial applications will help Additive Automations demonstrate the potential of its support structure removal system.
For further information www.renishaw.com

Big Kaiser catalogue

A specialist in precision tooling systems and solutions, Big Kaiser, has published the third edition of its product catalogue.

Packed with new technology advancements, the latest edition is available from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC), the exclusive Big Kaiser technology partner in the UK. Published in five languages, the new brochure contains over 500 pages of tooling solutions and can be accessed as both an online catalogue or PDF download from the ITC website. Alternatively, a free printed edition can be supplied.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk/products

40% off Kitamura machines from Dugard

Those looking to invest in a high-end CNC machining centre can benefit from a raft of newly announced summer deals from Dugard.

The company is currently offering discounts of up to 40% off the list prices of Kitamura models. Kitamura machines provide 60 m/min rapids, 2 µm positional accuracy, chip-to-chip times near 2 seconds, the Kitamura Arumatic CNC, linear glass scales and high levels of build quality. Among the machines being offered at discount prices are the Kitamura HX250iG HMC, the Medcenter 5AX micro-machining centre, the Mytrunnion 4G five-axis VMC, and the Supercell 300 and 400 five-axis HMCs.
For further information www.dugard.com