The West Midlands has received a major productivity boost with the launch of a £3m technical academy that will help bridge the skills gap and get the region ready for the next industrial revolution.

In-Comm Training unveiled the 24,000 sq ft training space in Aldridge last month. The project has been a true employer-led collaboration with no fewer than 12 manufacturers contributing investment, expertise and input into its creation.
Backed by £733,000 of Black Country LEP Growth Deal funding, the centre is fitted out with CNC machine tools, automation, a robotics line, metrology equipment and fluid power stations. Also housed will be material testing, material handling and grinding capabilities, as well as a 16-seat Mastercam and CIMCO CADCAM studio to help students develop their design for manufacturing skills.
For further information www.in-comm.co.uk

XYZ Machine Tools (hall 18, stand 640) will have several exhibition firsts on its stand, including two major developments in
the company’s product range, details of which will be announced closer to the show. The key machine debuts will be the recently announced LR and HD vertical machining centre ranges, along with XYZ’s UMC-5X five-axis machining centre.

The UMC-5X gantry-style simultaneous five-axis machining centre is available with either the Siemens 840DSL ShopMill or Heidenhain iTNC 640 HSCI control systems, which offer traori (transformation orientation)/kinematic functions respectively during five-axis simultaneous machining for improved accuracy. A full 500 mm of Y-axis travel forward of the table is available when it is rotated 90° towards the rear (component facing forward), allowing larger workpieces to be machined in comparison to many competitor models, says XYZ.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) has welcomed cutting-tool manufacturer Quickgrind as its latest tier-two member. This new partnership will enable Quickgrind to promote its products and services to the AFRC’s tier-one members and partners, as well as tier-two members. In return, the company will provide the AFRC with its technology and consultancy support for the centre’s machining-related research.

Crawford Cullen, manufacturing engineer at the AFRC, says: “Quickgrind is ideally suited to the growth and developments of the AFRC’s machining team.”
For further information www.quickgrind.com

The Kingswinford facility of axle manufacturing specialist MTI Welding Technologies has installed gantry robots from Güdel to help boost production.

MTI’s new gantry robots can be found at the heart of an automated cell used to friction-weld axle sub-assemblies destined for articulated trailers. The production cell integrates MTI’s double-head friction-welding technology with two Güdel gantry robots (ZP5 and FP3 models), a machine vision system and a series of product conveying/handling systems. Güdel UK also integrated the Siemens control with the robots.
For further information www.gudel.com