THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Subcontract market ends year on a high

The latest Contract Manufacturing Index (CMI) shows that the UK market for subcontract manufacturing ended 2023 on a strong note, with the market up 106% compared to the previous three months. Overall, the market concluded 7.5% higher than at the end of 2022. Fabrication was the strongest area, up 160% on the previous quarter and 12% on the previous year. Growth in machining was less strong but still significant, up 51% on the previous quarter and 2.4% on 2022.

Sourcing specialist Qimtek produces the CMI, a reflection of the total purchasing budget for outsourced manufacturing of companies looking to place business in any given month. The CMI represents a sample of over 4000 companies that could be placing business, which together have a purchasing budget of more than £3.4bn, and a supplier base of over 7000 companies with a verified turnover in excess of £25bn.

For further information www.qimtek.co.uk

Birmingham engineer gets royal recognition

A West Midlands engineer was recognised in the New Year’s Honours List.Rowan Crozier, CEO of metal pressing, stamping and tooling specialist Brandauer, received an MBE for services to manufacturing and enterprise.Crozierhelped steer the company through the pandemic and towards a record-breaking £9.3m year, sending millions of components to more than 26 countries every week.He is also an ambassador for developing the industry professionals of the future, revolutionising the firm’s apprenticeship scheme, and helping to launch the UK’s first Precision Toolmaking Academy in late 2022.

For further information www.brandauer.co.uk

Ceratizit-sponsored cyclist wins again

Having won world, Olympic and European champion titles, Katie Archibald is a track cyclist with an impressive number of achievements. Competing worldwide for Team GB, Archibald enjoys sponsorship by Ceratizit: she rides a top-of-the-range Hope Technology bike featuring component machined using Ceratizit cutting tools.

In celebration of Archibald recently accomplishing her 20th European title, she was invited to Ceratizit’s Technical Centre in Sheffield where she was presented with a trophy to mark this incredible milestone. Among those presenting Archibald with the trophy was Stephen Pennington, projects application engineer for Ceratizit UK and Ireland, who worked on this project from the start. The company used Ceratizit tooling to manufacture the trophy.

For further information www.ceratizit.com

ABB robots to help build Volvo EVs

ABB is strengthening its long-standing partnership with Volvo Cars to supply more than 1300 robots and functional packages that will help build the next generation of electric vehicles (EVs). The move will support the Swedish car manufacturer in achieving its ambitious sustainability targets. ABB’s new, energy-efficient robot family and OmniCore controllers will help deliver energy savings of up to 20%at sites around the world.

This new agreement includes functional packages covering various production tasks, from spot-welding, riveting and dispensing to flow drilling and ultrasonic weld inspection. Each package is a ready-to-use, customer-proven combination of hardware, software and services that will see implementation at Volvo Cars’ facilities in Torslanda, Sweden and Daqing, China.

For further information www.abb.com/automotive

Hurco adds extra sales engineer in Midlands

CNC machine tool OEM Hurco Europe has appointed Joshua Adams to cover the postcodes DE, LL, LE, MK, PE, NN, ST, SY, TF and WS. This effectively splits the Midlands sales region for Hurco into two. Adams will report to Colin Brice, long established as the face of Hurco in the Midlands, who will now focus on the remaining postcodes in the region: B, CV, DY, WR and WV. Offeringa wealth of relevant experience, Adams completed his engineering qualifications at South Staffordshire College.He operated CNC mills and lathes before moving into sales of tooling and machine tools.
For further information www.hurco.co.uk