Stauff, a global manufacturer and supplier of precision fluid power products for a wide range of industries, has purchased two new Unison Breeze 35 mm (maximum pipe diameter) left- and right-hand pipe bending machines. One machine has been installed at the company’s manufacturing site in Sheffield, UK, with the other now in situ at a production facility in Sydney, Australia.

This latest purchase of Unison Breeze machines by Stauff follows on from the organisation’s recently signed five-year strategic partnership with Unison Ltd, an agreement providing all Stauff operations around the world with dedicated in-country support, assistance with product development and other benefits. Once both new Breeze models are operational, there will be no fewer than 15 Unison tube and pipe bending machines at Stauff’s manufacturing centres around the globe.

“We’ve worked with Unison for more than 10 years,” says Ken Cleal, head of production at Stauff UK and Stauff global production manager for tube and tube manipulation. “Throughout that time, we’ve received nothing short of the highest levels of service and support from them, whether that be assistance with product development, operator training, or machine tool maintenance. Unison machines consistently provide the uncompromising levels of accuracy and repeatability that are essential to our operations. Additionally, Unison’s Unibend operating system is exceptionally intuitive and user-friendly, making it extremely popular with our teams.”

Stauff’s new 35 mm Unison Breeze left- and right-hand machines will manufacture small-run complex components, such as hydraulic lines for braking systems. Materials bent will include aluminium, corrosion-resistant steel and exotic alloys. With the ability to bend in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions, the machines are ideal for parts of complex geometry.

For further information
www.unisonltd.com

Morgan Rushworth is celebrating 150 years of trading this year and says it is proud to be the longest established supplier of metal fabrication machinery in the UK.

From humble beginnings in 1872 with the opening of the Rushworth factory in Sowerby Bridge for manufacturing plate working machinery, and the establishment of Morgan and Co in 1906 as a manufacturer of manual sheet metal machines, Morgan Rushworth has become a familiar name in the supply of specialist sheet metal and fabrication machinery built to exacting specifications and standards.

To mark the start of its anniversary year, the company has unveiled a new look Morgan Rushworth website, complete with detailed specifications on its machine range and a timeline of its history. The company will be adding new content on its machines and anniversary celebrations as the year progresses.

The company also points out that the Government’s Super Deduction scheme means that now is a great time to upgrade to a new Morgan Rushworth press brake. A new press brake with an easy to use CNC control can deliver considerable time savings over older machines. In some case studies Morgan Rushworth has been able to reduce production time to 10% of the time taken with a manual machine.

Morgan Rushworth can also support financing arrangements through its selected partner Amica Finance, a specialist machinery finance broker.

For further information
www.morganrushworth.com

LVD used the recent Blechexpo towards the end of 2021 to introduce a new bending cell that requires no robot teaching. The new Ulti-Form robotic bending cell keeps bending productivity at its peak, handling short and long production runs efficiently, says the company. The innovation was nominated for the Blechexpo Award 2021.

According to LVD, Ulti-Form offers a fast ‘art to part’ process based upon the company’s programming software. CADMAN-B automatically calculates the optimal bend program and imports all bending data into the robot software CADMAN-SIM. Notably, no robot teaching is required. CADMAN-SIM automatically calculates gripper positions, generating the fastest collision-free path for the robot before feeding the information back to CADMAN-B, enabling the operator to work with just one program.

LVD’s auto-adapting gripper accommodates a number of part geometries, automatically adjusting to workpiece size. This smart design saves investment in different grippers and gripper changeover time.

Ulti-Form features a 135-tonne automated tool-changing press brake with built-in tooling warehouse integrated with an industrial robot. The cell handles parts from 50 x 100 mm, up to 1200 x 800 mm, and weighing up to 25 kg.

Equipped with LVD’s Easy-Form laser-adaptive bending system, LVD says that Ulti-Form guarantees angle accuracy, ensuring consistently accurate bending results.

LVD also took the opportunity at Blechexpo to demonstrate the Phoenix FL-3015 fibre laser cutting machine with new 20 kW power source, as well as the updated CADMAN v8.7, a software suite designed to empower the smart factory.

For further information
www.lvdgroup.com

Despite numerous external challenges, including the continuing impact of the pandemic, the end of the Brexit transition period and significant supply chain issues, Mills CNC has reported strong machine tool and automation sales results for 2021. When the order books closed just before the Christmas break, the company had taken orders for well over 400 new Doosan machines and experienced a 100% increase in sales of its SYNERGi automated manufacturing cells and Doosan cobots.

Says Tony Dale, Mills CNC’s CEO: “Despite the obvious challenges and turbulence experienced throughout the year, 2021 was incredibly positive for Mills CNC. Machine tool sales were up almost 40% on 2020, representing our best year ever for machine tool orders.

“Similarly ground-breaking results were achieved by our Automation Division, with sales of our SYNERGI automated manufacturing cells and Doosan cobots both doubling in the same 12-month period.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

As the UK gradually returns to post-pandemic levels, Dugard has appointed Alex Newman to support the unprecedented growth that the company is enjoying across all brands in its portfolio. Joining the company as area sales manager, Newman will support customers and expand sales in the southwest of the UK. With a degree and a Masters degree in mechanical engineering, he spent the past seven years with a leading work-holding and ancillary equipment supplier to the machine tool industry. This experience will be a real asset to Dugard.

For further information
www.dugard.com