UK NEWS

Order book growth prompts new division

Francis Brown Engineering has established a dedicated pressure vessels division to reflect growing demand for its specialist fabrication capabilities.The Stockton-on-Tees company has seen an increase in orders for bespoke pressure vessels across multiple sectors, ranging from chemicals and oil and gas, to hydrogen storage. The business recently delivered a vertical column pressure vessel for a major client in the oil and gas industry that measured 20 m in length and weighed over 15 tonnes.

CEO Jamie Brown says: “We’ve built upon our extensive fabrication and welding capabilities to develop a strong track record for delivery of storage pressure vessels to newly emerging hydrogen industries across the UK and Europe. As a result, we’ve established a dedicated pressure vessels division to reflect their growing importance to the business as we further strengthen our position in these new and existing sectors.”
For further information www.francisbrown.co.uk

Collaboration helps UK manufacturers find robots

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and HowToRobot are entering a new partnership aimed at increasing the adoption of robots among manufacturing businesses in the UK.The collaboration will bring together HowToRobot’s global automation marketplace and the MTC’s expertise to connect businesses with the right automation solutions and suppliers.

Any UK-based business considering automation can get free help with finding solutions and suppliers as part of the collaboration. The business simply describes the automation requirement on HowToRobot’s platform. Suppliers then reply with tailored proposals on possible solutions. The business can consult with experts from the MTC to help specify its needs and get automation advice, including how to develop solutions that are not yet commercially available.

Søren Peters, CEO of HowToRobot, says: “Many businesses struggle with getting started on automation because they don’t have an overview of the many robot technologies and solutions that exist today. With our knowledge of over 16,000 suppliers and MTC’s technology experts, we can help them find the solution they need.”

The MTC says that businesses in the UK still have largely untapped potential for automation. Compared with the global average, British industry still has few robots in operation. Speeding up the adoption of automation technologies is essential.

By tapping into HowToRobot’s platform and MTC’s expertise, businesses can quickly get an overview of their automation options without having to undertake market research alone.
Businesses can get started with exploring their automation options by submitting their request on HowToRobot’s platform for free.
For further information www.howtorobot.com/get-quotes

Impossible Objects breaks 3D printing speed barrier

Impossible Objectsis taking its CBAM composite 3D-printing process to the next level with the announcement of the CBAM 25 machine, which was unveiled at the RAPID +TCT tradeshow in Chicago last week. According to the company, CBAM 25 prints15 times quicker than the fastest competition, bringing 3D printing into mass production. Commercially available in early 2024, CBAM 25 uses advanced materials offeringgoodproperties. Notably, the ‘Carbon Fiber PEEK’ material set achieves very high chemical and temperature resistance, and mechanical properties superior to most engineering plastics.
For further information www.impossible-objects.com

Nucor commissions huge steel rolls

Nucor, the largest steel producer and recycler in North America, has placed orders for ultra-large steel rolls with Sheffield Forgemasters for its brand-new plate rolling mill.Sheffield Forgemasters will deliver three rolls weighing 147 tonnes each to Nucor’s Brandenburg Mill near Louisville, Kentucky, which can produce 1.2 million tons annually.

Dan Millington, technical sales manager (steel processing) at Sheffield Forgemasters, says: “Manufacturing rolls of this size is a highly technical process, requiring multiple forging operations through our 10,000 tonne press, controlled heat treatment to meet the customer requirement, as well as rough and finish machining. We are the only UK company with the capability to produce rolls of this size.”
For further information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

£2.2m seed round for machine tool AI

Productive Machines, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up from the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), has raised £2.2m in seed funding to make its advanced machine tool process optimisation technology available to a far wider range of manufacturers worldwide.UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) led the round with participation from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, ACT Venture Partners and Fuel Ventures, alongside grant funding from Innovate UK.

Productive Machines has developed a powerful computational model to predict and mitigate the influence of harmful vibrations at every stage in metal and composite milling. It uses a digital twin to determine the best parameters for each machine tool and production run.Machines configured by Productive Machines can produce parts in half the time it took originally and deliver improvements in surface quality and tool life. The technology is already in place at 10 major manufacturers, including Renault and MASA Aerospace.
For further information www.productivemachines.co.uk