UK NEWS

50 new jobs in Sheffield

BAE Systems is establishing a new artillery development and production facility in Sheffield, funded with investments of more than £25m, which will create 50 high-skilled jobs. The new 8733 m² facility will house a state-of-the-art factory specialising in artillery expertise that will deliver the company’s M777 lightweight towed howitzer manufacturing capability and support the Government’s ambitions to sustain and revitalise vital UK artillery capabilities.

Work is already underway to prepare the site for operations in 2025. BAE Systems’ Weapons Systems UK designs, develops, manufactures and supports artillery systems and naval guns.

More information www.baesystems.com

More space for Tadweld

Tadweld, a specialist in steelwork solutions for over 40 years, is making a £1m+ investment in a new building adjacent to its current site in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. The expansion

will enable the company to expand its operations significantly, adding 1022 m² of manufacturing space, 557 m² of offices and a further 557 m² of yard space. After renovation during 2025, Tadweld expects the new building will become the administrative headquarters of the business, taking its workshop count to four. The company is looking to create an additional 30 skilled jobs over the coming five years.

More information www.tadweld.co.uk

New Industrial Strategy Skills Commission

Make UK has launched the Industrial Strategy Skills Commission to help solve the country’s growing skills deficit in manufacturing and engineering. The organisation has brought together some of the most qualified experts in education, training and industry to diagnose the widescale problems in the skills system and create an effective talent pathway into manufacturing. It is this skilled workforce pipeline that will prove critical to the success of the Government’s new Industrial Strategy, called Invest 2035, which aims to drive growth and digital transformation in manufacturing over the next few years.

More information www.makeuk.org

Quest for flexibility brings Nakamura investment

Quest Precision Engineering has been on a trajectory of continuous growth thanks to the acquisition of seven high-end Nakamura-Tome turning centres from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG). The Scottish manufacturer initially acquired two Nakamura-Tome turning centres through the pandemic and has kept adding to the plant list ever since.

The Dundee-based company has four Nakamura-Tome WT150II turning centres, two NTY3-150 turn-mill centres and has just purchased a Nakamura MX-100 from ETG’s Scottish distribution partner RAM Engineering & Tooling.

“We’ve been working with Quest Precision for over 20 years and done a lot of applications together, focusing on productivity and flexibility,” says Ross Milne, company director at RAM Engineering & Tooling. “This is epitomised by the Nakamura MX-100 turn-mill centre with swivelling B axis, opposing spindles and lower turret. We’ve also got a gantry loader and bar feed on the machine. It’s a proper step-change.”

Gordon Deuchars, managing director at Quest Precision, says: “Nakamura one led to Nakamura two in just three months, and then around 18 months later we won a big order. This brought Nakamura three and four online. More recently, we’ve been manufacturing the complex ‘Mark 3’ autonomous valve for the oil and gas industry from Inconel 718. We needed a robust machine to take us to the next level, namely the NTY3-150. We’ve now progressed to the Mark 4 valve, which is why we recently installed the MX-100 multi-axis machine.”

He adds: “Our relationship with ETG has been first class. From the moment we enquired about the first machine they’ve been there for us on every turnkey project. The Nakamura range offers the flexibility, efficiency and reliability that we need as a busy manufacturer in the subcontract field.”

More information www.engtechgroup.com

New machines boost productivity at RWG

Mills CNC has recently supplied RWG (Repair & Overhauls) Ltd with two new DN Solutions CNC machine tools: a Puma VTR 1216M vertical turning lathe and a Puma 3100Y multi-tasking turning centre. Both equipped with FANUC controls, the machines arrived at RWG’s machine shop in Aberdeen in March 2024 and July 2024. They are the first DN Solutions machines installed at the company.

RWG is an international, OEM-approved business that provides repair, maintenance and overhaul services for Siemens industrial aero-derivative gas generators and Rolls-Royce marine gas turbines. These services, which all take place at RWG’s facilities in Aberdeen, start with the stripping down of a customer’s gas turbine or generator for cleaning and inspection prior to component repair and reassembly.

As part of a machine shop upgrade programme, the company is currently replacing older manual machines with new CNC models.

The investment in a DN Solutions VTR 1216M, which has replaced an older large-capacity manual borer, was made to re-machine and repair a wide spectrum of large turbine and generator parts that include engine casings, stator and rotor vanes, housings, shafts, seals, valves, and actuators.

“Since installation, the machine has performed well and is hitting non-negotiable, tight tolerances on the performance-critical parts we repair,” reports Angus Donald, RWG’s production supervisor. “Such has been the support and service from Mills during and after the purchase process, that we decided to place an order with them for a new Puma 3100Y.”

The Puma 3100Y – with its 12-inch chuck, 130 mm Y axis and 5000 rpm driven tooling capabilities – was acquired by RWG as part of larger manufacturing repair project to machine a series of complex, high-precision parts in relatively small volumes for a specific engine’s combustion system.

More information www.millscnc.co.uk