Among the UK’s leading structural engineering and metal fabrication companies, Tranent-based Had Fab has built one of the company’s largest constructions to date. The 16.5 m long, 3.5 m wide and 4 m high piling frame will form part of the high-profile redevelopment of Stornoway Deep Water Terminal. Working to a tight deadline, Had Fab fully refurbished and converted the frame (from H-pile to tubular pile configuration) so as to successfully install 1220 diameter piles, up to 44 m long on the Stornoway Deep Water Terminal. The structure is now fully operational.
For further information www.hadfab.co.uk

A total of 176 people visited Citizen Machinery’s recent three-day open house at its Brierley Hill facility, up 28% compared with the previous year’s event. Owing to the seniority of the attendees and others who had expressed interest but could not attend, the tally of 25 new machine orders placed by 18 companies during October was a company record for a single month. The event also staged a Formula One car simulator competition. The person clocking the fastest lap won a bottle of champagne, an accolade that went to Raphael Poulequin of Renthal, Stockport, a producer of accessories for motorcycles and mountain bikes.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Addmore Engineering has found the optimal way to measure safety- and performance-critical components with an air gauging system from Bowers Group. As part of its inspection process, Addmore needs to measure bolts that are critical components on braking systems. It is, therefore, imperative that 100% of the parts produced are within tolerance. The air gauging system from Bowers Group ensures that the performance critical parts manufactured by Addmore Engineering satisfy customer requirements to 100% inspect safety-critical characteristics and meet tight tolerances.

Ben Vasquez, managing director at Addmore, says: “The Bowers air gauging system is the perfect solution because it standardises the measurement process and eliminates the potential for human error. The system allows multiple operators to check the diameter of the components accurately in minimal time, while the modern control panel gives a quick yes/no output that allows each bolt to be checked with guaranteed high-precision results.”

Addmore Engineering manufactures in excess of 10,000 bolts every month. The business had previously experienced some difficulties whereby operators were achieving different readings with micrometers; a significant problem when trying to measure 7 µm tolerances. Bowers’ air gauging system allows team members to check component diameters in a short space of time. Using air flow volumes and pressures to measure parts, air gauging is a reliable, repeatable technology suited to applications that demand sub-micron precision.

As a further benefit, air gauging technology is also flexible, enabling measurement of not only dimensions, but geometric and relational characteristics, such as squareness, parallelism, ovality, taper and straightness. Inspectors and machine operators at Addmore Engineering use the Bowers air gauging system on a daily basis.
For further information www.bowersgroup.co.uk

Specialist industrial service provider Eriks has invested £500,000 in a new Southampton regional hub as part of multi-million-pound infrastructure improvement programmes in the UK. The company has ploughed funding into the 1800 sq m purpose-built hub, which will support the company’s customer base across manufacturing sectors in the south and southwest of England.

The regional hub replaces two smaller outdated facilities in Southampton and brings together core areas of engineering expertise in a central location, as well as a local stockholding of critical parts, allowing Eriks to improve further the speed, flexibility and scope of its customer services. A wide range of services is available, including standard repairs and upgrades for pumps, motors and gearboxes.
For further information www.eriks.co.uk

The UK’s first-ever precision tooling academy is now up and running thanks to a pioneering partnership between In-Comm Training and Brandauer. An investment of over £1m by the two partners has led to the creation of a commercial toolroom at the training provider’s Aldridge location. The facility will produce complex tooling and act as a professional training ground for the toolmakers and designers of the future.

Training will be unlike anything currently on the market, reports In-Comm, with up to 35 individuals in the first 12 months able to learn on live tooling projects that will be producing hundreds of thousands of parts every week. This will give Brandauer and other tooling experts the opportunity to re-shore more manufacturing projects from Asia, the EU and the US. In a massive stamp of approval, a major car manufacturer has agreed to be the first company to put its engineers through the toolmaking course.
For further information www.in-comm.co.uk