Three new mould tools that will produce tens of thousands of critical parts for a new breathing aid designed to support COVID-19 patients are being manufactured in Telford.

Protolabs has created a dedicated 20-strong team to work with existing customer, Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, to develop injection mould tooling in just three days. The company, which employs 450 people at its Telford headquarters, is helping the Formula One team and its partner, University College London, ramp up production of its CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) system.
For further information www.protolabs.co.uk

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has appointed Richard Wilson as its business manager for the central and southern region, which includes the counties of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and Wiltshire.

Wilson, a seasoned machine-tool sales professional, replaces the previous incumbent, Nick Gunning, who has retired after nine years in post. In addition to his senior sales management credentials, Wilson also has considerable production engineering experience, gained at a leading UK aerospace manufacturer.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

The switch from sign making to producing face masks at Swansea-based Valley Group arrived when Richard Dawson, a director of the company received a telephone call from a lifelong friend and well-respected doctor and clinical lead at the Hywel Dda University Health Board, who said its existing supplier of face masks had exhausted its capacity, leaving 10,000+ staff in desperate need of protection.

One critical factor for Valley Group was the cutting of 0.5 mm thick PETG face visors, which had to be free from burrs and sharp edges. However, the Valley Group has been a customer of ITC for more than a decade, so when it came to cut thin plastic sheets on its Biesse Klever routing machine, ITC recommended the Clearcut 180 series of solid-carbide, single-flute down-cut routing tools. Valley Group’s router runs at 24,000 rpm with a feed rate of 10 m/min. With demand rising, the company is aiming to start a second shift so it can increase production from 700 to 1400 masks per day.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Starrag UK has bolstered its nationwide sales team with the appointment of Phil Roberts as sales manager to meet an increasing number of enquiries for its machine range and engineering solutions.

Roberts, whose role will include focusing on customers in Starrag’s target areas of aerospace, energy, transportation, industrial and medical devices, brings to Starrag UK more than 20 years’ experience in production engineering and machine-tool sales, especially in developing solutions for complex turning and multi-axis milling applications.
For further information www.starrag.com

As a part of the national effort to provide much needed PPE in the fight against COVID-19, Ricardo has turned to the production of face shields that will be used by frontline NHS healthcare staff, as well as key workers in the care sector.

To ensure that these essential PPE items can get to NHS employees who need them as quickly as possible, facilities at Ricardo’s Technical Centres in Shoreham and Leamington Spa are being repurposed as assembly lines and logistics centres for face shields. Ricardo used its manufacturing supply chain expertise to engage with an injection moulding partner, to create a tool capable of high-volume manufacture.
For further information https://ricardo.com/