Sales and technical support for the Hardinge Super Precision (SP) range of turning and turn/grinding machines is now being handled in the UK and Ireland by Jones & Shipman Hardinge.

Based at its UK headquarters at Clifton Dunsmore near Rugby, Jones & Shipman Hardinge represents the interests of sister companies in the Hardinge group – Kellenberger, Hauser, Voumard, Tschudin and Usach – and now the SP products – which were previously sold and supported from Germany. In the UK the company also represents the interests of Okamoto grinding solutions.
As Jones & Shipman Hardinge UK managing director Mike Duignan explains, while filling a niche roll, SP machines are recognised for their calibre: “Machines in the SP and SP Quest range can offer combined turning and grinding systems specifically designed to optimise the production of precision, complex parts. As well as their turning capability, the machines can be equipped with grinding spindles, providing the potential to maintain a continuous accuracy of 3 µm over extended periods of operation.”
Super Precision machines offer a compact footprint and, with turnkey packages or optional automation, can operate as a stand-alone machine or within a multi-cell environment.
“These machines are a perfect complement to our well established capability across the spectrum of grinding,”
adds Duignan. “They allow us to offer an optimal solution for high precision, complex parts production, be it grinding, hard turning or a combination of both.”
For further information www.hardinge.com

Alan Arthur has been appointed at the GTMA’s chief technical officer (CTO). Arthur is a highly qualified and experienced engineering manager, with over 35 years’ experience in supply-chain management and project planning.

His commercial and international experience embraces a large range of technical disciplines and best practice across manufacturing and engineering. He completed
his post-graduate degree in the study of additive manufacture, an area of interest to the GTMA.
For further information www.gtma.co.uk

The ‘Encouragement Prize’ at the Advanced Monozukuri Parts Awards 2019 was awarded to NSK for its DIN-standard ball-screw.

The award committee recognised the ball screw’s speed and quietness, as well as its potential to enhance accuracy and efficiency in machine-tool applications. NSK’s DIN-standard ball-screw has the capability to provide feed rates up to 100 m/min, the highest for a deflector-type ball screw, says the company. This speed leads to faster machine tools and, subsequently, reduced cycle times in machining operations, saving money for end users. Another factor favoured by the judges was decreased noise levels, at just 4 dB(A).
For further information www.nskeurope.com

Having just celebrated its 30th anniversary, Perfect Bore Manufacturing Ltd has invested £1 million in its deep-hole boring services.

The acquisition of a Tibo machine will allow the company to offer shorter lead times in its increasingly busy Large Deep Hole Boring division, which specialises in producing bores from 25 to 165 mm diameter, and up to 2500 mm in length.
To support Perfect Bore’s ‘one-stop solution’, the investment includes a dedicated honing machine that will enable capacity to be released on CNC and vertical honing machines. In addition, the company has extended its premises to enable it to store additional material on-site. Perfect Bore also reveals that its Grinding division is thriving. In fact, this division has doubled capacity and has been attracting a lot of interest, especially since the company’s involvement in a NATEP project to grind a hard-chrome replacement coating.
For further information www.pbm-ltd.com

Adam Cunningham, CEO of Muller Holdings, has taken over the reins at the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN), a collaboration of eight West Midlands-based subcontract manufacturers and an engineering design agency, just as a new order takes its combined efforts to over £75m of sales generated since formation in 2003. Focus is now on increasing this number to £100m, says Cunningham, who takes over at MAN from Brandauer’s Rowan Crozier.

Says Cunningham: “We are fairly unique in being able to bring together such a wide diversity of engineering disciplines under one banner,” says Cunningham, who started his career with Concentric Pumps in Birmingham. “Our core philosophy is to work together to win new contracts, as this is what keeps us all in business and, over the years, we’ve been very successful in doing that. A recent order from the renewables sector has actually taken us over £75m of sales for the group.”
For further information www.man-group.co.uk