Alba Gaskets has successfully completed a management buy-out (MBO). The announcement was made during a visit to the company’s Altens premises by Minister for Trade, Investment & Innovation, Ivan McKee, MSP.

McKee toured Alba Gaskets’ manufacturing facility and met with key members of the management team. Managing director Gavin Sim and director Sigfrid Ruz, will head up the new company structure. Sim is one of the company’s founders and has more than 21 years’ technical and management experience in the gasket sector.
For further information www.albagaskets.com

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Andrea Leadsom, has officially opened the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s new innovation and knowledge hub for metal additive manufacturing (AM), ahead of a major industrial launch event this week.

In a significant advance for the UK, the hub aims to lead research, development and collaboration on metal AM, developing and testing ideas for taking the technology forward. The hub, in the MTC’s Aerospace Research Centre at Coventry, will be formally launched to industry on 15 October.
For further information www.the-mtc.org

The Hamilton branch of metal-bending expert Barnshaws has delivered 11 rolled steel cylinders to form two deaerator vessels destined for the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea.

Work had to be carried out within three weeks, meeting transport arrangements and ensuring the deaeration vessels could be installed on the offshore platform as quickly as possible. Barnshaws rolled 35 tonnes of steel plate at 16 mm thickness to a diameter of 3.8 m, producing the 11 finished cylinders. Offshore platforms are hazardous working environments where safety and space efficiency are of the utmost importance, so the rolled cylinders had to adhere to stringent quality levels.
For further information www.barnshaws.com

Manufacturers serving the aerospace industry now have a new opportunity to learn best practice in productivity and competitiveness improvement, thanks to increased government support for the Sharing in Growth (SiG) programme.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has awarded SiG a £6m contract to help the UK companies compete more successfully in the global aerospace market.
Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi says: “SiG continues to deliver excellent results – boosting productivity, creating quality jobs and helping UK companies take a leading role in the global aerospace market. This is an important programme for the UK’s world-leading aerospace sector, securing more than £4bn in contracts and contributing to our export strength. That’s why we’ve extended our support for the programme by £6m.”
For further information www.sig-uk.org

Zoro UK, a supplier of fasteners, fixings, tools and equipment for industry, is celebrating the sale of its 7 millionth fastener since it commenced sales in December 2017.

Chris Matenaers, marketing director of Zoro, says: “We value being a reliable part of a supply chain, supplying fasteners to UK industry. Our next-day delivery and quality brands ensure we help to keep the manufacturing production chain moving without unnecessary downtime. In fact, after introducing our new order subscription service, we are expecting to sell over 8 million fasteners this year. The service will cut the time spent re-ordering, reduce human error and ensure smooth production.”
For further information www.zoro.co.uk