Phil Roberts has been appointed by horizontal machining centre manufacturer Heller Machine Tools as area sales manager for the south of England.

A time-served mechanical engineer from BAE Systems with an HND in Engineering from what is now the University of Hertfordshire, Roberts’ background is highly relevant to his new role. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in the machine-tool industry, both in the sale of capital plant and cutting tools, and in the specification, purchase and use of machines and manufacturing systems.
For further information www.heller.biz

Edwards Engineering, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm based in Perth, is celebrating its first 50 years by setting out an ambitious growth strategy for its second half-century.

The 60-employee firm has expanded sales at an annualised 20% since being bought from its founding family in August 2016. Edwards Engineering expects to boost turnover from the current £7.5m, to £20m within the next three years, largely by focusing on its existing customers and expanding delivery capacity, while aggressively seeking new skills and capacity via strategic acquisitions.
For further information https://edwardsengineering.co.uk/

The Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, has joined forces with a consortium of six other companies to pave the way for low-cost remanufacture within the tool and die industry.

DigiTool, as the two-year project is known, is part-funded by Innovate UK and worth £1.2m – one of the biggest investments of its kind within the sector for over
40 years. The project partners aim to provide organisations of all sizes with the capability to remanufacture worn or damaged dies by helping
them embrace additive manufacturing, adaptive machining and industry 4.0.
For further information https://is.gd/ezuhan

Schuler is supplying a servo press line that will form body parts for the BMW Mini at its production site in Swindon.

In front of the line, there is a blank loader, which feeds individual sheet metal blanks. After subsequent centring, the main forming of the blank takes place in the drawing station – a 2500 tonne servo press. In the five subsequent stations, different cutting and forming processes are used to create up to four high-precision parts at the same time, step by step.
For further information www.schulergroup.com

Mike Corbett has been appointed by Mach Machine Tools, part of the Vigilance Group, as its CNC divisional manager.

This newly created senior management position will see Corbett take responsibility for planning, co-ordinating and implementing the company’s new product design and development business strategies, including launches and upgrades.
Among the primary areas of focus for Corbett, certainly in the immediate to medium term, will involve working collaboratively with the company’s internationally-based machine tool build and control partners, helping to develop new, and refine existing products – including control technologies and software systems – for the European market. In addition to his duties and responsibilities at Mach Machine Tools, Corbett will also take on a technical consultancy role with Machine Tool Sales Online.
For further information www.machmt.co.uk