An audience of around 60 aerospace production specialists were treated to a font of advanced manufacturing knowledge at the University of Sheffield’s AMRC near Sheffield, when machining solutions specialist Starrag UK joined forces with tooling expert Kennametal to present their ‘Optimised Titanium and Inconel Machining’ event – with the added bonus of an insight into some of Rolls-Royce’s activities.

The event not only included technical presentations – on the benefits of Starrag machining centres and a number of new Kennametal developments – but there were also demonstrations of best-practice Inconel and titanium machining on the AMRC’s Starrag STC 1250 machining centre, as well as a keynote speech on ‘High Performance Manufacturing’ by Rolls-Royce’s technology partnership manager Dr Jamie McGourlay. Starrag has eight machines in-situ at the AMRC and the accompanying Nuclear AMRC.
For further information www.starrag.com

The MTA and Close Brothers Asset Finance have published a new survey which reveals that many manufacturing and engineering firms are not planning to take advantage of the increase in the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA).

In fact, only 42% of manufacturing and engineering companies were aware that the Government had made an increase to the AIA. From 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 a temporary increase in the AIA has been introduced. The idea is to enable faster tax relief for plant and machinery investments between £200,000 and £1m.
For further information www.mta.org.uk

AS9100 and ISO9001 accredited APT Leicester, a subcontract machining specialist, has invested in a Keyence dimension measurement system.

The Keyence IM-7030T has increased productivity by speeding up the inspection of components, says the company. APT’s new machine has the ability to measure multiple parts in seconds, enabling the company to spend more time on the production process itself. This strategy ensures that APT customers are consistently and rapidly provided with quality products.
For further information www.aptleicester.co.uk

Tornos UK has expanded its team with the addition of three skilled engineers, who will serve to strengthen the service, customer support and technical engineering solutions available from the company.

Stephen Brett and Andy Patrick have both been heavily involved in the manufacturing sector since leaving school and serving technical manufacturing apprenticeships, prior to careers in production-orientated roles across a number of different market segments. Chun Yuen previously held a 10-year customer support engineer role for Tornos in Asia and will bring a fresh outlook to customers on the application of their machine tools.
For further information www.tornos.com

Founded in 1833, Glasgow-based Auld Valves is a manufacturer of reducing, control and safety valves, and is the company that patented the first full-bore regulator valve.

Supplying a diverse customer base around the world, including oil and gas, nuclear and shipbuilding, recent investment in machining technology from XYZ Machine Tools is further enhancing the firm’s service levels.
Machining at Auld Valves has traditionally either been subcontracted or carried out on a range of manual lathes and radial-arm drills. However, with business growing on the back of recent orders for valves for two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, along with planned work on the new BAE Systems Type 26 Frigate for the Royal Navy and others around the world, investment had to be made.
Initially the intention was to purchase a single XYZ SLX 425 ProTurn lathe through grant funding, but in discussion with the grant provider, it was decided the better option was to double up.
“Having the two machines has enabled us to bring more work back in-house, enhancing our service to customers,” says Tom McLarnon, technical engineer. “Another big plus is that we can manufacture what we want, when we want it, rather than being dictated by minimum order quantities imposed by subcontractors.”
The arrival of the machines brought an opportunity for two young operators to step over from manual to CNC and, as part of the investment, Auld Valves purchased the offline programming system from XYZ Machine Tools in anticipation of machining some of its more complex components. The ease of use of the ProtoTrak control, however, has seen the two operators programming the majority of jobs at the machine.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com