Just before Christmas, the University of Sheffield officially opened AMRC Cymru, a £20m research and development facility in North Wales.

As a member of the AMRC, Schunk UK played an integral role in the opening ceremony, holding the ribbon with a Schunk gripper for Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford to cut the ceremonial ribbon. Mounted on a Kuka AGV, the new Schunk EGH Co-act gripper is the latest addition to the Schunk Co-act gripper family, and is a flexible system for gripping and moving small to medium-sized workpieces in the areas of handling, assembly and electronics.
For further information www.schunk.com

Engineering specialist Sheffield Forgemasters is to lead a consortium of partners in its largest ever research and development project, with an overall project value of £10.5m.

The company will explore the industrialisation of electron beam welding in civil nuclear assemblies, with the potential to integrate welding into the manufacturing process, offering material improvements and reductions in production time and cost. Sheffield Forgemasters has been awarded £8m of BEIS funding to lead strategic partners in the project.
For further information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

One of the West Midlands’ leading female industrialists has been awarded an honorary degree by Coventry University.

Carol Burke CBE, managing director at Unipart Manufacturing Group, was granted the title of ‘Doctor of Technology’ in recognition of her pioneering work in setting up the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering (AME) over five years ago. The experienced engineer was one of the driving forces behind the UK’s first ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’, helping support a new approach to developing the graduates of the future by making them more industry-ready.
For further information www.ame.co.uk

A machine rental scheme has been introduced by Starrag UK for its Bumotec range of multi-axis mill-turn and machining centres.

The scheme will provide potential users with a cost-effective way to capitalise on the benefits of multi-tasking, single set-up machining. Included are the s191 and s181 Bumotec models, which are suitable for users in the medical, watchmaking and jewellery sectors, for instance. In one customer case example, the five-axis s181 mill-turn machine produced a complete surgical hook from 25 mm titanium bar in under 14 minutes, compared with 20 minutes using conventional single-station machining.
For further information www.starrag.com

Gardner Aerospace has acquired FDM Digital Solutions Ltd. Formed in 2012 by Graeme Bond, Burnley-based FDM is at the forefront of 3D printing and has grown to become one of the UK’s leading polymer additive layer manufacturers.

DM’s business model of customer collaboration and innovative design solutions, aligned with extensive manufacturing capability, has proven to be successful in the automotive, medical, motorsport and aerospace industries. Going forward, the business will become part of the Gardner Technology Centre.
For further information www.fdmdigitalsolutions.co.uk