Consistent year-on-year growth, a record 2018 and a strong order book for 2019 has seen Romi Machines UK take on two new regional sales managers.

The company has appointed John Hawkins for the Midlands, North and Scotland, while Wales, the south of the UK and Ireland will be serviced by David Balfour. Hawkins has been in the industry for over 25 years, starting his career as an apprentice and working his way up to the position of production engineer and service engineer with a number of companies. Balfour is also a time-served apprentice, starting his engineering career almost 40 years ago. His time in machine tool sales has taken in extended periods with vendors of both cost-effective machine tools as well as high-end technology solution providers.
For further information www.romiuk.com

Citizen Machinery has opened a centre of excellence on a 1.1 acre site at Hurst Business Park in Brierley Hill, West Midlands.

A showroom, international conference area, customer training school, applications engineering department and administrative offices are housed within. The company will hold an open house at the facility for customers on 14-16 May.
Additional personnel – boosting the current headcount of 54 – are being recruited to work in the new centre, including staff for software development, applications engineering and machine servicing. These employees will be in addition to four people already working at a pre-existing building nearby, the former home of Miyano UK before the merger, which will remain a satellite facility as forward orders are so high that space will be needed to prepare installations.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

AME (the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering), which is a collaboration between Coventry University and Unipart Manufacturing Group to equip engineering graduates with the experience and skills employers need, is to be extended after receiving over £5m of funding.

Work is due to start on refurbishing one of the site’s buildings, with a view to it being officially opened by the end of 2019. AME was established at Unipart Manufacturing in Coventry four years ago. Around 120 students are currently studying at the site and, since AME was launched, 100% of those graduating have been employed in engineering jobs.
For further information www.coventry.ac.uk/ame

Wimborne-based Loadpoint Bearings, a UK manufacturer of air-bearing spindles, has invested in a Studer FavoritCNC universal cylindrical grinder to help increase its output following the company’s move to a new, three times larger facility.

Operations director Richard Broom says: “Our air-bearing spindles are used for a range of exacting applications, such as in precision rotary tables for metrology-based systems. To make sure that Loadpoint spindles are manufactured to the highest quality standards we use a range of advanced machine tools, not least our 18-year-old Studer S36 grinder. In addition to our old Studer delivering the levels of sub-micron precision and first-class surface finish characteristics that we require, over the past two decades it has proven to be highly productive and extremely reliable.
“Despite having enjoyed a first-class experience with Studer and the company’s regional agent, Advanced Grinding Supplies, when an additional high-quality grinder was needed, mindful of possible technical advancements made by other manufacturers, we did look at a couple of other brands,” he adds. “However, having had an impressive demonstration of a Studer FavoritCNC, we were convinced that this was the ideal machine for our grinding needs and we were happy to continue our loyalty to the brand.
“The help of Peter Harding, the owner of Advanced Grinding Supplies, was invaluable when specifying our new Studer machine and ensuring that it corresponded with our specific requirements. Now in constant use, our Studer FavoritCNC is producing impressive volumes of premium-quality, highly precise components.”
For further information www.adgrind.co.uk

The developer of Vericut CNC simulation, verification and optimisation software, CGTech, is partnering with Kyocera SGS and LMg Solutions to hold an event which will demonstrate emerging technologies that help manufacturers realise productivity improvements.

Taking place at the Kyocera SGS head office in Wokingham on 22 May, the theme of the ‘Lunch & Learn’ event is single operation manufacture and optimisation of complex components. CGTech will shine a light on the features and benefits of its Vericut Force Milling module with live software demonstrations and presentations.
For further information https://is.gd/efedeq