PP Control & Automation is on course for a record year after increasing annual sales to £26 million, just 12 months after attracting investment from Ardenton Capital.

The strategic manufacturing outsourcing specialist has seen demand for its solutions continue to rise against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, with the West Midlands-based firm now working with over 25 of the world’s largest machinery builders.
Now employing more than 220 people at its 5500 sq m facility, PP C&A delivers added-value design, engineering and complex assemblies to clients involved in aerospace, food processing, machine tool, packaging, printing and other advanced technologies. With renewed financial backing from the Canadian-based investor, PP C&A has added £3m of turnover in the past 12 months, and is now exploring the possibility of future acquisitions and a joint venture to establish a manufacturing footprint in North America.
For further information www.ppcanda.com

Tooling specialist Dormer Pramet has upgraded the way it presents product data descriptions and workpiece material groups (WMGs) across its entire assortment of cutting tools.

The company is introducing standard tooling data, such as diameters and lengths, according to ISO 13399, allowing for easier and faster exchange of information between computer systems and software. ISO 13399 features a total of 133 parameters, covering a wide range of cutting tools, helping to support manufacturing planning, machining operations and product supply.
In supporting a common language in its descriptions, Dormer Pramet will save customers and partners a significant amount of time, offering easier data gathering across its 40,000 solid and indexable tools. In addition, the company is providing a greater level of detail than ever before on its WMGs. Helping customers to find the right tool for the application and supporting the machining process, this change is also based on the commonly used ISO standard. However, it is taken a step further as it includes recommended starting values for speed and feed.
Dormer Pramet now provides three levels of data for each of its products within the newly devised WMG structure. The WMG structure features the standard ISO material definitions, based on the six coloured groups, plus additional classifications on material structure, composition, hardness and ultimate tensile strength. The newly created standard and improved WMG data has been implemented in all of Dormer Pramet’s product material published from November 2019 onwards.
For further information www.dormerpramet.com

Sheffield Forgemasters was awarded ‘Large Business of the Year’ at the Sheffield Business Awards earlier this month.

‘Large Business of the Year’ is presented to organisations employing over 100 full-time employees and/or reporting annual turnover of +£25m. The award goes to a business that has achieved consistent growth backed by a strong financial performance. This is reflective of the results Sheffield Forgemasters has achieved in recent years.
For further information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

Sarginsons Industries has won the ‘Company Achievement Award’ at the Cast Metals Industry Awards, which was staged by the Cast Metals Federation (CMF) in Wolverhampton.

The ‘lightweighting’ specialist picked up ‘Component of the Year’ at the event in 2018 and went one better this time out after a successful 18 months. Sarginsons has made major investments to help grow and diversify the business into new markets, including creating the Sarginsons Technical Centre (STC), bringing in new technicians – including three degree apprentices – and developing the company’s headquarters.
For further information https://sarginsons.com/

Investment by Ricardo in gear-manufacturing machines has improved productivity and extended capability, as the recent investment of £1.5m in a Klingelnberg spiral bevel grinder underlines.

The Klingelnberg equipment is now installed and commissioned at Ricardo’s Midlands Technical Centre in Leamington Spa, and is producing components of precision and quality for the current range of motorsport and sports car transmissions being made by the company, while simultaneously supporting the development of a new series of products destined for market release in the near future.
In addition, the company has acquired new design and quality assurance capabilities through software upgrades such as the KIMOS (Klingelnberg Integrated Manufacturing of Spiral Bevel Gears) software package from Oerlikon.
Dick Elsy CBE, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, recently toured the Ricardo Midlands Technical Centre to see the new equipment in action, and said: “It’s great to see Ricardo at the forefront of digital manufacturing with investment in adaptive machining. Their new spiral bevel grinder is already delivering great results in terms of process capability and productivity improvement. I was very impressed”.
Ricardo Performance Products MD Martin Starkey, adds: “The investment in manufacturing technology and software, including the purchase of the Klingelnberg grinding machine, has enhanced Ricardo’s capability to design, analyse, manufacture and inspect bevel gears with a closed-loop system. This willingness to invest underlines our commitment to digital manufacturing development, and the new technology is a key enabler in supporting our customers with more advanced solutions, meaning they can look forward to even higher standards of product quality and shorter lead times.”
For further information https://ricardo.com/