Set to return for 2019, the Technology, Design and Innovation (TDI) Challenge is now open for entries.

This flagship competition for schools (organised by the MTA) encourages students to submit their coursework projects, which go towards either their GCSE, A-Level or BTEC qualifications. There are four prize categories to be judged, two in each age group, 14-16 and 17-19. The closing date for 2019 entries is 15 May, and only one application per student or group will be accepted, although schools are permitted to enter multiple students. Finalists will be notified by 7 June.
For further information www.mta.org.uk/tdi

At its open house in Coventry on 19-21 March, Bystronic UK will repeat its Swiss parent company’s presentation on world-class manufacturing entitled ‘The Networked World of Sheet Metal Processing’, which featured at last year’s EuroBlech exhibition. Visitors will learn where integrated automation and new software solutions are heading in the fields of laser cutting and bending.

Dan Thombs, managing director of the UK subsidiary, says: “Bystronic accompanies its customers step-by-step on the path to the smart factory. This is what we will be emphasising during our open house.”
For further information www.bystronic.co.uk

High-end precision fabrication specialist LTi Metaltech is already building on its growth success in 2018 with the addition of a new Ridder waterjet cutting machine, which has just been installed at the company’s Abingdon factory.

The waterjet provides crucial extra capacity to serve newer growth areas of LTi’s business, in addition to its ongoing cryogenic work for long-time client, Siemens (for its MRI machines). With its twin-head cutting capability, larger cutting area of 8 x 4 m and, most crucially, high-pressure water pump with increased capacity of 75 kW, the waterjet will allow LTi to ramp up its production going forward.
For further information http://lti-metaltech.com/

On 28 February the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) staged its annual dinner at the Park Plaza Hotel in Westminster.

The event was attended by over 500 guests from across the MTA’s membership, the wider manufacturing community and beyond. MTA president and director of Yamazaki Mazak Marcus Burton said in his keynote speech: “With the opportunities of the 4th industrial revolution we can leapfrog the past and invest in the future. Digitalisation is going to dominate the future of our industry – in fact manufacturing is already being recast as a digital industry. We in this room have everything that is needed to move productivity forward.”
For further information www.mta.org.uk

Family-owned precision engineering firm JJ Churchill of Leicestershire has secured more than £100m in contracts, increased its headcount by 35% and its export forward order book from under £1m to more than £37m after five years on the Sharing in Growth productivity and competitiveness programme.

The Market Bosworth-based company was one of the first aerospace suppliers selected for Sharing in Growth in 2013 when its ambitions were to overcome risks caused by the oil crisis. JJ Churchill now has plans to hit more than £38m and add around 20 new jobs by 2020.
For further information www.sig-uk.org/apply