Kevin Jones has been appointed by Kyal Machine Tools as its new UK sales manager.

Joining the business at the start of September, Jones hit the ground running with an immediate trip to the EMO exhibition in Hanover to investigate the latest innovations from Kyal principals such as WFL Technologies, Weiler, Hembrug and Willemin Macodel. With over 35 years’ industry experience, Jones started his career as a shop-floor apprentice and progressed through several machine shops prior to moving into applications engineering with a well-known machine-tool builder. He then moved into machine-tool sales.
For further information www.kyalmachinetools.co.uk

Sheffield Technology Parks (STP) has joined forces with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in a year-long campaign to connect the city’s burgeoning digital and creative community to the region’s diverse manufacturing sector.

A year-long programme of informal meets, part of the AMRC’s fast expanding Digital Meet Manufacturing initiative, will be hosted by STP, where some of the region’s most innovative digital companies
are developing software and programs for a variety of platforms.
For further information www.amrc.co.uk

Scottish engineering specialist Vert Rotors has appointed a new chief executive as the company enters a commercially-focused phase to bring its patented technology to market.

Manufacturing veteran Phil Harris has joined Edinburgh-based Vert from Clear Surgical, a medical device company based in Glasgow. He replaces Vert founder Olly Dmitriev, who set up the company in 2013 to develop a new type of compressor technology that is compact and quieter than traditional twin-screw devices, and capable of continuous running.
For further information www.vertrotors.com

Alba Gaskets has successfully completed a management buy-out (MBO). The announcement was made during a visit to the company’s Altens premises by Minister for Trade, Investment & Innovation, Ivan McKee, MSP.

McKee toured Alba Gaskets’ manufacturing facility and met with key members of the management team. Managing director Gavin Sim and director Sigfrid Ruz, will head up the new company structure. Sim is one of the company’s founders and has more than 21 years’ technical and management experience in the gasket sector.
For further information www.albagaskets.com

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Andrea Leadsom, has officially opened the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s new innovation and knowledge hub for metal additive manufacturing (AM), ahead of a major industrial launch event this week.

In a significant advance for the UK, the hub aims to lead research, development and collaboration on metal AM, developing and testing ideas for taking the technology forward. The hub, in the MTC’s Aerospace Research Centre at Coventry, will be formally launched to industry on 15 October.
For further information www.the-mtc.org