UK NEWS

Speakers named for manufacturing event

Notable industry leaders have been announced as part of an interesting line up for this year’s National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Expo.

The event, which takes place at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on 26 June, promises a host of informative sessions, networking opportunities and debate from manufacturing leaders and academics. Among the topics set to be discussed include project management, supply chain optimisation, procurement, IT logistics, materials handling and robotics.
Some of the key speakers taking part this year include: Lesley Rudd, chief executive of the Sustainable Energy Association; Christopher Snelling, head of UK policy at the Freight Transport Association; Alan Harrison, group lean manager at IMI Plc, Tim Eaton, head of logistics and supply chain at Flogas; Rob Morton, supply chain operations director at The Quadrant; Ashley Naughton, head of supply chain consulting at ITG – Tata Consultancy Services; and Emma Hancock of Network Rail UK.
For further information
www.manufacturingevent.co.uk/register/

Export performance recognised

Published earlier this month, the ninth annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table listed machine tool sales company NCMT in 134th place.

The table ranks 200 mid-market private companies (unquoted and not subsidiaries) in Britain with the fastest growing international sales. NCMT hit export sales of £14m in the last financial year, up from £10.7m the previous year, representing a 30% increase. In a new development, the company is now looking to diversify into manufacturing precision gears in small to medium quantities, for which it has written proprietary software.
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

New flow line at Heller UK

More than £2m has been spent upgrading the Heller Machine Tools manufacturing plant and headquarters at Redditch, UK.

The administrative and applications engineering departments have benefitted from a comprehensive makeover, while a new customer area for machine demonstrations has been added. Most notable of all, production output of horizontal machining centres has risen by 30%.
As part of the latest initiatives, activities in Redditch have expanded into the assembly of five-axis machines (in addition to four-axis models) for world markets. As part of the expansion, Heller installed an 11-station Strothmann flow line and new logistics system for the manufacture of horizontal machining centres. At every stage of the manufacturing process, work carried out on the machines is documented, providing full traceability as required in order to comply with the factory’s ISO9001 accreditation.
For further information www.heller.biz

First gear grinder of its type in UK

Precision Technologies International Ltd has recently installed a Klingelnberg Höfler Viper 500K universal gear grinding machine at its Tamworth headquarters; the first machine of its type in the UK.

Technical sales director at Precision Technologies Colin Palin says: “In order to expand our capacity, meet both current and anticipated demand, and further increase our in-house capabilities, we recently investigated the available high-end, external/internal gear and spline grinding machines. Having judged several suitable machines against our demanding wish list, we came to the conclusion that the Klingelnberg Höfler Viper 500K met and in many ways exceeded our expectations.
“For instance, thanks to the logical operating system, our staff quickly became skilled in the machine’s use,” he continues. “The Viper 500K is now producing the required high quantities of ground gears with complex geometries for use in automotive and motorsport applications, as well as other equally challenging areas.”
Klingelnberg Höfler’s Viper 500K gear grinding machine, as purchased by Precision Technologies, is designed to accommodate component diameters of up to 500 mm. Multiple-wheel technology is featured, making the machine suitable for the production of small to medium-sized batches.
The configuration of the machine allows users to change the grinding technology by quickly swapping-out the grinding wheel, the grinding wheel flank and the dressing wheel. An optional internal gear grinding arm allows re-tooling and conversion from external to internal gearing work.
According to Palin, “the help of Mark Maurice, the owner of UK Klingelnberg Höfler agent Micronz, was invaluable when specifying the machine and ensuring trouble-free installation and operator training”.
For further information www.micronz.co.uk

Vollmer grinds out great results

The recent MACH 2018 exhibition once again proved to be a huge success for Vollmer UK, with the tool and saw-blade grinding and sharpening specialist winning an order at the show as well as generating a high number of enquiries. Vollmer had three machines on its stand.

Making its debut at MACH 2018, the Loroch K850-M for processing metal-cutting saw blades got proceedings off to a flier with Birmingham-based Precise Saw & Tool Ltd placing an order at the show. Purchased to add capacity to its existing operation, the Loroch K850-M has a 50-blade capacity and robotic load/unload for extended unmanned running.
The centrepiece of the Vollmer stand was the new Vgrind 360 tool grinding machine that also made its UK exhibition premiere. Vollmer‘s next-generation Vgrind 360 is the successor to the Vgrind 160 model, now equipped with enhanced travel distances for accommodating carbide drills and milling cutters whose blanks are made from either solid-carbide or carbide-tipped steel bodies up to 200 mm diameter.
Vollmer UK technical sales engineer Kieran Rosling says: “Enquiries for the Loroch K850-M and the CHC840 saw-blade sharpening machine were particularly high. We conducted a number of demonstrations on both machines during MACH week and have a number of further trials with various manufacturers showing serious levels of interest. However, the Vgrind 360 tool grinding machine was certainly the show-stopper for us. The innovation of the Vgrind 360 was evident and the enquiry level and number of follow-on meetings we have booked is really encouraging.“
Featuring two grinding spindles, the Vgrind 360 can be loaded with different tools, while an optional tool magazine with eight grinding wheel packages allows tools on the vertical spindles to be changed automatically.
For further information www.vollmer-group.com