UK NEWS

International Women in Engineering Day

To encourage female secondary school students to pursue a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects, Renishaw is hosting an International Women in Engineering Day event at its New Mills headquarters.

On Saturday 23 June, students aged from 11 to 18, with their parents/guardians, are invited to visit Renishaw to learn more about the opportunities open to females in this field.
During the event, attendees will meet Renishaw’s female apprentices and graduates to hear about their experiences, and learn about the different paths into engineering. The group will then rotate around workshops, including a hands-on engineering session building LED torches. Visitors will be invited on a tour of the Renishaw Innovation Centre and to take part in a speed networking session. There will also be a CV writing workshop to help the students with their applications to further education or apprenticeships.
For further information www.renishaw.com/educationoutreach

£1m sales target for metrology firm

A metrology expert has joined Blum-Novotest as its new UK technical sales manager with the aim of doubling sales to £1m over the next 12 months.

Gary Bates, who started his career as one of the last indentured apprentices at Rolls-Royce, will be responsible for growing the firm’s market share. “Blum-Novotest had its best ever year in the UK in 2017 and it’s my job to build on this significantly, almost doubling sales to £1m per annum,” says Bates. “This is just the tip of the iceberg; we’ve got the technology, the service and the backing of our German parent.”
For further information www.blum-novotest.com

Smart factory set for Scotland

The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) has agreed a tier-one partnership with software platform BitzList – the first micro-business to sign a top-level agreement with a High Value Manufacturing Catapult organisation.

Working in collaboration, the AFRC and BitzList are developing a technological platform for the creation of a smart factory – an environment where machinery and equipment are able to improve processes through automation and self-optimisation using a constant stream of data from connected operations.
Through the partnership, BitzList will give the AFRC access to specialist Industry 4.0 software it has been working on for over 15 years. The software is designed to provide manufacturers with the tools needed to organise day-to-day operations, and for parts suppliers to streamline supply chains. This technology, which is already deployed within the manufacturing sector, can be used by customers and suppliers to request the production of parts.
For further information www.strath.ac.uk

Recruitment intentions at two-year high

A new report has revealed that small and medium-sized manufacturers are planning to take on more staff in a bid to boost productivity and sales.

Arrowsmith Engineering, Coventry

The latest National Manufacturing Barometer, conducted by SWMAS (part of Exelin Group) in partnership with Economic Growth Solutions, questioned almost 300 manufacturing SME leaders on the current economic picture, with 53% of them expressing their intention to hire more employees over the next six months. This is 5% up on the last quarter and the highest figure reported for over two years.
In other positive news, the quarterly survey reported that 60% of manufacturers saw an increase in sales, with 68% expecting orders to rise between now and the end of the year.
Investment aspirations – while slightly down on the last report – are still healthy, with just under half (48%) planning to spend on new machinery and premises.
For further information www.swmas.co.uk/barometer

Diversity draws the crowds for Floyd

The recent MACH 2018 exhibition proved to be “a roaring success” for Floyd Automatic, with the sliding-head tooling expert claiming that it was the diversity of its collets, guide bushes, indexable tooling ranges and applications expertise, which sent small turned parts manufacturers directly to the distinctive orange stand.

Providing his feedback on yet another successful MACH exhibition, Floyd Automatic’s managing director Richard Floyd says: “We generated more enquiries at MACH 2018 than at many of the previous events, and what stood-out for us was the high enquiry level from both new customers and overseas clients.
“The high level of new enquiries is partially down to more subcontractors embracing the benefits of sliding-head technology, while overseas lead generation can be largely attributed to language barriers and a reluctance to engage in technical dialogue when English isn’t your first language,” he adds.
“We also invested in the Pokem technology at MACH with eight contact points that enabled us to identify what product lines generated the greatest interest at the show.”
From the Pokem technology utilised at MACH, Floyd Automatic noted a high level of interest in the new Masa Microconic sub-spindle collets. Microconic over-grip collet systems consist of a cartridge and precision collet. The over-grip collet fits inside a cartridge and is adjusted before it is fitted into the existing collet sleeve with no machine adaptations required.
The second most popular product line, according to Pokem, was the new Colibri Slim Jet solution for increasing the spindle speed of driven tool units on sliding-head turning centres
For further information www.floydautomatic.co.uk