UK NEWS

Aston Martin production returns to Newport Pagnell

Another landmark in Aston Martin’s ‘Second Century Plan’ was achieved last month with production officially returning to the company’s historic Newport Pagnell site. It marks a significant moment in which history has come full circle, with a special run of 25 DB4 GT Continuation cars being built at same site as the original DB4 GTs were made almost 60 years ago. Each car will take approximately 4500 man hours to build.

Since moving to its purpose-built headquarters and production facility at Gaydon in 2003, Aston Martin’s Newport Pagnell premises has been home to Aston Martin Works – heart of the marque’s heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operation. Production of the Mk1 Vanquish ceased in 2007, but since that time countless classic Aston Martins have been restored to their former glory by the Works team.
For further information www.astonmartinworks.com

ITC invests in latest grinding technology

Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) has invested well over £1m in the latest tool grinding equipment to extend its product ranges and enhance manufacturing capacity, productivity and quality standards. The investment includes two Rollomatic grinding centres, a centralised Vomat micro-filtration coolant system, a Haimer balancing machine and a wheel dressing machine from Action Super Abrasives (ASA).

The Rollomatic models include the new ShapeSmart NP5 blanking machine, ITC’s third Rollomatic cylindrical grinder. Suitable for preparing tool blanks, the NP5 has an integrated three-axis robot loader for the automated and lights-out blanking of rotary tool shanks from 0.025 to 25 mm. Alongside the ShapeSmart NP5 is the new Rollomatic GrindSmart Nano 6, the UK’s first Nano 6 installation. This six-axis grinding centre has been designed for producing micro-tools in the diameter range between 0.03 and 2.0 mm.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

New MD at Precision Products

Sally Thorley, who has been employed by Precision Products for nearly 30 years, has taken over the position of managing director from Brian Owen, who remains on the board of directors as chairman. Located in Rustington, West Sussex, Precision Products is a subcontract manufacturer of turned parts.

Further senior appointments are Ian Jenkins, who has moved across from production to become commercial manager, and Jason Bullen, who joined the company at the start of 2018 as production manager. In other news, the firm has become accredited to the AS9100 Rev D quality standard.
For further information www.precisionproducts.co.uk

Toolroom investment boosts Bisley

Newport-based Bisley, a designer and manufacturer of premium steel storage for offices and workshops, recently decided to make a significant investment in its toolroom, which is used to produce new press tools.

“With the machines we had, we were always chasing accuracy, which in an environment such as this is very time consuming,” explains Bisley’s John Hancock. “As a result, we decided to upgrade our existing milling and grinding sections, and introduce some EDM capacity.” Around 50% of Bisley’s budget for the upgrade was allocated to bringing in additional milling, turning and grinding capacity, all supplied by XYZ Machine Tools.
The new machines are an XYZ SMX 3500 ProtoTrak bed mill, two XYZ EMX turret mills, an SLX 355 ProTurn lathe, and two XYZ1632 and one XYZ1224 surface grinders all with incremental down-feed capability. These are in addition to an existing XYZ SMX 5000 bed mill that was brought across from its former toolroom at the company’s Surrey location.
“Our previous experience with the XYZ SMX 5000 was instrumental in our choice to select XYZ for mills and lathe,” says Hancock. “The ProtoTrak control has all the functionality that we need; it is reliable and provides value for money. With the arrival of the SMX mills, we are seeing improved efficiency due to the versatility of the machines and are able to machine things that would have been either very difficult, if not impossible before. Features such as ‘TRAKing’, which allows us to work manually through a program prior to going full CNC, is very useful. In addition, the overall functionality and simplicity of the control makes the whole process straightforward.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

£65m NMIS

Renfrewshire will be home to the new £65m National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS), with the University of Strathclyde announced as the anchor university. Work to build the centre, which is intended to help manufacturing businesses throughout Scotland become world leaders in innovation, will begin this year.

The Scottish Government will invest £48m in NMIS with £8m from the University of Strathclyde. Renfrewshire Council will provide a further £39.1m through the Glasgow City Region Deal to support wider infrastructure work at the site. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Economy Secretary Keith Brown made the announcement during a visit to Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing facility in Inchinnan. Rolls-Royce is a founding member of the University of Strathclyde’s AFRC. Speaking after a meeting with some of Scotland’s leading manufacturers, the First Minister said: “This facility will help companies across Scotland embrace new manufacturing techniques, support cutting-edge research and further develop skills. The manufacturing jobs of the future offer exciting and rewarding careers for young people. We want to inspire them to work in this sector and revive Scotland’s tradition of manufacturing and engineering.”
For further information www.strath.ac.uk