UK NEWS

MoD contract success at Newburgh

Following recent investment in its Rotherham facility, Newburgh Precision has won its first contract direct with the MoD. The company’s commitment and determination to grow in the defence sector is highlighted by the recent installation of a new £500,000 Kafo KMC-4140 double-column gantry machining centre, which was purchased to meet the demand of a defence contract awarded in the first quarter of 2017.

In other news from Newburgh, David Greenan, who has been managing director for the past five years takes up the position of vice chairman, taking over chairman Vince Middleton’s duties while he focuses on other projects. Danny Gibbons, operations director, has after 15 years with the business taken up the role of managing director. Newburgh Precision is currently recruiting a number of CNC horizontal borer/milling machinists and a CNC vertical borer vacancy to help meet growth in the defence and aerospace sectors.
For further information www.np-ltd.co.uk

Safety accreditation

Turbex, which has been supplying aqueous cleaning systems to industry for over 30 years, and more recently anodising, chemical cleaning and surface treatment lines, is one of the latest firms to receive accreditation under the Alcumus SafeContractor scheme.

The scheme recognises excellence in health and safety management at over 10,000 registered contracting firms, and is referred to more and more by safety-conscious businesses in Britain when selecting service providers. Under the SafeContractor scheme, suppliers undergo a vetting process that examines their procedures and track record for safe practice.
For further information www.turbex.co.uk

Open house success at Zoller UK

Around 80 representatives from across 40 companies headed to Zoller UK’s Advanced Innovation Centre in Derbyshire over two days to discover solutions designed to offer cost and efficiency savings.

During the open house, company experts provided live demonstrations on a number of its lines, while visitors were given access to products from partners such as Open Mind, Kyocera Unimerco and CG Tech, covering computer-aided design and manufacturing solutions, as well as cutting-tool servicing, maintenance and verification.
For further information www.zoller-uk.com

JLR quality award for Optimas Solutions

Optimas Solutions has been presented with the Jaguar Land Rover Quality (JLRQ) award.

The award was presented to the distributor of fasteners and C-class products in recognition of the consistently high quality of service and products delivered to JLR. Having started out providing parts to a single production line, Optimas now supplies over 1 billion fasteners to thousands of ‘points of fit’ across JLR’s manufacturing locations in Birmingham and Coventry, as well as exporting to JLR China. Despite the volume, Optimas maintains a quality standard of <1 part per million. For further information www.optimas.com

KTP fuels growth at Craftsman Tools

University of Huddersfield experts are helping Otley-based Craftsman Tools introduce advanced technology and manufacturing systems that will enable the company to break into new global markets and quadruple its turnover.

Now, Craftsman Tools aims to diversify from subcontract machining and increase its focus on designing and manufacturing its own products, particularly toolholders.
The company’s goal is to boost turnover in this sector from £1.2m to £4m within five years. Increased productivity, flexibility and efficiencies need to be achieved, which will demand a systems engineering approach and automated manufacture. Key issues raised by the new strategy are to be addressed by a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) – financially backed by Government body Innovate UK – formed between Craftsman and the University of Huddersfield.
For further information www.hud.ac.uk