UK NEWS

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

Large capacity VTLs from Broadbent Stanley

Broadbent Stanley has announced a strategic agency agreement with Radar Industrial, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of CNC VTLs. The agreement will see Broadbent Stanley actively marketing and selling the Radar range in many markets, including the UK, Ireland, Egypt, Africa and the Middle East.

Radar VTLs are available in three model designations: the RAL-12, RAL-16 and RAL-20. The machines offer maximum turning diameters ranging from 1500 to 2400 mm, and turning heights up to 1600 mm – with a maximum workpiece weight of 13,000 kg on the largest machine. All three models come with the Fanuc 0i-TF CNC. As standard, Radar VTLs are equipped with a 12-position tool changer, which can be increased to 18 on the optional M-specification machines, with nine of those positions being capable of handling driven tooling powered by a 15 kW motor (with up to 2400 rpm available for the live tooling).
For further information www.broadbentstanley.co.uk

Musical etchings from Precision Micro

Birmingham-based photoetching specialist Precision Micro says it was proud to support a recent charity auction raising money for The Hepatitis C Trust. The main event is a secret auction held in London each November where more than 400 artists contribute postcard-sized original artworks.

The auctions have so far raised in excess of £400,000. One contributor who joined the 2017 list was Russell Marshall, an award-winning artist based in London who worked with Precision Micro to produce images of Sid Vicious, David Bowie, Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix. The images were etched on metal and donated by Precision Micro.
For further information www.precisionmicro.com