A UK aluminium casting foundry is celebrating its 50th birthday in style after announcing plans for a new £1.2m technical centre and machine shop. Wednesbury-based Alucast will start work on the new facility in June, which will house its existing CAD and Magma casting simulation facilities, non-destructive testing capabilities, and the firm’s new five-axis CNC machining technology. It is part of a strategy that will see the company target up to £3m of new ‘lightweighting’ opportunities for complex castings in the automotive and agricultural markets. As a result, Alucast will recruit another 20 employees to cope with planned expansion to £10m sales.
For further information www.alucast.co.uk

Secretary of State for International Trade, Dr Liam Fox, recently opened the new factory, offices and demonstration suite at Swift-Cut Automation, a British designer and manufacturer of CNC plasma-cutting tables. During his visit, he spent some time discussing Swift-Cut’s growing success in the international export market. In just six years since Swift-Cut’s inception in 2011, the company now exports over 80% of its products globally.

Working closely with the Department of Trade, Swift-Cut has opened channel partners in 26 countries and, with the continued support of the government, is now successfully expanding into the USA. “Swift-Cut is exactly the sort of company we need to be replicating across the UK,” said Fox. “Success stories like this are flying the flag for British quality and expertise, bringing a boost to their local economies.”
For further information www.swift-cut.co.uk

The largest-ever research project backed by Innovate UK for developing cost-effective titanium-alloy structural airframe parts is nearing completion. The three-year TiFab programme has studied more than 170 aircraft components to assess their suitability for an advanced-joining process which could offer annual raw material savings of around £9m. TiFab consortium members CAV Advanced Technologies, Kuka, Ten Solutions and The Welding Institute predict that manufacturers could save over 200 tonnes of titanium a year if they chose linear friction welding to bond parts instead of machining from solid billets.
For further information www.nearnetshape.co.uk

600 UK has announced changes to its management team with Terry Allison named managing director and Paul Rushworth (sales director) and Trevor Moore (production director) appointed to the senior management team. Completing the team are technical director Jonathan Wright and finance director Richard Taylor. 600 UK owns the brands of Colchester and Harrison lathes, Pratt Burnerd workholding, Gamet Bearings and the recently introduced Clausing Machine Tools, which are all distributed throughout the UK and Europe.
For further information www.600uk.com

The MTA has announced that Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking is to be, once again, the headline sponsor of the largest event of its kind in the UK – MACH 2018. This is the fourth time Lloyds Bank has sponsored MACH, further strengthening a long-term relationship between the bank and the MTA, the organiser of the event. MACH takes place every two years and in 2016 attracted over 25,000 visitors. As part of its ‘Helping Britain Prosper’ plan, Lloyds Bank is support British manufacturing with an additional £1bn of new lending this year. MACH 2018 will be held on 9-13 April at the NEC Birmingham.
For further information www.machexhibition.com