Major project for construction fastenings

Atkin Automation, a UK designer and manufacturer of press-feed and coil equipment, has won a six-figure contract with a major UK supplier of construction fastenings.

The company designed and manufactured an Atkin twin-strip press-feed line, which will effectively double the customer’s production capacity for one of its main products. Atkin says that the new line enables two strips of steel instead of one to be processed simultaneously, while also allowing multiple coils to be loaded on to one mandrel to further improve efficiency by reducing changeover times.
Geoff Barker, sales manager for Atkin, says: “This project is a great example of our complete service from design to commissioning of a twin-strip press-feed line. We have over 70 years’ of history within our business of producing machines like this and the new line will bring major benefits in terms of increased efficiency and productivity for the customer.”
The company, originally WT Atkin, specialises in coil-processing equipment and has a long history of serving both UK and international markets, ranging from automotive and white goods to building products.
Atkin Automation is part of Group Rhodes, a manufacturer of capital equipment for the clay-working, metal-forming and materials-handling industries. Within Group Rhodes there are a number of businesses which provide original equipment manufacture and aftermarket services for different sectors, including Rhodes Interform, Hallamshire Engineering Services and Craven Fawcett.
For further information www.grouprhodes.co.uk

Mills heads to ITI

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, says it will be attending Seco’s Inspiration through Innovation (ITI) 2018, which this year is taking place on 9-10 October at Seco’s facility in Alcester.

As one of 17 demonstrations planned for the event, Mills will showcase its new Doosan NHP 5000 horizontal machining centre with automatic pallet-change system. The NHP 5000 boasts 60 m/min rapids and 1 G acceleration/deceleration in all axes. Over 40 technical partners will attend the free-of-charge event.
For further information www.secotools.com/iti

Mollart to represent OTW in UK

Ohio Tool Works (OTW), a specialist honing machine tool, tooling and bore-finishing application company, has added Mollart Engineering to its worldwide distribution network.

The new agency brings a further dimension to Mollart’s deep-hole drilling portfolio, in particular for bore-finishing tool supply. Mollart’s managing director Ian Petitt says: “Our appointment will not only broaden our deep-hole drilling product range, but expand our customer support capability across the finishing of bores and deep holes through standard and customised honing abrasive tool supply.”
For further information www.mollart.com

Help dealing with late payments

The recently launched office of the Small Business Commissioner is offering a free service to help small firms deal with late payments.

Based in Birmingham, the office was created to ensure fair payment practices for Britain’s 5.7 million small businesses and support them in resolving their payment disputes with larger companies. Established under the Enterprise Act 2016, the SBC is headed by the Small Business Commissioner Paul Uppal, and is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment practices between businesses across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
For further information www.smallbusinesscommissioner.gov.uk

ITC supports north with apps engineer

In line with its expansion strategy, which has seen year-on-year sales increases exceeding 15% over the past five years, Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) has appointed applications engineer Gary Murrey to its growing team.

He will support the sales efforts of northern area technical sales engineers, Jason Clark and Gary Heaney. Murrey has almost 30 years of experience that includes an apprenticeship as a machinist at shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft and lengthy periods as a five-axis machinist and programmer with GE Aviation. He was also a production and applications engineer with the 600 Group and a senior manufacturing engineer at VTL.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk