UK NEWS

£140,000 for iAero Centre

The Heart of the South West LEP has announced £144,500 to support ‘factory of the future’ digitisation for SMEs. This new funding will allow the iAero Centre at Yeovil to install an Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Factory+ demonstrator and equipment, thus creating a dedicated digital data demonstration space. TheiFACTORe project will focus on harnessing the power of data to drive innovation and collaboration in the aerospace and advanced manufacturing sectors. By collecting and analysing vast amounts of data, companies can enhance efficiency and productivity.

For further information https://iaerocentre.co.uk

Record-breaking revenue for Mills CNC

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of machine tools by DN Solutions and Zayer in the UK and Ireland, and a supplier of advanced automation systems, has had a great 2023. The company, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, announced that combined sales revenue from all of its operations over the past 12 months, surpassed £78m for the first time in its history.

“2023 was a real watershed for the company,” statesTony Dale, Mills CNC’s CEO. “We introduced new models, began selling Zayer machines,and our automation and turnkey solutions business went from strength-to-strength.These factors, combined with higher demand for our more established DN Solutions machine tools, resulted in our best-ever sales performance and I would like to thank all our customers for their continued support.A big ‘shout out’ also goes to our incredible team because, without them, we simply couldn’t have achieved such ground-breaking results.”

For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Birmingham engineer gets royal recognition

A West Midlands engineer was recognised in the New Year’s Honours List.Rowan Crozier, CEO of metal pressing, stamping and tooling specialist Brandauer, received an MBE for services to manufacturing and enterprise.Crozierhelped steer the company through the pandemic and towards a record-breaking £9.3m year, sending millions of components to more than 26 countries every week.He is also an ambassador for developing the industry professionals of the future, revolutionising the firm’s apprenticeship scheme, and helping to launch the UK’s first Precision Toolmaking Academy in late 2022.

For further information www.brandauer.co.uk

Ceratizit-sponsored cyclist wins again

Having won world, Olympic and European champion titles, Katie Archibald is a track cyclist with an impressive number of achievements. Competing worldwide for Team GB, Archibald enjoys sponsorship by Ceratizit: she rides a top-of-the-range Hope Technology bike featuring component machined using Ceratizit cutting tools.

In celebration of Archibald recently accomplishing her 20th European title, she was invited to Ceratizit’s Technical Centre in Sheffield where she was presented with a trophy to mark this incredible milestone. Among those presenting Archibald with the trophy was Stephen Pennington, projects application engineer for Ceratizit UK and Ireland, who worked on this project from the start. The company used Ceratizit tooling to manufacture the trophy.

For further information www.ceratizit.com

Forth launches new division

An award-winning engineering solutions business is launching a new division at a specialist base to expand its capability and create new jobs across a northwest community.Forth has acquired a new facility in Barrow-in-Furness and is launching Forth Fabrications to support BAE Systems’ submarine division and other industries across the region.Cumbria-based Forth, which opened its first Barrow facility five years ago,also has bases in Flimby and Cleator Moor. The company operates in the nuclear, oil and gas, renewables, and other advanced manufacturing sectors.

For further information www.forth.uk.com