♦  Terry Scuoler, currently managing director of Ferranti Technologies, has been appointed chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation. Scuoler has been at Ferranti since 1999 and has helped to turn the company from years of decline and making losses, into a profitable and expanding business. Manufacturing, he says, remains central to the UK`s future as a high-value, high-skill employer and “we now have an ideal opportunity to ensure this is widely recognised”. Scouler takes up his new post on 15 March.  

♦  ABB has signed a deal to supply Nuaire with variable speed drives for its fans, which are said to represent the UK’s biggest range of ventilation and air-handling products. The VSDs will be used in Nuaire`s energy-saving Ecosmart control range which integrates fans, drives and condition sensors in ventilation systems that supply air to meet real-time demand.

♦  Atlas Copco has introduced a scrappage scheme under which it will deduct up to £2,000 from the price of new compressed air equipment in return for any compressor that is at least five years old. The offer closes on 30 June, 2010, and more details are available on 0800 181085.

♦  Abingdon-based Carter Manufacturing has reached an agreement with Koyo (UK) to promote its ExSev (extreme special environment) bearings in the UK. The bearings are aimed at applications such as cleanrooms and corrosive environments, or where special characteristics such as high-temperature, high-speed, non-magnetic or insulating performance, are needed.

♦  Following the ending of the GE Fanuc joint venture after 23 years, Fanuc has announced that Fanuc GE CNC and Fanuc Service have merged to form a new company, Fanuc CNC UK, which will provide service and support to machine tool builders, dealers, integrators and users. The business is based in Ruislip, Middlesex. Fanuc says that more than 30,000 of its CNC controls are installed in machine tools in the UK.

♦  The Engineering Development Trust is merging with the Industrial Trust to create the UK’s largest provider of work-related learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The new organisation will reach nearly 30,000 young people and work with around 800 companies in its first year of operation.