News » UK News Transformer maker expands in response to growing demand
The Stoke-on-Trent transformer manufacturer Electro-Wind has expanded its manufacturing premises across two sites and taken on extra staff in response to a growing demand for both its standard and custom-built products over the past couple of years.
Siemens appoints Black-Smith to run Motion Controls
Siemens has appointed Sarah Black-Smith as general manager of its Motion Control business in the UK. She was previously as head of factory operations at Siemens’ drives factory in Congleton, Cheshire, where she was responsible for producing more than one million drives and controls per year.
Government reveals plans to simplify move to UKCA mark
The UK Government has announced a series of changes intended to make it easier for British businesses to apply the new UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) mark for products placed on the market in England, Scotland and Wales.
Course will top up HNCs/HNDs to a manufacturing degree
Siemens has teamed up with Liverpool’s John Moores University to launch a top-up degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering, aimed at engineering professionals who want to upgrade their existing HNC/HND certificates or diplomas to gain new skills and experience, and to study to a degree level.
Dyson seeks 700 robotics engineers for £2.75bn expansion
Dyson, the domestic appliances giant, says it wants to recruit 700 robotics engineers over the next five years as it expands its newly-revealed robotics division, which already includes 250 robotics experts working across disciplines such as computer vision, machine learning, sensors and mechatronics. Following ten years of secretive work on robots, Dyson is now revealing and accelerating its development of autonomous devices capable of household chores and other tasks.
Old kit is more of a hindrance than Brexit, say UK firms
More UK manufacturers believe that their continuing reliance on ageing technologies is having a bigger negative effect of their businesses than Brexit, according to a survey of more than 400 manufacturing executives in the UK and US. The survey was conducted by iBASEt, a Californian company that simplifies how complex products are built and maintained, in conjunction with the UK’s Manufacturing Technology Centre. The 403 respondents were split almost evenly between the US and UK.
D&C Show brings face-to-face meetings back to the NEC
The Drives & Controls Show and its co-located manufacturing industry events – Smart Industry Expo, Plant and Asset Management, Fluid Power & Systems and Air-Tech – returned to the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre last month after a four-year Covid-enforced absence.
£50m innovation hub will help UK SMEs to go digital
The UK government is providing £20m to help set up a “data innovation hub” at Ulster University that will assist UK manufacturers to accelerate the development of digital technologies. The £50m Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH) will help small- and medium-size manufacturers to capture their data and use it better, thus boosting their productivity, growth and sustainability.
UK manufacturers call for task force to tackle supply chains
Britain’s manufacturers are calling for a cross-industry and Government taskforce to assess the UK’s current and future supply chain resilience and capabilities, and to establish an action plan to protect the economy from future disruptive events.
Automated Coventry EV plant will be basis for global network
An international developer of electric vehicle drive technologies is commissioning a cloud-based robotic assembly plant in Coventry, UK, which it plans to replicate in a network of digitalised manufacturing plants around the world. Israeli-headquartered REE Automotive, expects to produce 40,000 of its REEcorner modules – which combine a powertrain with steering, braking and suspension – at its Coventry Integration Centre this year. One module is needed for each wheel, so this capacity will be enough to power 10,000 commercial vehicles such as delivery vans, buses and recreational vehicles.
Manchester centre will design AI-enhanced robots
The University of Manchester has launched a centre of excellence which will design next-generation robots, supported by AI (artificial intelligence) technologies. The Manchester Centre for Robotics and AI will pull together experts and projects from different disciplines to work on robotic technologies.
McComb succeeds Squirrell after 29 years as chairman of PIUK
Chris McComb, managing director of the Manchester-based systems integrator iTech, has succeeded Bob Squirrell as chairman of PIUK, the UK operation of the Profibus Group. Squirrel has retired after almost 30 years in the post.
Selfridges robot 3D-prints items using recycled plastics
Visitors to Selfridges department store in London this month will be able to see an industrial robot 3D printing a variety of objects using recycled plastic recovered from the sea. A Nagami plastic extruder attached to an ABB IRB 6700 robot is creating printed furniture, homeware and other objects chosen by customers via a screen.
UK motor developer brings production back from China
The British electric motor developer Saietta is bringing production of its axial-flux motors back from China to the UK. The company has originally planned to establish a UK pilot production line by 2024, but is now taking over a motor manufacturing facility in Sunderland previously operated by ZF Automotive UK, which closed the factory last year. Saietta plans to take on many of ZF’s 110 former employees.
£20m manufacturing r&d centre aims to keep UK ahead
A £20m applied research and development facility intended to help the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector to stay at the forefront of global developments, has been inaugurated in Preston, Lancashire. The AMRC North West facility will have r&d expertise in areas such as digital manufacturing, 5G, robotics, additive manufacturing, autonomous manufacturing, batteries and low-carbon technologies.
