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August News in Brief

01 August, 2012

♦  SKF says it is the first bearings manufacturer in the UK to offer a comprehensive range of power transmission products, including couplings, V and synchronous belts, roller and conveyor chains, pulleys, sprockets and bushes. The products, totalling more than 27,000 types, will be supplied via SKF’s warehousing and logistics systems. SKF says the service will allow distributors and end-users to hold smaller stocks and to tie up less capital in inventory.

♦  Eriks is launching an automation services division in the UK, modelled on an existing operation in the Netherlands. The division will design, develop, assemble and build automation systems, focusing on motion controls. Eriks says it will be the only distribution and industrial service company to offer this capability in the UK.

♦  Siemens Industry has formed a partnership with the engineering distributor Hayley Group, under which Hayley will offer its FZG bevel-helical gears capable of transmitting input powers up to 170kW. Hayley now offers Siemens motors up to 315kW, gears and couplings from stock, around the clock.

♦  Blackburn-based Northern Industrial is the first UK company to become an official systems integrator for Control Techniques. It is authorised to provide technical support for all CT products, as well as on-site support and retrofit services. Northern Industrial will continue to sell new and reconditioned CT drives via its online store. The company, founded in 1978, has recently moved to new premises in Blackburn.

♦  Fairford Electronics has added a range of medium-voltage motor controls to its portfolio. The Centris controls are designed for fixed-speed motor installations from 2.3–13.8kV, and currents up to 600A. A “true thermal modelling” function provides stepless control of acceleration and deceleration.

♦  Two years after TÜV SÜD acquired Laidler Associates, the safety compliance specialist is being renamed TÜV SÜD Product Service, with Paul Laidler as its business director for machinery safety. The business now offers machinery safety services from five UK locations. To mark the rebrand, TÜV SÜD is running a series of roadshow events across the UK highlighting key safety issues for machine users.

♦  Renold Chain is guaranteeing that its extra-long-lasting Synergy chain will last at least three times longer than a customer’s current chain, or the next one will be free. Independent tests have shown that Synergy’s wear resistance is up to six times better than that of the next-best chain on the market.

♦  The precision motion specialist HT Servo has bought new offices in Worthing, near its previous rented premises. The company was founded in 2000 to represent Kollmorgen and other brands in the Danaher Group, including Thomson, Harowe, Micron, Deltran and Artus. It also has exclusive agreements with Inductosyn, CDA Intercorp, Scotland Electronics (SEIL) and Electro-Miniatures Corp.

♦  Six years after its formation, the industrial safety and connectivity specialist Motion29 has moved to larger premises in Pontllanfraith, Wales. The business, owned by former Woodhead Connectivity colleagues, Andrew Wilkinson and Steve Fisher, now employs a team of four and is planning to extend its range of products in the coming months.

♦  Lincoln-based Dynex Semiconductor has inaugurated a £1.8m research and development centre as part of a £11.25m investment by its Chinese majority shareholder, Zhuzhou CSR Times. Since 2010, it has expanded its number of r&d engineers from 12 to 32 and aims to boost the figure to 50. Dynex designs and makes high-power semiconductors, IGBTs and electronic assemblies.

♦  David Lockett has been appointed managing director of Bibby Turboflex and Huco Dynatork, two of Altra Industrial Motion’s power transmission brands with manufacturing sites in the UK. He will also oversee the growth of Altra’s industrial coupling activity in Europe, including the TB Woods and Ameridrives brands. All four brands have been brought together under the umbrella of the Altra Couplings division.

♦  Siemens Mechanical Drives is building five large gear drives and couplings at its Leeds plant for use at an open-cast mine in China. The systems, ordered by the mineral-sizing equipment supplier MMD, include two 400kW bevel-helical planetary systems weighing 11.4 tonnes each, two 350kW boxes, and a 275kW bevel-helical system with integral backstops. The planetary gears are fitted with coolers to cope with the site conditions.




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