News » UK News Nord aims to double the size of its UK business
The geared motors and drives specialist Nord Gear is aiming to almost double the size of its UK business to around £30m in the five years to 2023. The company, which is celebrating its 25th year in the UK this year, currently employs almost 50 people and assembles up to 30 geared motors every day. Together with ready-built assemblies delivered from its parent company in Germany, these account for about 80% of Nord’s UK business.
Free BSI guide will help manufacturers to go digital
BSI has issued a free guide to help UK businesses to plan for digital transformation. Called PAS 1040:2019 Digital readiness – Adopting digital technologies in manufacturing – Guide, it will help them to assess and improve their readiness to adopt technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence), robotics, and the Internet of Things.
Siemens CEO Maier retires early, Ennis is his successor
Siemens UK CEO, Juergen Maier, is taking early retirement at the age of 55, after 33 years with the company. He will be succeeded on 1 January, 2020, by Carl Ennis, currently UK & Ireland head of Products & Systems Sales for Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
Control Techniques extends drives warranties to 5 years
The drives-maker Control Techniques has announced a free five-year warranty on its Commander range of general-purpose drives. Anyone who buys one of these drives will be able to register to extend its warranty from two years to five, at no extra cost. The offer relates to the C200 and C300 general-purpose drives that CT launched last year when it reintroduced the Commander name.
Ballscrew-maker Jena Tec Precision enters administration
Jena Tec Precision, the Nottingham, UK, based manufacturer of linear and rotary motion products, including ballscrews, spindles and actuators, has been placed in administration. The joint administrators – Mike Solomons of restructuring, recovery and insolvency firm, BM Advisory, and James Robinson of Finn Associates – are hoping to sell the business and its assets as a going concern.
UK electrical manufacturers make net-zero pledge
Two dozen electrotechnical manufacturers with UK operations – including ABB, Eaton, GE, Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider Electric and Siemens – have pledged to reduce their emissions to net-zero by 2050. The announcement was made at the London launch of a new report from Beama, the trade body for the sector, which warns that setting targets in legislation alone will not be enough to achieve net-zero emissions.
MTC sets up production support base in Liverpool
The UK's Manufacturing Technology Centre is setting up an operation in Liverpool to support manufacturing growth and innovation in the area. The new facility, with a staff of more than 60, will be located at Liverpool Science Park (LSP) in Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool). It will be one of the biggest lettings for the science park in more than five years.
Tea company brews up a packing machinery business
A UK company that sells tea on a subscription basis has entered the packaging equipment market after it had to develop its own machinery because it couldn’t find any affordable systems on the market.
‘Ground-breaking’ programme will help UK businesses to adopt industry 4.0
Siemens Digital Industries has joined forces with the analytics specialist Atos and the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre, to launch a “ground-breaking” Industrial Digitalisation Accelerator (IDA) programme that will offer UK businesses of all sizes a practical, collaborative space in which to explore Industry 4.0 technologies. They claim it is the first time that experts in the fields of IoT, analytics and computing have come together to help industry to discover new pathways to growth.
£35m facility will focus on safety of robotic systems
The University of York in the UK is to establish a £35m research facility aimed at ensuring the safety of robotics and other systems that use artificial intelligence. The York Global Initiative for Safe Autonomy will house specialist laboratories and testing facilities – bringing together industrial partners and experts in the field. The UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF) will provide £10.5m of the funding, with the rest coming through match funding from industrial and philanthropic partners.
Equistone buys UK connector-maker Bulgin for £105m
The private equity investor, Equistone Partners Europe, is buying a majority stake in Bulgin, the Cambridge-based manufacturer of rugged electrical components, from its current owner, Elektron Technology, in a deal that values the company at £105m. Bulgin will continue to be led by John Wilson, who will move from the role of executive chairman to CEO, and will keep its existing management team, who will acquire a minority shareholding. Peter Williamson will join as non-executive chairman.
UK manufacturers are among the keenest to adopt 5G
UK manufacturers are among the keenest to adopt 5G technologies, according to a survey of 800 industrial company executives and 150 telecoms executives in 12 leading countries, performed by Cap Gemini. It found that 75% of UK companies (and a similar proportion in Italy) want to implement 5G within two years of it becoming available. This puts them ahead of the global average of 65% and Germany, where the figure is just 49%.
Engineer of The Year is a German drives developer
A German engineer, Juan Carlos González Villar, was named Engineer of the Year at the Motion Control Industry (MCI) Awards ceremony, held last month in Solihull, UK. Villar, who is proprietor of Kabel.Consult.Ing, won the award for his patented “Energy Light” drive system and networked, continuously-variable transmission system, which he says, improves the energy efficiency of drive applications using a combination of a patented motor technology, advanced controls, and a lightweight construction using composite fibre materials. It is designed to minimise drive output during continuous operation, acceleration, delays, and braking, and to standardise the drive system.
UK children get their own engineering institutions
The UK’s latest engineering institutions will also have the youngest members. Primary Engineer, the organisation that has spent the past 15 bringing engineering into primary classrooms, has taken its most ambitious step yet by launching the Institutions of Primary and Secondary Engineers which. It says they “are set to change the way skills are taught and nurtured in schools”.
Variohm buys UK displacement sensor specialist, Positek
The Variohm Group has acquired the Gloucester-based sensor-maker, Positek, for an undisclosed sum. Positek, which produces linear, rotary, tilt and intrinsically safe position sensors, becomes the fifth member of the Variohm Group, alongside Variohm EuroSensor, Herga, Ixthus Instrumentation and Heason Technology.
