News » UK News Robot dog starts maintenance patrols at Drax power station
One of Boston Dynamics’ Spot “robot dogs” has started to patrol Drax power station near Selby in Yorkshire to carry out inspections and capture critical data on machinery at the site.
UK manufacturers now expect output to fall this year
The positive picture of the UK manufacturing sector during the first half of 2023 has gone sharply into reverse, with recruitment being put on hold and orders slowing at home and abroad, according to the latest quarterly Manufacturing Outlook survey by Make UK and the business advisory firm BDO. The survey of 336 companies carried out in August found that manufacturers are battening down the hatches amid a sharp slowdown in activity – and potential recession.
UK overtakes France to become 8th largest manufacturer
The UK has overtaken France to become the world’s eighth-largest manufacturer, according to the manufacturers’ organisation, Make UK. Its analysis of the latest official data also reveals that manufacturing jobs in the UK pay better than both the services sector and the economy as a whole.
Invertek to create more than 250 jobs in Wales over five years
The Welsh drives-maker Invertek has announced plans to create at least 250 new jobs over the coming five years at its global headquarters and manufacturing facility at Welshpool, Powys.
Online hub helps UK SMEs to save energy and cut emissions
The UK Government has launched a Web site aimed at helping Britain’s 5.5 million SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to cut their energy bills and reduce their emissions. The UK Business Climate Hub site offers advice on technologies such as heat pumps and green electricity generation. It arrives as industry leaders and ministers on the new Net Zero Council are calling on businesses to develop net-zero sector roadmaps
Manufacturing is second-highest for UK administrations
The UK manufacturing industry experienced the second-highest number of administrations of any business sector in the country during the first six months of 2023, according to an analysis by the law firm Shakespeare Martineau. There were 91 administrations in the sector – 22% more than in 2022 – with only the retail sector having more, with 118 administrations.
Use of CE mark will continue as UK backtracks on UKCA
The UK Government has announced that UK businesses will be allowed to continue using the CE conformity mark “indefinitely” for most goods they place on the UK market, and will not have to use the new UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) mark from January 2025 as previously announced. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) says the move, which follows “extensive engagement with industry”, will “cut business costs and time required to place products on the market and benefit consumers”. If they want to, businesses will be allowed to use both marks.
£140m of fraud and error in R&D claims by UK manufacturers
A new report from HMRC has revealed that small and medium-sized manufacturing firms were responsible for £140m of fraud and error in R&D tax relief claims during 2020-21. HMRC has revised its estimates of error and fraud by sector and this shows that almost a third (31%) of R&D claims by manufacturing SMEs were either wholly or partially “non-compliant”.
UK manufacturers say digitalisation is driving productivity
Nearly half (47%) of UK manufacturers have active plans to invest in digital technologies to decarbonise their business, according to new research published by the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK and the cloud business management specialist, Sage. Almost a quarter of those surveyed have already invested in digital systems with a further 23% planning to do so in the coming 12 months,
Free guide helps motor users to cut lifetime costs
The Association of Electrical and Mechanical Trades (AEMT) has published a free guide to help industrial motor users to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their motors.
M&E Week is ‘UK’s biggest industrial event’ after 2 years
Manufacturing & Engineering Week has become the UK’s biggest industrial event in just its second year, according to its organiser, The Nineteen Group. The two-day event held at the NEC in June attracted 10,355 visitors and 342 exhibitors.
Routeco partners with Dutch machine monitoring firm
The UK distributor Routeco has formed a partnership with the Dutch industrial IoT specialist Ixon, whose Ixon Cloud platform is said to simplify remote access and IIoT. The company also offers an edge gateway, the IXrouter, that allows users control the entire chain from machine to the cloud.
Ulster’s £98m ‘factory of future’ will boost industrial innovation
Plans for a £98m “factory of future” innovation centre for Belfast have been approved by local council. The 10,500m2 Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (Amic) will become Northern Ireland’s national centre for advanced manufacturing, accelerating innovation and collaboration between industry and researchers. It is due to open in 2026 at Global Point, Newtownabbey.
US force-measuring firm buys UK load cell supplier LCM
The US force measurement specialist Interface is buying the UK-based load measurement systems supplier, LCM Systems, for an undisclosed sum. Interface says the acquisition will accelerate its growth in the global test and measurement market by adding critical engineering and manufacturing expertise with an international presence.
20kg-capacity palletising cobot ‘levels playing field’
Reeco Automation, the Welsh specialist in cobot-based palletising systems, has announced a palletiser based on a new 20kg-capacity cobot (collaborative robot) which, it says will level the playing field between palletising systems based on traditional industrial robots and those using cobots. It believes that this will, in turn, make end-of-line robotic automation attractive to manufacturers of all sizes, especially smaller ones for whom standard robots have often been too complex, bulky, and costly to buy and maintain.
