Thursday 4 December 08 - 02:07
 

Aerospace & Defence

  • Unprecedented Hat-Trick of Supplier Awards Won

    01 Jun 2005

    Ford Components Aerospace Division of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, has won three top awards at the annual Westland Transmissions Ltd (WTL) Supplier Awards Presentation event. This unprecedented hat trick reinforces Ford's growing presence and reputation in the aerospace sector. 

  • Tool Maker Diversifies into Aerospace Machining

    01 Jun 2005

    The recently opened aerospace machining section of Burcas Ltd now has seven Boehringer CNC Lathes, with a capacity of up to 750mm diameter x 3000mm in length, along with eight other CNC lathes and three CNC milling machine centres. This aerospace business unit is a new development for the tool manufacturer. 

  • Event is Dedicated to the Aero-Engine Business

    01 Jun 2005

    Aero-Engine Expo 2005, featuring the 14th Annual International Aero Engine Conference takes place 5-6 October 2005 at the London Olympia Conference Centre. 

  • Joint Venture Aims to Improve Automated Aerospace Manufacture

    01 Jun 2005

    A new British joint venture aims to improve automated manufacture, productivity and profitability systems for leading international aerospace manufacturers and their supply chain partners. The new company, called HYTRI, believes aerospace manufacturers will increasingly turn to external contractors that possess the appropriate knowledge and skills. 

  • Ceramic Coatings Help Protect UAV Engines

    01 Jun 2005

    Apticote Ceramic 2000, the Poeton coating developed for Formula 1 and other motorsport engines, is also specified for the rotary engines in most of the world's Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs). Future development of UAV engines, guidance systems and other components will need a whole range of engineering coatings that can be applied to enhance the performance of light weight alloys of aluminium, magnesium and titanium. 

  • Toolmaker Expands and Enhances Performance

    01 Jun 2005

    In response to customer demand, CNC jig grinding and CNC wire EDM subcontractor Bedestone Ltd, has extended its range of subcontract services in a controlled expansion programme that has seen the emergence of Bedestone Precision Engineering Ltd and Bedestone Manufacturing Ltd. The company has recently been accredited with AS9100 Aerospace approval, and also has taken assurance and traceability to a new level with the acquisition of a Zeiss MP5 CMM. 

  • Joining Skills Showcased for Aerospace Materials

    01 Jun 2005

    At the AeroMat 2005 conference in Orlando earlier this month, TWI presented five papers. A week later, at the Paris Airshow, TWI showcased its latest developments in friction stir welding and laser processing. 

Casting

  • Heat Treatment Takes Account of Component Casting Morphology

    01 Jun 2005

    Two custom-built Carbolite furnaces with provision for protective atmospheres are providing Howmet Exeter Castings with precisely controlled facilities for heat-treating industrial gas turbine blades. 

  • Service Offers Plastic or Aluminium Components

    01 Jun 2005

    The parallels of processing rigid polyurethane and aluminium sand casting, including the many common skills (particularly in mould and pattern making), enables Norse Precision Castings of Bedford, to offer an almost unique service to design and production teams. 

  • Flexible Foundry 's Export Business Grows to 70%

    01 Jun 2005

    The Specialist S.G Iron foundry of Foundryfer SL located near Bilbao, Spain, has responded to the continuing movement of general engineering casting business from Western European foundries to low-cost regions by supplying more complex designs, and finished machined components. The foundry's export business now amounts to 70% of production. 

  • Strategic Sourcing Plan Achieves Cost Reduction

    01 Jun 2005

    Hi-Finish Casting recently embarked on a structured purchasing programme to achieve cost reduction through innovation, process improvement and strategic sourcing. The RaPP Programme ensures that all activities in the purchasing function are focussed on business plan achievement. The programme was delivered with assistance from the SMMT Industry Forum and consultants from Indigo Procurement and has resulted in clear bottom line benefits. 

Electro-mechanical Engineering

  • Hard Turning Replaces Grinding of Gear Blanks

    01 Jun 2005

    Turning of gear blanks as well as spacers and shafts in their casehardened state has started to replace grinding at the Bradford factory of Hindle Gears, with the result that bore and face machining is now completed in one operation instead of two, handling has been eliminated at this stage in the process and overall cycle time has been halved. 

  • Innovative Machining and Investment Reduce Costs

    01 Jun 2005

    Paddock Gear and Engineering Ltd has already increased productivity by 50% on large gears of up to 1200mm diameter using its latest investment; a Liebherr LFS1200 CNC gear shaper. Over the past five years, the company has made a large investment in the latest technology machine tools and purpose-built premises to achieve a competitive edge in terms of in speed of turnaround, versatility and the size of components that can be machined (2 to 2000mm diameter). 

  • Powder Metal Technology Tested for Production of Transmission Gears

    01 Jun 2005

    Hoganas AB has been cooperating with Scania, a leading manufacturer of heavy trucks, to test the potential of various powder metal (P/M) manufacturing routes for high-performance gears. The tests on a gear for a heavy truck show how far P/M technology has come. 

Industry News

  • The Habit of Talking Down Manufacturing Ignores Sector Success

    01 Jun 2005

    "We need to become better at celebrating success, and move away from the habit of talking down manufacturing. If we do not address recruitment, and the negative perception of the industry, which is not in line with how the sector had changed over the years, we will increasingly fail to compete against low cost competition", says Arthur Richardson of the SWMAS. 

  • Medical Device Forum to Discuss Growth in Market

    01 Jun 2005

    Major suppliers, together with clinicians, NHS professionals and venture capital specialists have confirmed their involvement in the MDT Innovation Forum in London, 6 July 2005. It will be an opportunity to discuss the role brands and partnerships have in the growing medical device market. 

  • GTMA's First Supply Network Lifts Off for Aerospace Sector

    01 Jun 2005

    The GTMA Aerospace Network, launched earlier this year, will act as a single source of suppliers and provide procurement assistance to OEM and Tier 1 companies. Julia Moore, GTMA CEO, explains: "The GTMA is always looking for ways to actively promote UK toolmaking, metrology and precision engineering by bringing buyers and suppliers together - our most recent initiative in pursuit of this objective is the creation of sector-specific Supply Chain Networks." 

  • Waste Disposal Issues Need Fasttrack Approach

    01 Jun 2005

    Businesses are now being forced to take responsibility for their waste and incur spiralling costs under the Landfill Directive, due to come into force on 16th July 2005. Changes to the Hazardous Waste List, effectively classifying an additional 180 wastes as hazardous, has also resulted in many businesses having to deal with hazardous waste for the first time. Envirowise offers UK manufacturers free, independent, confidential advice and support on practical ways to increase profits by minimising waste. 

Sheet Metal Working

  • £750k Investment Cuts a Dash in Fully Automatic Tube Profiling & Cutting

    01 Jun 2005

    Sheetmetal and fabrication specialist Intec Laser Services of Redditch has recently invested a total of £750k in what is thought to be the most powerful, fully automatic, high volume, laser tube cutting machine in the UK enabling tubular components to be cut with any shape of aperture, hole and complex or simple end detail. This facility is housed in a dedicated new building with overhead craneage for hopper loading. 

  • Sheet Metal Show Time In Paris and Nuremberg

    01 Jun 2005

    Tolexpo, a new international trade show for sheet metal, coil, tube and section technologies, will be held in Paris, 15-18 November 2005 in Paris (www.tolexpo. com). This is followed by FabForm 2005 a sheet metal forming and fabricating technology showcase in Nuremberg, 6-8 December (www.fabform. de). 

  • Investment is Key to Diversification Strategy

    01 Jun 2005

    Over the last three years Coventry based DCM, which used to depend largely on the automotive market, has diversified into new sectors and invested heavily in new equipment such as a laser cutter, a press brake and earlier this year, an MRP system. 

  • Manufacturer Signed Up for Help to Re-Organise

    01 Jun 2005

    When the South West MAS approached the Plymouth Manufacturers Group offering members the opportunity to take part in a business improvement programme employing 'Root Cause Problem Solving Methods', Alderman Tooling signed up for help. Its problem was how to move from the current configuration to manufacturing cells that would supply product more reliably and with a shorter leadtime. 

  • Robotic Press Brake Cell Will Accommodate Demand for Flexibility

    01 Jun 2005

    Fine limit sheetmetal work and laser cutting specialist Carlton Laser Services, of Leicester, is a step closer to implementing its plans to invest £1.2m in automated laser cutting and fabrication cells. 

  • Iris Specialist Sets Up New Sheet Metal Service

    01 Jun 2005

    A new sheet metal working subcontractor, Pearlfisher Engineering Ltd, has been set up on the former site of Temple Shearing and Engineering Ltd of Burgess Hill. 

  • 3D CAD/CAM Allows Flexibility and Fast Customer Response

    01 Jun 2005

    In recent years, precision sheet metalworker, Henderson Fabrications, has invested in new premises, new CNC machinery and the very latest computer technology, in the form of CAD/CAM software from Radan Computational. The company has full CAD/CAM capability, with two fully trained operators providing an origination service that offers exceptional benefits in terms of speed and accuracy. 

Stevens Rowsell is a specialist precision sheet metal engineering company in East Sussex