CONTENTS
Volume 177 Number 4290 November 2019
10 Lead feature Architects of innovation
It seems to be an increasingly frequent occurrence that well-established
industries are being disrupted by newcomers entering from other elds,
most usually from the tech sector or other online businesses, but
architecture? Andrew Allcock has more
14 EMO review The broad sweep
Impossible as it is to cover all EMO developments in full, a review of two
major machine tool makers gives the avour of developments in a
number of areas. Andrew Allcock reports
22 Industry 4.0 & automation Connecting the dots
With the biennial EMO manufacturing technology show having recently
closed its door, Andrew Allcock has news of some relevant
developments that were on show
26 Supply side Doosan tech on show
Andrew Allcock visited Mills CNC’s recent Open House event, which
focused completely on Doosan technology. New multi-tasking turning
centres, large-capacity machining centres, turning centre-based gear
manufacture, cobots and automation were key elements
28 Supply side Game-changing record
Andrew Allcock explains how Swedish machine tool builder Modig
Machine Tools has become a global leader in high speed machining of
aerospace parts, revealing its latest world-beating efforts
34 Supply side Product, service & facility expansion
Having opened its new facility on the Telford 54 Business Park just four
years ago, Filtermist’s 50th anniversary year has seen it add 30,000 ft2
to its footprint in that locality in the form of a distribution centre. Andrew
Allcock was at the of cial opening event in October
36 Energy sector Bundles of energy
Steed Webzell reviews the latest installations and process
developments in the energy sector, discovering a common theme of
component complexity that demands carefully selected investment
40 Turning Machinists give it a whirl
A urry of investments and developments in the turning technology
segment have prompted Steed Webzell to seek out the inside track
45 Waterjet profi ling High water marks
Safety equipment specialist chooses Omax; lm set expert installs
Techni machine; motorsport team taps into Flow technology. Steed
Webzell has the details
49
EDM & ECM Cooking up an electrical storm
Aerospace subcontractor opts for Sodick; mould shop installs
Mitsubishi; automotive specialist prefers ONA. Steed Webzell reports
53
Workholding Grasping the benefi ts
Aerospace specialist chooses Lang vices; plastics expert invests in
Chick indexing sub-system; subcontractor opts for Big Kaiser tool
chucks; plus more. Steed Webzell has the details
Regular sections
7 Comment
News round-up
8 Additive manufacturing
initiatives in Germany, USA
Sweden and the UK
8 Shef eld City Region
investment concerns
8 Industrial 5G research
8 Filtermist rationalises
operational structure
8 Protolabs to invest in
50,000 ft2 expansion
9 Mills CNC Open House
scores orders
9 Hurco Europe new location
of cially opens
9 XYZ Machine Tools says
EMO targets achieved
9 Yamazaki Mazak reports
EMO success
9 MTC free event offers
productivity-boosting advice
9 Appointments at: Kyal
Machine Tools & Bowers Group
New products
9 Bed-mill has Dynapath CNC
9 Twin-turret, twin-spindle
mill-turns from Mills CNC
9 Haas lathe auto-loader
9 Robot programming s/ware
9 Radical end-mill design
9 Insert milling system
9 Robot autoloader
9 Laser pro ling CAM
9 Magnetic coolant lter
9 Haas UMC pallet pool
73 Classifi ed section
75 This month
25 years ago...
10
22
36
45
due to the UK’s lack of a big enough industry.
Some four years after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the
industrial rami cations are made even more clear as Traub becomes
Traub-Heckert. Heckert was one of East Germany’s metalcutting
jewels, was home to the German Democratic Republic’s machine tool
research institute and also pioneered exible manufacturing systems
in Europe. The Heckert operation has maintained its Chemnitz base.
In fact, Traub’s Reichenbach site is full to capacity, so it’s a
necessity. The broader offer is welcomed by the UK operation.
Staying with Germany and Walter has announced its radical new
tool grinding machine concept, the 5-axis Helitronic Power CNC. The
company says it heralds a new era in the manufacture and regrinding
of cutting tools. The Helitronic brand continues today, of course.
In Spain, following our visit to the countries BIEMH machine tool
show, the predicament of the industry is clear. Production has fallen
20% year on year and industrial reorganisation is underway. It is the
state of the national economy that is driving this downturn; exports
are actually on the up. In a sign of the times, machines at the show
were proudly heralding their compliance with the European Safety
Directive. As of 1 January 1995, only CE-marked machines can be
placed on the market on Europe.
▼
Key Events
BBC1 broadcasts
rst episode of
The Vicar of
Dibley starring
Dawn French
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49
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www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets November 2019 5
Image: main, Andrew Allcock; background, Automata Technologies
In the UK, as in other industrialised Western countries, the loss of
industrial jobs (‘real’ jobs we call them) is a trend. Ironically, it is
manufacturing technology of the sort that Machinery writes about
that is in part responsible. Yet the only way to sustain high paying
industrial jobs is for companies to invest, as the CBI sets out at an
event where it underlines the UK’s underinvestment. In fact, the
country has a performance gap with major competitors of 20-40%
across various measures, the CBI adds. Further, our workforce also
has low levels of skill, education and training. So, seven organisations
including the CBI have penned a letter to the Chancellor prior to
November’s budget asking for investment-supporting action. If the call
is successful, we suggest that the UK’s manufacturing sector could
expand, creating those high-paying jobs that are on the wane.
(Manufacturing is 17% of the economy in 1994.)
In our second comment of the month, we note that UK
automotive component suppliers are languishing at the bottom of
the European league for productivity and quality. Two studies say so,
one UK and one German. One of the problems, says the UK study, is
low production volumes due to the presence of many different car
makers. It creates a fragmented industry with too many standards, it
adds. But there is a solution. Japanese manufacturers have shown
that high performance is possible, but this is not travelling down the
supply chain. There are efforts, but they must be
expanded, if lower tier suppliers are to improve
and survive, we say. (In 1994, there was
something like a £3bn de cit in trade in engines
and parts; in 2017 it was over £6bn.)
In news, we celebrate the UK’s British Gear
Association’s record in winning government
backing for research. It has won funding to
support four projects, we report, but
matching industrial support is missing in
And in the USA, the International Machine Tool Show has just
concluded. We report on developments that include ceramic
slideways and several hexapod-style machine tools that see a milling
spindle manipulated by six extending contracting legs. The inclusion
of standard PC elements within CNC units is another trend.
Feature articles this month take in: David Brown’s just-in-time
factory built to deliver a $50m order for tractor transaxles for an
American customer; revolutionary CMM software from Eley
Metrology; after-sales service; Kitagawa Europe’s UK chuck
manufacturing facility in Salisbury; low-cost aerospace imports
threaten UK suppliers; exible automation; sheet metal punching at
75
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▼PA
25this month
years ago
’Real’ jobs lose and win through investment; UK car parts makers need to shape up;
UK gear association wins government support for research; fall of Berlin Wall ripples
visible in UK; Spains in trouble; machines on stilts, and more
november 1994
nov 94
PA
PA
PA
the production technology area, we lament,
FG Wilson; and high speed prismatic machining.
Swedish population votes in
favour of accession to the EU
George Foreman,
45, becomes boxing’s
oldest heavyweight
champion, knocks out
Michael Moorer
First UK
National
Lottery
draw
Norway
referendum
rejects accession
to the EU
Amazon.com domain
was registered
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PAPAPA
Sunfl ower/stock.adobe.com
pavlofox /stock.adobe.com
KEITH MAYHEW / Alamy Stock Photo
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