Steve Fossett
becomes rst
person to make a
solo balloon ight
across Paci c
51
Manufacturing misses out; investment support; punch press tooling maker
automates; EDM agency news; Hydrafeed bar feeder success; Fastems created;
Deckel-Maho-Gildemeister story continues; Europe’s open CNC project
february1995
Our rst issue this month sees us bemoan the manufacturing
sector’s failure to put in a showing at an event where the
previous November’s Budget could have been challenged
through a well-presented argument that Treasury Minister Anthony
Nelson would have heard in person. The construction sector did
turn up at the Manufacturing and Construction Industries Alliance
meeting, a group fronted by Nicholas Winterton, MP.
In our second issue, Bank of England Governor Eddie George
advises industry to avoid talking itself into exaggerated gloom. He
was speaking at the Machine Tool Technologies Association’s
(MTTA) annual dinner. But a week later, Base Rate was lifted by
0.5%, to 6.75%, the third consecutive rise. MTTA president Stan
Vaughan advised Governor George that “investment in productive
high technology and the people to use it effectively are not an
optional extra for a leading industrial nation”. We say that when
talking about tax distortions in relation to investment tax support,
as George did, other countries’ investment practices shouldn’t be
ignored, as they put us at a competitive disadvantage.
In news, punch press tooling maker Rydal Precision has
invested in automation to support next-day delivery of punches (the
Swanley, Kent-based company continues today). The International
Gearing Conference has been staged at The University of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with 89 papers presented. And an Industry
4.0-ish theme of applying neural networks to monitor gear quality
during processing was one of the areas
discussed.
In the EDM area, Eurospark has had its rst
Open House since commencing operations at the
end of 1993. It offers its own ES range, is a
Hurco, Hardinge and Sodick agent, and offers
technical support (the Leicester rm continues
today). Staying with EDM, the 1950s’ Sparcatron
brand continues through the Sparcatron
company, which bought Hurco Europe’s EDM business in mid-
1994. The company is the of cial spares and service provider for
Agemaspark, Hurco and British-built Eurospark machines.
Elsewhere, Hydrafeed is reporting its largest ever order for
Multifeed short bar magazine loader. With more than 160 sold
during 2019, the rm is to expand its Milton Keynes base.
On the international scene, Finnish rm Fastems has been
established, taking in the products and services previously handled
by Valmet Transmec. It will provide inter-machine automation, as
well as special and standard machine tools. It subsequently set up
a UK base, in Dartford, Kent, and today specialises in machine tool
-related parts handling automation. An interview with German
machine tool maker Gildemeister AG’s chairman, Axel Kemna,
reveals the current Deckel-Maho-Gildemeister situation, which has
seen Gildemeister AG bring the two other companies together as of
August 1994, but which were already within Gildemeister AG as
separate rms – all three brands had been sold through Deckel
Maho Gildemeister (DMG) Vertriebs since January 1994. Today,
DMG Mori incorporates all these brands and more.
We have news also of a European research project that aims to
develop an open CNC architecture. Called OSACA, it seeks to allow
both realtime and non-realtime software modules to be ‘plugged
into’ a system, regardless of CNC hardware supplier. A complete
platform is scheduled for demonstration in spring 1996.
Feature articles this month cover: a British designed and built
CMM; laser pro ling beam control developments and their
importance; how installation of a £500,000 fabrication centre
shielded its owner from recession; a £2.5m exible manufacturing
system for large pump housing machining at Weir Pumps;
toolchanger design innovation at Bridgeport Machines; plus a
fourth-generation machine tool building, rebuilding and agency
representation success story at Binns & Berry (but which
subsequently failed at the turn of the century).
▼ ▼
Key Events
feb 95
UK’s oldest investment
banking rm, Barings
Bank, collapses on
back of rogue trader
Nick Leeson’s
investments
▼ ▼
Arsenal manager
George Graham
sacked for taking
illegal payments
from an agent in
1992
▼
DPA DEUTSCHE PRESS-AGENTUR/DPA/PA Images
New domestic
electrical appliances
must be supplied
with fused,
pre-wired plugs
25years ago
Manufacturing’s
biggest rise in employment
since
Conservatives
came to power
16 years earlier
Fred Perry,
Wimbeldon
Tennis
champion,
dies
PA
Nicky Rhodes/stock.adobe.com
Titanium Machining to Perfection
MonsterMill TCR – ensuring service life
and process reliability
PA
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