Key Events
50
MACH-METCUT cycle ends; MACH shortens; economy on the up for UK fi rms; JIMTOF
& IMTS developments have 21st century feel – multi-process machines & new
mechanical designs; CNCs increasingly fronted by Windows
january1995
The MACH-METCUT exhibition cycle, each one every four years,
with one or other every two years, will in 1996 give way to the
beginning of the biennial MACH exhibition series. But the
previous 10-day extravaganza is to become a six-day event. (MACH
2020 will, of course, be a ve-day concern.)
We also hail government support for the Interdisciplinary
Research Centre (IRC) at universities in Birmingham and Cardiff.
The IRC’s aim is to connect government-funded research with
industry-funded research. We cite a variety of machining processrelated
programmes and call on industry to continue to play its part
in order to retain government nancial support.
In news, ABB robotics is merging with ABB’s paint nishing
interests to form ABB Flexible Automation, producing a billion-dollar
operation. The UK’s 600 Group is reporting a return to the black, as
business conditions improve. At its Loughborough-based 600 Centre
operation, which has recently seen the integration of Selson
Machine Tool Co and Sykes Manufacturing Technologies, plus a
£1m refurbishment programme, the boast is that the facility offers
the widest array of new machine tools and production equipment in
the UK. We report that another Open House also had a wide range
of technology on show. Bridgeport’s Romsey, Hants event included
EDM from Sodick, cutting tools from Seco plus CNC and probe kit
from Heidenhain. Elsewhere, Hitach Seiki UK is
celebrating a record order book, while Pullmax similarly
reports a strong one. Another re ection of improving
conditions more widely is Australia’s tool grinding
expert ANCA, which reports that sales grew 40%
during its past two nancial years (July-Jun), with a
doubling of production capacity planned for 1995.
Economic omens are looking good for MACH
1996, with a growing UK economy (3.4 and
3.3% growth, 1993 and 1994), while
Machine tool sales in 1996 are predicted to be £1,165m (almost
£2.3bn today; 2018’s market was £380.2m).
Still feeling the negative industrial impact of East and West
Germany’s reuni cation of 1990, Wemex Watts of Nottingham,
which had been the sole importer of East German machine tools,
is still adding replacement agencies. Improving business conditions
will see the company add more soon, its managing director reports.
Feature articles this month see us report on Japan’s machine
tool sector. A recovering home market is now adding to existing US
demand, the latter having kept the sector a oat for the past four
years. The country has its sights set on technically advanced,
complex machines. Notable at JIMTOF the previous year was
Amada’s Espacio sheet metalworking centre that combined laser
shearing and cutting, plus punching, bending, welding and nish
grinding. It looked like a UFO, with its 6 m diameter 4.5 m high
dome-like enclosure. It was a forward-looking, 21st century design for
unmanned sheet metal processing. Matsuura also brought together
multiple processes in a single machine, this time for metalcutting,
with its Ternary for milling, grinding and polishing hard materials
Another 21st century technology were hexapod machine tools.
With six contracting-lengthening legs that position a vertical spindle
(held on a platform that might have two rotary axes), they were seen
as the future for 5-axis machining. In evidence at the previous year’s
IMTS exhibition in Chicago, we carry an in-depth interview with one
US proponent, Giddings & Lewis, about the technology and its
bene ts. We also have an article about UK rm Geodetic Technology
International, owned and run by entrepreneur Ghassan Matar. It is
not much interested in building machines but rather in developing
patentable technology that others will license for theirs, however.
Another technology trend is the increasing use of Windowsfronted
CNC units that allow standard programs to be run, as well as
supporting interface con gurability. The 21st century looks like it will
▼
jan 95
Man U’s Eric
Cantona
attacks fan,
is ned &
banned
▼ ▼
PA
PA
be an exciting place.
British football
transfer fee
record: Man
U sign Andy
Cole, £7m
somartin /stock.adobe.com
PA/Neal Simpson/EMPICS Sport
▼
‘Yahoo.com’
domain registered
25years ago
business investment is also rising.
Austria, Finland &
Sweden join European Union
PAPA
Larry
Grayson,
comedian,
dies at 71
▼
O.J. Simpson
murder trial
begins in
America
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