♦  Emerson Process Management has appointed Paul Smith as general manager for the UK and Ireland. Smith, previously European business manager for Rockwell Automation’s MPS group, takes over from Mark Dutton, who has been appointed vice-president and general manager of Emerson’s Daniel Measurement and Control division in Europe.

♦  The Inverter Drive Supermarket, an online distributor of AC and DC drives previously based in Shrewsbury, is moving to new premises in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, with more office and warehousing space. The company – which supplies drives from Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Parker SSD, ABB, Marelli and TEC – was set up in 2006 by Colin Gibson, who previously worked for SSD.

♦  RS Components has created 100 jobs at its Nuneaton warehouse, which is the European centre for its distribution network. The new jobs cover both technical and operational staff, in junior and senior roles. The warehouse aims to receive, process, pick, pack and dispatch orders in less than two hours.

♦  The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Association of Cost Engineers (ACostE) and have signed a collaboration agreement, which will result in the formation of an online home for project control engineers. The new technical and professional network is seen as a step towards developing wider programmes that will, for example, respond to consultations with Government and professional registration globally.