A business-led economic recovery in the UK risks being undermined unless the Government moves rapidly to increase competition in banking, the manufacturers’ organisation, EEF, has warned.
JPT Mechanical Drives – the company formed after HMK Automation rescued Jackson Power Transmission from administration last year – has moved from Stoke-on-Trent to new 465m2 premises in Congleton.
The Bournemouth-based geared-motor manufacturer Parvalux has invested £1m in a new production facility and added a further 20,000ft2 (1,858m2) to its existing 45,000ft2 (4,180m2) manufacturing site. The expansion houses a CNC facility including precision gear-cutting machines.
The UK’s largest water utility, Thames Water, is looking to invest up to €60m on control and automation systems and services under a new framework agreement. The utility says it expects to spend €25–60m during the 84 months of the agreement.
UK manufacturing had its strongest month for more than two years in June, as recorded by the monthly Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) which gauges the state of manufacturing.
The British Government has joined forces with a group of trade bodies in a bid to boost to the size of the UK’s electronic systems sector by 55% and to build a £120bn industry within seven years. If the plan is realised, it will create an extra 150,000 skilled jobs across the UK.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a scheme which aims to produce an extra 100,000 engineering technicians in the UK by 2018.
Production levels among UK manufacturers were flat in the three months to June, disappointing expectations of stronger growth, according to the latest monthly industrial trends survey from the CBI, the organisation that represents British industry.
The organisers of the UK's long-running Southern Manufacturing & Electronics Show have launched a similar event for the North of England. The two-day Northern Manufacturing & Electronics Show will be held for the first time at Manchester’s Event City on 2–3 October, 2013.
The Cambridgeshire-based encoder and sensor manufacturer Zettlex has expanded its production facilities to meet increasing demand from export markets for its precision speed and position sensors. The new 560m2 premises is located next to Zettlex’s existing site in Newton, Cambridgeshire.
The linear motion specialist HepcoMotion has set up a separate factory to manufacture its MCS aluminium frame and machine construction system. It says that it needs the new facility, located next to its main production site for linear motion products in Tiverton, Devon, to keep up with demand for the MCS range from the UK and abroad.
Bosch Rexroth is entering the market for off-the-shelf variable frequency drives for the first time in the UK, with a range of general-purpose drives with initial ratings from 370W–4kW. Until now, the company has specialised in supplying tailored drive systems.
ABB is buying the Leicestershire-based engineering services firm Dynamotive to expand its service offering in low- and medium-voltage drives and motors. The sale terms have not been released.
Britain’s largest producer of hybrid electric vans has developed its own range of axial-flux permanent magnet motors and has started to manufacture them after finding that those on the market did not meet its needs.
Alastair Johnstone has been appointed managing director of Bosch Rexroth in the UK, following the promotion last year of Steve Cooke to a senior position in Germany.
