Qimtek

The huge growth in fish farming in recent years is proving good news for a small precision engineering company based near Spalding.

A one-off job a decade and a half ago has turned into a major stream of business for Channing Engineering, which employs eight people at its workshop in the village of Pinchbeck.

Alken Engineering has gone full CNC with the installation of an XYZ Linear Rail machining centre to take on a difficult stainless steel machining project for King Arthur’s castle at Tintagel.

The company is a long-term user of XYZ Machine Tools’ ProtoTRAK mills, being an ‘early adopter, when the ProtoTRAK control was introduced to the UK in 1993. It now has 10 XYZ ProtoTRAK mills and three XYZ ProTURN lathes on its capacity list, but for many years resisted purchasing any XYZ ‘full CNC’ machines.

Investment in production control software is key to Bromsgrove-based Davturn's turned parts operation.

Additive manufacturing and prototyping specialist Pro2Pro has invested in a turnkey 3D printing and de-powdering system that will allow it to turn round large batches in the shortest possible time.

The HP 4200 Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer and a Dyemansion Powershot C automatic de-powdering system were supplied by UK Channel partner Europac3D.

The HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 3D printer has significant advantages over its competitors with the ability to produce a 380 x 380 x 284mm build volume of parts in 12 hours.

Getting a good deal means much more than simply going for the cheapest option, says tool supplier Zoro.

There are myriad reasons why businesses choose one supplier over another. Cost, range, service, lead-in times. If the suppliers you have your eye on tick all the boxes, how do you choose who to do business with?

Ensuring your team get the best value and service are rightly top priorities, so here are some pointers when looking for an equipment supplier.

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Halesowen-based Erodex UK Limited, which supplies EDM graphite and tooling to the aerospace market, has been listed on the Sunday Times WorldFirst SME Export Track 100.

Erodex UK provides a vast range of EDM supplies such as EDM wire and wear parts, as well as graphites, graphite machining and more.

The company came in at number 86 in the fifth annual Sunday Times WorldFirst SME Export Track 100, a league table which ranks Britain’s private SMEs with the fastest-growing international sales.

Miles Platts, which designs and manufactures precision technical mouldings, uses automated inspection to ensure quality and production efficiency on 8 million units per month.

Bindatex, which provides composite precision slitting services, is celebrating 10 years of partnership and delivering 50 tonnes of multiaxial fabrics to a global composites reinforcement manufacturer.

The specialist slitting service enables the manufacturer to supply its customers with material in a wide variety of widths.

The Advanced Engineering exhibition is on the lookout for start-ups to showcase their inventions as part of its innovation zone.

The Enabling Innovation Zone will support smaller enterprises that want to accelerate their innovations into the advanced manufacturing and technology industries.

The Elesa ELECOLOR® program offers corporate compatibility for machine tools and other OEM machinery. For example - Top Automazioni, a mechanical company based in Poggio Torriana (Rimini – Italy), is today the most innovative company in Italy in the production of bar feeders. To assist them in maintaining this leadership Top Automazioni have chosen a selection of Elesa standard components with yellow inserts to represent its corporate colour, as well as to improve the aesthetics of its range of machines.

Elements Technology has won the first ever Subcon Launchpad Award, which was presented at the show today by Subcon event director Gordon Kirk and The Engineer editor Jon Excell.

Subcon is the UK's premier subcontract manufacturing event, and this year saw the debut of the Subcon Launchpad and Launchpad Award which are designed to give manufacturing and engineering-based start-ups a platform to share their innovations.

The EMKA range of stainless steel quarter-turn catches now includes their new Program 1000 System incorporating a sealed cover. This is especially valuable for railway applications or other situations where a floor mounted latch is required and there is a need to exclude the infiltration of dirt and moisture into the latch mechanism.