￡88m of funding for 46 UK projects; plus WEG buys Turkish motor-maker for $88m
Drives & Controls
The UK's leading magazine for automation, motion engineering and power transmission
Signals from the UK manufacturing sector continue to be conflicting. As we reported recently, the UK Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) hit a 26-month high in August with output, orders and employment all looking positive. But now, Make UK’s quarterly Manufacturing Outlook Survey for Q3 shows output turning negative for the first time in four years, the domestic market contracting (while exports prosper) and a downturn in recruitment for the first time in a year. The survey of 307 companies, conducted with BDO, reveals a manufacturing sector that is “anaemic at best”. However, UK manufacturers remain confident, with 58% believing that the recent change in government will lead to better economic growth in the coming 12 months (just 6% disagree). Make UK now predicts that UK manufacturing will expand by just 0.5% this year (down from the 1.2% it was predicting last quarter – which it attributes to changes in ONS stats on which the predictions are based). The organisation expects manufacturing to expand by 0.8% in 2025, with the overall UK economy improving by 1.8% (an upgrade from its previous forecast of 0.8%). It’s all very confusing.
The Brazilian motor manufacturer WEG is buying the Turkish motor-maker Volt Electric Motors for $88m. Volt, a subsidiary of the Saya Group, is a vertically integrated company with the capacity to produce 1 million motors per year.
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Advanced electric motor and inverter technologies are set to benefit from ￡88m of joint funding that the UK government has announced for 46 projects designed to boost zero-emission vehicle technologies, create thousands of skilled green jobs, and deliver long-term growth for the UK economy.
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Designing to meet today’s smart manufacturing needs can yield complex systems that are difficult to operate and support. What if there was a way to simplify your machine designs while making them more flexible and easier to use? By using On-Machine? solutions by Rockwell Automation, all this and more is now possible. The On-Machine? solutions feature a modular, decentralized design that allows automation components to be field-mounted rather than kept in large electrical enclosures. This approach enables more simplified, modular machines with a smaller footprint, lower total costs, and faster time to operation, helping industries enhance productivity, quality, and sustainability.”
The engineering plastics specialist Igus is looking for new UK headquarters about twice the size of its existing site in Northampton, which it has outgrown. The company wants to stay in the area but hasn’t decided whether to move to existing premises, which it could do in about a year, or to construct its own dedicated premises, which would take longer.
Schneider Electric is investing ￡42m to build a new manufacturing facility in Scarborough, North Yorkshire to meet the demand for electrical equipment needed to drive the UK’s move to cleaner energy, including renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and intelligent, energy-efficient buildings. The project is expected to create more than 200 jobs.
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For automation applications where standard specification stepper motors are just not up to the job, the ZSH harsh industrial series from Phytron GmbH is aimed at the toughest conditions. Available exclusively in the UK from Mclennan, proven applications include maritime and chemical industries, oil and gas, agricultural and construction machinery, biogas and energy production. Phytron’s expertise also extends to motors and actuators for operation in vacuum and cryogenic tasks, and space qualified motors.
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EXCLUSIVE: At the SPS show in Germany in November, UK-based Trio Motion Technology will be unveiling a machine controller designed to control up to 128 servodrive and robot axes via high-speed EtherCat. The Flex-7 flexible machine controller coordinates high-axis counts precisely, while optimising control and integration with wider automation systems. It aimed at large manufacturing, packaging and material-handling applications.
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?ABB Robotics is collaborating with the Canadian cloud-based robotics developer Vention to bring cobot (collaborative robot) automation to more small and medium sized manufacturers. ABB’s GoFa cobots are now compatible with Vention’s Manufacturing Automation Platform (Map), including its MachineBuilder (design), MachineLogic (robot programming), MachineAnalytics (operations monitoring and data) and Remote Support applications.
An Italian automation company has announced a platform that simplifies communications between more than 100 protocols used in industrial and building automation systems. Milan-based Hysco says that its gateway supports most of the common protocols used in control applications, including Modbus, BACnet and MQTT, as well as radio protocols such as LoRaWan and Sigfox.
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The UK’s leading event for engineering and innovation is just round the corner! The Engineering Design Show 2024 is happening October 9-10 at the Coventry Building Society Arena. This two-day event will showcase cutting edge technology, expert led workshops and conferences, and over 200 exhibitors offering the latest engineering solutions. Whether you’re a design engineer, manufacturer, or industry enthusiast, this is your opportunity to connect, learn and grow. FREE entry, FREE parking and hours of FREE content at the UK’s BIGGEST design event!
Schneider Electric has announced a high-speed scara robot that it claims has a 40% smaller footprint, but a 40% longer z-arm stroke, than others in the same category. The Lexium Scara robot is aimed at repetitive tasks such as machine loading and unloading, pick-and-place, packaging and materials-handling.