The Times They Are A-Changin'
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www.machinery.co.uk January 2020 OVER A CENTURY OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT January 2020 Volume 178 Number 4292 MACH 2020 Statement Getting more facility opens comfortable in Sodick Europe’s its new home new UK HQ p14 p18 MACHINERY Profi ling Two fi rms fi re up UK fi rsts p31 www.machinery.co.uk THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ THE LAST 12 MONTHS’ COVERAGE IN MACHINERY POINTS TO A DECADE OF CHANGE BREXIT unce rtainty? Let us take the worry out of the current situation for up to three years. Rent or finance a new XYZ Machine Tool with the ability to terminate the agreement and give it back after one, two or three years with NO penalty.* *Subject to status terms and conditions apply ProtoTRAK® ® ® Now with NEW XYZ ProtoTRAK XYZ ProtoTRAK XYZ 2-OP screen KMX Turret Mills RMX Bed Mills Mobile CNC touch 3 Models available. 750mm to 1,500 mm travel 4 Models available. XYZ Vertical Machining Centres 500mm to 10,000 mm travel 10 Models available. 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ALL IN UK [email protected] www.xyzmachinetools.com STOCK MACHINE TOOL DEMOS ARE AVAILABLE AT ANY OF THE XYZ UK SHOWROOMS DEVON BLACKBURN NUNEATON SHEFFIELD & LONDON NOW Quick Turn 250M VCN-430A CV5-500 V TC-760C BEST OF BRITISH MANUFACTURING In 1987 Yamazaki Mazak made a commitment to manufacturing in the UK. It is a commitment that endures to this day and continues to produce some VTC-800/30SR of the most popular and iconic machines in British industry, from QUICK TURN lathes through to the UK-designed manufactured VTC-800 series. Enjoy the Best of British with Mazak. www.mazakeu.co.uk Volume 178 Number 4292 January 2020 CONTENTS Regular sections 10 Lead feature Disruption, commodities, platforms 10 The past year has been one where the overriding theme of several of our 7 Comment feature articles, often cover stories, can be summed up as ‘not business as usual’ in the engineering manufacturing sector. News round-up Andrew Allcock contemplates this theme further, pulling out a few 8 DMG Mori/Nikon partner to examples from the year develop on-machine tech 8 Fastest 3D printing demo 14 Exhibition preview MACH’S new decade news from Formnext This year’s edition of MACH sees in a new decade characterised by 8 Renishaw/Sandvik connectivity and data. As our cover feature suggests, the coming years partnership on AM powder herald a time of great technological change for industry and society. EllerslieArt / stock.adobe.com Main image: 8 Offshore wind supply chain MACH will re ect some of that. Andrew Allcock sets the scene initiative announced 18 8 HP & AM Solutions partner 18 Supply side Making a statement on AM post-processing At more than 450 m2, Sodick Europe’s exhibition space is double that 8 AMRC Cymru opens of the Sodick brand’s usual MACH presence. The company is making a 8 Scotland National statement, having opened its new European headquarters in Coventry Manufacturing Institute last year. Andrew Allcock reports 8 Strongest robot in UK for MTC, supplied by FANUC 22 Exhibition preview There’s no business like show business 9 A&M retires wire EDM after Steed Webzell sets out the exhibits likely to catch the eye at this year’s 30,000 miles Southern Manufacturing exhibition, an established annual event in the 28 9 MACH Show Daily from manufacturing technology/services calendar Machinery/The Engineer 9 Matsuura appoints two 26 Supply side Mazak brings EMO machines to the UK spindle specialists Mazak’s December EMO Encore event at its Worcester European 9 Mazak apprentice triumphs Technology Centre gave visitors a foretaste of the company’s MACH at Worcestershire event 2020 presence. Andrew Allcock visited and has this report New products 28 Turning Growing production 9 Tool laser production Second-hand Miyanos give subcontractor leg-up to higher quality and 31 9 Lathe handles 15t start a trend; same again Nakamura-Tome tech for Scot Bennett 9 EDM for AM sector Engineering; new start-up looks to Haas to kit out production 9 NCSIMUL release 9 Tibo deep hole drilling 31 Punch, profi le, bend Premier League effort 9 Solid carbide milling Two companies demonstrate their leading-edge credentials by acquiring 9 Dugard VMCs UK technology rsts: ESP Laser Cutting with a 12 kW Bystronic laser 9 WorkNC release pro ler and GF Laser, which is applying a Trumpf TruLaser Cell 5030 9 Air gun’s 50% more puff 5-axis pro ler 9 Haas automation tech 35 35 Quality & metrology Speedy measures 48 Classifi ed section Fast cylindrical part inspection delivered by Bowers for Qualiturn; 50 This month Mitutoyo video scanner supports volume hike at Fluorocarbon Company; 25 years ago... Blum explains on-machine surface measurement; plus, industry & product news update 41 Manufacturing sector First thoughts MACH-METCUT cycle ends; MACH to shorten; economy on the up for UK fi rms; JIMTOF & IMTS developments have 21st century feel – multi-process machines and new mechanical designs; CNCs increasingly fronted by Windows MACH 2020 exhibition organiser the Manufacturing Technologies january1995 25years ago Association (MTA) offers its thoughts on the Conservative Party’s MACH 1996, then, with a growing UK economy (3.4 and 3.3% growth, 1993 and 1994), while business investment is also rising, reports exhibition organiser the Machine Tool Technologies his year we kick off with a comment that announces the fact re-election from a manufacturing industry standpoint Association (MTTA – today the Manufacturing Technologies that the alternating MACH-METCUT exhibition cycle, each one Association, MTA). Machine tool sales in 1996 are predicted to be every four years, with one or other every two years, will next T £1,165m (almost £2.3bn today; 2018’s market was £380.2m), but 45 year give way to the beginning of the biennial MACH exhibition the MTTA adds that visitor are demanding more value add from their series. This news was accompanied by yet further MACH news, that visits. the previous 10-day extravaganza would become a six-day event. Still feeling the negative industrial impact of East and West (This year’s MACH 2020 will, of course, be a ve-day concern.) Germany’s reuni cation of 1990, Wemex Watts of Nottingham, We also hail government support for the Interdisciplinary which had been the sole importer of East German machine tools, is Research Centre (IRC) at universities in Birmingham and Cardiff. The still adding replacement agencies – Gioria and Lizzini CNC grinding 42 Mould, tool & die making Trend patterns IRC’s aim is to connect government-funded research with industry- machines are the latest. Improving business conditions will see the funded research. We cite a variety of machining process-related company add more soon, its managing director reports. programmes and call on industry to continue to play its part in order Feature articles this month see us report on Japan’s machine to retain government nancial support. tool sector gleaned from the previous year’s JIMTOF exhibition. A In news, ABB robotics is merging with ABB’s paint nishing While two Italian injection mould specialists declare their CADCAM recovering home market is now adding to existing US demand, the interests to form ABB Flexible Automation, producing a billion-dollar latter having kept the sector a oat for the past four years. The operation. The UK’s 600 Group is reporting a return to the black, as country has its sights set on technically advanced, complex business conditions improve. At its Loughborough-based 600 Centre machines as its future trajectory, we report. Notable was Amada’s operation, which has recently seen the integration of Selson Espacio sheet metalworking centre that combined laser shearing preferences, a UK automotive manufacturer reveals the gains achieved Machine Tool Co and Sykes Manufacturing Technologies, plus a and cutting, plus punching, bending, welding and nish grinding. It £1m refurbishment programme, the boast is that the facility offers looked like a UFO, with its 6 m diameter 4.5 m high dome-like the widest array of new machine tools and production equipment in enclosure. It was a forward-looking, 21st century design for the UK. We report that another Open House also had a wide range of technology on show. Bridgeport’s Romsey, Hants unmanned sheet metal processing. Matsuura also brought together by 3D printing its tooling. Steed Webzell has more event included EDM from Sodi-Tech, cutting tools from multiple processes in a single machine, this time for metalcutting, Seco plus CNC and probe kit from Heidenhain. with its Ternary. Milling, grinding and polishing of hard materials was Elsewhere, Hitach Seiki UK is celebrating a record the target there. order book, while Pullmax reports a strong order book. Another 21st century possibility of the time was the developing Another re ection of improving conditions more widely hexapod machine tool technology – these have six legs and position is tool grinding expert ANCA’s report that sales grew a vertical spindle (held on a platform that might have two rotary PA/Neal Simpson/EMPICS Sport Simpson/EMPICS PA/Neal 40% during the past two nancial years (July-Jun), axes) by lengthening and shortening these under increasingly▼ with the company planning to double powerful CNC.