Machine Building

Mitsubishi controls helps Sadler's Ales boost production

The perfect beer is a harmonious blend of art and science. Automation can help by performing the measured and repetitive tasks while allowing brewers to focus on more creative, interesting and rewarding aspects. When Sadler's Ales, a historic Black Country brewery, started to grow its business, it decided to adopt an automated process control system from Mitsubishi Electric to improve productivity and make the quality of its craft beers more consistent.

5th February 2019

SKF's Windlub centralised lubrication system is on 100+ turbines

SKF's Windlub centralised lubrication system for wind turbines is supporting Italy's leading wind energy operator roll out a fully automated lubrication programme on more than 100 wind turbines across seven countries.

1st February 2019

Phytron stepper motors, precision gear units used in Mars lander

For a small number of motion control applications, project success is only confirmed long after delivery - so no compromise whatsoever can be tolerated with design integrity, manufacturing quality and reliability. This is especially true for many projects undertaken by Phytron GmbH, the extreme environment motor, drive and motion systems designer and manufacturer, represented in the UK by Mclennan.

31st January 2019

Sika improves productivity with compressed air & nitrogen system

Sika Limited has virtually halved its batch transfer time after installing a centralised and remotely monitored compressed air and nitrogen system from Atlas Copco. The system, which was installed, and is being serviced, by Atlas Copco subsidiary Compressor Engineering, is proving essential in the safe and efficient production procedures at the company's manufacturing facility in Preston, UK. Furthermore, it has allowed full centralisation between adjacent plant installations and provided capacity for expansion.

31st January 2019

Freight logistics look for replicable material flow systems

When the new cargo terminal starts operating at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in early 2018, Finnair, Finland's largest carrier and one of the leading airlines in Europe-Asia traffic, will be expanding its role as an air cargo carrier in the Nordic region. Finnair has decisively chartered a course to this end by investing in 19 Airbus A350 aircraft, 11 of which have already been delivered. The investments on the ground and in the air are laying the groundwork for the expansion of passenger and freight business, in particular for European and inter-continental destinations. The complete material flow is being provided by Lödige Systems GmbH, Warburg, and the drive technology by Lenze.

29th January 2019

Subcontract engineering company adopts PSL Datatrack

"We find that PSL Datatrack is much more than just an IT software service provider. As they deal with so many businesses they are able to offer advice on practical solutions for the day-to-day running of Empire Manufacturing." That's the verdict of Director Stuart Wade, whose precision subcontract engineering company has now been using the production control software system across two generations of the family business.

25th January 2019

SMT production line uses RFID to identify PCBs and reduce errors

An RFID system in which PCBs communicate with their SMT production line and contain all the relevant manufacturing data has been developed by Harting. Based on the company's RFID-4-SMT auto-ID product, the new system cuts error rates, radically simplifies documentation requirements and forms the basis for automated PCB production in a batch size of 1.

24th January 2019

How sensing technologies are helping UK wine growers

Behind the rise and rise of English wine, British engineers and technologists are busy developing new systems and aids for the vine growing industry. Tony Ingham of Sensor Technology Ltd tells his part of this astonishing success story.

22nd January 2019

Custom-designed flexible cables designed into nanosatellite

Intelliconnect have had a number of custom-designed, flexible cables successfully launched into space as part of VESTA-1, a 3U nanosatellite technology demonstration mission. VESTA-1 was manufactured for Honeywell under funding from the UK Space Agency.

22nd January 2019

NSK solves conveyor failure issues at drinks plant

By changing to NSK Molded-Oil mounted-unit inserts, an international drinks producer has overcome repeated problems of premature insert failures on the drive system of four vital sorting conveyors. The move has improved service life notably, leading to an annual saving of more than EUR5000.

18th January 2019