Industrial subcontracting

Heat transfer specialist, Fulton Ltd, will be moving to a new 43,000 sq ft headquarters in Bristol next month which it says will enable it to introduce state of the art manufacturing processes.

British manufacturing SME confidence has hit a 12 month high, with 64% of companies expecting to increase sales over the next six months, according to the latest Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) Barometer.

MARKOS (Slupsk, Poland) reports that it is building another production facility. The decision to do so resulted from an analysis of trends in the global composites market and was a response to growing customer needs for large-size laminate products.

These figures are from Maxiquim, a consulting firm hired by the Latin American Composite Materials Association (ALMACO). Recovery in the markets of trucks, buses, tractors and road equipment drove sales, as well as the wind energy industry.

Specialty chemicals company Lanxess elaborated on its plans to build a red iron oxide pigment plant in Ningbo, at a news conference just before Chinaplas.

The company will invest 55 million euros (US$70.6 million) in the plant, which will have annual capacity of 25,000 metric tons. Construction will start in the second quarter, and the plant will employ 150.

A company that has developed a technology it says can lengthen the lifespan of LEDs by up to four times at no extra cost is to invest over £500k into a prototype manufacturing plant in Cambridge.

There are significant business benefits to be gained by managing product costs effectively, and yet many manufacturers still struggle to implement programmes that achieve this – writes Myles Peyton, Northern Europe managing director, aPriori.

Before the auto slowdown that saw two carmakers file for bankruptcy, the North American auto industry launched about 40 all-new vehicle models each year.

This year, it will introduce 74. And for the next five years, auto industry watchers expect about 70 new vehicles each year — not just refreshed models, auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers told members of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers during a May 14 meeting in Mississauga — but all new models.

India has sought academic collaboration with various US institutions to leverage the full potential of the  education sector to meet the increasing needs of both the countries, particularly in the fields of information and technology.

In a PlasticsEurope Deutschland briefing last month, the organization's new president Josef Ertl – who is also managing director of Vinnolit – revealed that both production volume and turnover have dropped for German plastic material producers.

After increasing in 2011, volumes fell 3.6 percent to 19.5 million tonnes and turnover dropped 0.8 percent to 25.1 billion euros in 2012.

The maker of Romi and Sandretto machines is in the process of closing its manufacturing plants in Italy and focusing all of its manufacturing in Brazil.

The company, Indústrias Romi SA, is exhibiting new products at the Feiplastic trade show this week in São Paulo.

Professor Hongbiao Dong, from the Department of Engineering, will give a free public lecture entitled ‘How Metal Works – Let me Compute the Ways’ at the University of Leicester on Tuesday 21 May.

The lecture will explain, through case studies, how to develop models for metal processing and how these can be used to simulate metal processing.

Global EMS provider, Season Group, has announced its acquisition of the UK’s Outsource Electronics Ltd (OEL) in a deal that is expected to be concluded in June.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday at a meeting with Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Prokopovich that Serbia is interested in increasing the bilateral trade and joint investments.

Joint investments are possible in the metal processing and engineering industries, agriculture, transport, construction, the prime minister said, and the Serbian government announced.

American extrusion and converting technology systems manufacturer Davis-Standard LLC is eying Asia and specifically China as its new second home, in a drive to become a more global company.

Auxiliary equipment producer Conair Group, which has sold and serviced machinery in Brazil since 1976 but has no local manufacturing or sales presence, is eyeing Brazilian expansion that could include more service technicians, and a new office with sales staff.

Amongst the 17 machines on show at the recent Mazak Open House event (May 14/15), two highlights were the Integrex e-670 H II multi-tasking machining (pictured) centre and the Optiplex 3015 4 kW CO2 2D laser profiling machine.

Potential opportunities for electronics manufacturing service (EMS) providers is set to increase gradually over the next few years, according to Frost & Sullivan’s new analysis.

Norco have been supplying Glass Reinforced plastic components and tooling services for over 27 years, up until the opening of the new composites centre this diversification of projects and technologies had been spread across the 4 separate work centres totalling 85,000sqft.

Chemical etching specialist Precision Micro has been working with Vestatec Automotive Engineering to bring a number of new interior design possibilities to prestige car manufacturers.

The Conferderation for British Industry (CBI), says in its latest economic forecast that the UK economy will continue to grow this year along with the strength of exports.