Front End I News
Anglia strengthens HMI switch offering with EAO relationship
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nglia is significantly strengthening its offering of solutions for the HMI (Human Machine Interface) following its appointment as distributor by Swiss owned EAO, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality switches, keyboards and other control elements. Anglia will be stocking the most popular EAO switch and indicator families in its UK warehouse, and offering them through Anglia Live. Products covered include panel indicators, robust industrial switches, emergency stop buttons, panel mount switches, keylock switches, panel mount buzzers, vandal resistant switches, indicators and selector switches. Many can be specified to incorporate illumination, legends and other customisation options, and these are fully available to customers within the relationship. David Pearson, technical director of Anglia, said: “EAO has a heritage in the transportation industry, which demands
solutions that are high quality, suitable for high levels of repeated use, completely safe and reliable. These are also characteristics sought by many of our industrial and machinery customers, and we are anticipating a great fit in many applications. The HMI is a key design area for many of our customers, and we look forward to working with them to create solutions that are innovative, intuitive and reliable.” Alex Grout, managing director of EAO Ltd, added: “Anglia has an extremely strong design team, and has a culture of selling a solution rather than a product. They share our passion for and fascination with creating solutions that address the needs of the people using the system, support the functions of the machine and respond to the requirements of the environment. We believe that we have a strong partnership that will work together for the benefit of the customer.”
www.anglia.com
Subcontract manufacturing proves resilient Looking at the figures on a process-by-
fter a slack final quarter in 2017, the subcontract manufacturing market seems to be shrugging off
concerns about Brexit
The value of the UK contract and subcontract market rose by nearly 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the final quarter of 2016, according to the latest Qimtek Contract Manufacturing Index (CMI) figures. The index for the first quarter of 2017 was 163, compared to 147 in the final quarter of 2016. Growth has been steady but less dramatic year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2016 the index was 155, so the last 12 months have seen a rise in the index of just over five per cent. The base line figure of 100 represents the average value of the subcontracting market during 2014. The CMI is produced by sourcing specialist Qimtek and reflects the total purchasing budget for outsourced manufacturing of companies looking to place business in any given month. This represents a sample of over 4,000 companies who could be placing business that together have a purchasing budget of more than £3bn and a supplier base of over 7,000 companies with a verified turnover in excess of £25bn.
process basis, machining was strong in the first quarter of 2017 – up 15 per cent on the final quarter of 2016. It was down by eight per cent though compared to a particularly strong period for machining in the first three months of 2016. Fabrication more than held its own, up 13 per cent on the previous quarter and 19 per cent on the equivalent quarter last year. To put the figures in context, machining accounted for 48 per cent of the total business and fabrication for 36 per cent of the total, with other processes, including electronics and plastic moulding, accounting for the remainder. Commenting on the latest CMI figures,
Karl Wigart, owner of Qimtek, said: “We are now in a position where business is better than it was before the Brexit vote. January was a very strong month for machining – as was January 2016 – and fabrication still seems to be making excellent progress. What the figures don’t show, but which is possibly significant, is that the value of individual orders has been higher than average over the quarter.”
www.qimtek.co.uk/ contract-manufacturing-index
Rail Development Group’s Paul Plummer to open Railtex P
aul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, will now formally open Railtex 2017 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on 9 May. He has kindly agreed to take on this role following the withdrawal of Rail Minister Paul Maynard MP due to the recent announcement of a June general election. Parliamentary protocol restricts the activities of ministers and civil servants during the pre-election ‘purdah’ period. Established in response to the 2011 McNulty Report, the RDG provides leadership by focusing on industry-wide issues, including contributing to a strategy and long-term vision for the railway. It is tasked with informing key choices facing government and the industry’s development of plans in response to government output specifications. Integration within the RDG of the functions of the former Association of Train Operating Companies was completed in October 2016
Paul Plummer took up his role as chief executive of the RDG in November 2015. He began working in the railway sector in 1999 as chief economist and director of economics and finance at the Office of Rail Regulation (now the Office of Rail & Road). He joined Network Rail in
6 May 2017 Components in Electronics
www.cieonline.co.uk
2002, and in 2008 he was appointed to the Network Rail Board as an executive director and group strategy director at Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd. In 2011 he became one of two Network Rail members of the RDG. After opening Railtex, Paul Plummer will deliver a keynote speech. He will then undertake a tour of the exhibition accompanied by Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, and Stephen Brooks, chairman of the Mack Brooks Group, organisers of the event.
Exhibition manager, Kirsten Whitehouse says: “We are very pleased that Paul Plummer has agreed to open this year’s show at short notice. The Rail Development Group plays a pivotal role in the future development of the rail industry and we are confident that those attending Railtex will be very keen to hear what he has to say.” By mid-April the number of companies exhibiting at Railtex 2017, which takes place in Halls 3 and 3a at the NEC from 9 to 11 May, stood at 476.
www.railtex.co.uk
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