NEWS Nord-Lock wheel nut certified by TÜV

The Nord-Lock wheel nut has achieved safety and quality certification by the pre-eminent German inspection organisation TÜV. Nord-Lock highlights that no other wheel nut on the market has both the Nord-Lock safety features as well as the TÜV approval.

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he two step testing process included approval of the Nord-Lock production facilities as well as product testing. The product testing was so extensive that it would correspond to the lifetime of a truck. In the testing the Nord-Lock wheel nut performed so well that the testing procedures will now become an approval programme for any following products.

The Nord-Lock wheel nut eliminates unintentional loosening when assembled correctly. Loose wheel nuts are the primary cause of wheel detachment from heavy vehicles.

Half a century for Vaughan Jones

Vaughan Jones Socket Screws Ltd of Wetherby, Yorkshire, UK, will be celebrating its 50th

year in business in 2011.

he company originally based in Perth then Dundee in Scotland moved to its present site in Wetherby in 1972 which has nearly 14,000 square feet of production space & offices. Today Vaughan Jones has changed beyond all recognition

with brand new sliding head technology supplied by Star Micronics and Citizen Machinery used to manufacture the special fasteners and turned parts, supplied to customers throughout the UK and abroad. The company says it has survived all this time by a continual

investment programme in modern machines. “Since 2001 we have invested nearly £750,000 in new machinery

which now lets us compete with the best in the world”, states managing director Jeremy Hornby. “In the early days we had manual machines with one man to one machine, when the man went home the machine was turned off. Today with our new technology we can run un-manned during nights and weekends giving us a 168 hour week against the olden days of barely 40 hours a week.”

CBM reaps the rewards for thinking long-term

Britain’s biggest trade association for the metals industry, the Confederation of British Metalforming, has welcomed another manufacturing organisation to its Black Country HQ.

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he Gauge and Toolmakers Association (GTMA) - which represents 280 companies, mainly in the tool and die, precision engineering and tool-making sectors - will now operate from the CBM’s National Metalforming Centre on the outskirts of West Bromwich, UK. CBM president, Alan Shaw, said the GTMA would benefit from his organisation’s back office and administration structure,

and have access to its manufacturing resource centre, and other membership facilities. “We’re delighted to welcome them, there are obvious synergies to having them here, and I’m sure their members will benefit significantly from the move.” The NMC was built ten years ago, a decision Shaw describes as “an ambitious and far-sighted move” in creating “a purpose

built headquarters, which which could house our specialist officers, offer space for training, conferences and outside events, and be a focal point for British industry”. GTMA president, Alan Pearce, says the move will place the association at the centre of the country’s manufacturing heartland.

“Our previous facilities often fell short of the needs of the membership. This move will address their requirements, and provide further prospects to expand their businesses.” He added: “The NMC site offers a wealth of engineering disciplines, and a vast pool of knowledge. I am sure this move will provide increased opportunities for the GTMA supply chain of member companies.”

18 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 68 March 2011