INDUSTRY NEWS
7
Structural steelwork safety
Left to right: Graham Dewhurst, Director General MTA, Professor Sir Mike Gregory Head of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at Cambridge University and Mark Ridgway OBE President MTA.
MTA looks to the future
At the recent MTA (Manufacturing Technologies Association) Annual General Meeting many of the issues raised focused on future prospects for the manufacturing technologies sector in the UK. MTA President, Mark Ridgway OBE, reminded members of the MTA’s co-operation with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield, now part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, over the introduction of a commercial engineering apprenticeship pathway and the hosting of the Deputy Prime Minister at the launch of the initiative in February. He also stressed that the association needs to ensure the relevance of new government initiatives, such as the Employer Ownership of Skills programme, and paid tribute to the strong sales performance to date for the MACH 2014 exhibition. During the AGM it was announced that Tony Bowkett, managing director of Nikken
Kosakusho Europe Ltd, had been nominated by the Board as the successor to Mark Ridgway’s presidency. Tony will support the President over the next twelve months and will stand down as the MTA’s Honorary Treasurer as soon as a replacement is found.
New investment and job creation fromJCB
JCB has announced plans to invest £150 million to expand its operations in Staffordshire and create an additional 2,500 jobs by 2018, which will in turn add a further 7,500 jobs to the UK supply chain. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP, visited JCB’s backhoe loader factory in Rocester, Staffordshire the day after he delivered his Autumn Statement. The Chancellor was hosted by JCB Chairman, Lord Bamford,
who confirmed the five-year investment plans for Staffordshire as part of a wider global growth strategy to expand sales and increase market share. The projected growth in machine output from Staffordshire
factories will be supported by an increase in production of components from factories elsewhere in the UK, including engines from JCB Power Systems in Foston, Derbyshire, and axles and gearboxes from JCB Transmissions in Wrexham, North Wales.
The clock is ‘definitely ticking’ for companies involved in structural steelwork. The Construction Products Regulations (CPR) were adopted in the UK in March 2011 to enforce the European Construction Products Directive. The aim of the directive is to harmonise the safety performance of construction products across the EU and they apply to anything placed on the market, whether imported or manufactured in the EU. As of 1 July 2014, any “series” manufactured structural metal components or kits that have been made in the UK or imported, and to which a harmonised European standard applies, must comply with the CPR & CE marking requirements. The harmonised European standard that applies to structural metalwork is BS EN 1090-1:2009 and it will be a criminal offence to supply structural metalwork after the 1 July 2014 unless it conforms to this standard and carries a legitimate CE mark. Any steelwork contractor is required to have a documented welding quality management system (WQMS) and a nominated person(s) responsible for all welding activities i.e. Responsible Welding Coordinator (RWC). This should be a person(s) competent with the technical knowledge to control and supervise the company’s welding activities and BS EN 1090-2 sets out the technical knowledge required based on the company’s declared execution class. The higher the nominated class, the more stringent the quality-related criteria will apply.
The UK Chancellor, George Osborne MP, tries his hand at tack welding
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