LASTEST INDUSTRY NEWS DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS


STAY AHEADWITH


TRADEMISSION TO GERMANY IN MARCH, AWD member Flextraction’s Managing Director, Lee Darton, went on a UK Export Trade mission to Germany, taking in seven cities including Cologne, Stuttgart and Dresden, to drum up new business.


KEEPING YOU INFORMED


JCB INVESTMENT INUK PLANTS JCB is investing £8 million in its UK manufacturing plants as the company


gears up for future growth in global markets. One of the biggest single investments is £4 million worth of machine tools, including CNC lathes, friction welders, Robotic welding cells and an automated assembly cell in the Hydraulic Business Unit at Rochester. This will provide an additional 20% production capacity for hydraulic rams – the steel cylinders which are integral to JCB’s products and which, through hydraulic power, act as the machine’s ‘muscles’ when lifting, loading and excavating. Other investments at Rochester include a new machining centre in the Backhoe Loader Business Unit and a new machining centre and Robot welder in the Loadall Business Unit. At JCB Heavy Products tracked and wheeled excavator factory in Uttoxeter, more than £1 million has been invested in robot welding equipment to increase capacity and enhance quality.


APPRENTICE CUTS FIRST STEEL FOR AIRCRAFT CARRIER BLOCK 21 YEAR OLD Shaun Collins, a BAE Systems apprentice, who received a Personal Achievement Award at the BAE Systems UK Apprentice Awards, has cut the first steel for a key section of HMS Prince of Wales, the second Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier.


AUTOMATED ORBITALWELDING EQUIPMENT IMPROVES HEAT EXCHANGER PRODUCTION


‘Bad Air Day’ website informs on the health risks from exposure to welding


and thermal cutting fumes THE AWD has agreed to host the ‘Bad Air Day’ website produced by the Welding Fume Team, which includes AWD, Air Products, BOC, Doosan Babcock, HSE, Plymovent, Unite, Weldability-Sif, Wilkinson Star and other organisations and Associations, to provide a resource and links to


further information on the health risks from exposure to welding and thermal cutting fume, and the control of exposure. It is aimed at both employers and employees who use welding in the workplace, as part of their business or work. The aims are to raise awareness of the risk to respiratory health


from exposure to welding fume and thermal cutting applications, and how to control these exposures. The Team operates through a cooperative approach with all members having equal status. www.badairday.info


8


ARC MACHINES UK LTD has a long history of developing automated orbital welding applications for use in the manufacture of heat exchangers with AMI’s tube-to-tube sheet weld heads performing millions of welds on a range of materials. Wellman Hunt-Graham, the UK manufacturer of shell and tube heat exchangers, installed four of AMI’s M227 power supplies andM6weld heads, following the securing of a major contract from one of Britain’s biggest petroleum companies. Wellman Hunt-Graham identified


AMI’s tube-to-tube sheet equipment for the job after its client specified automated welding. Following rigorous testing and pre-purchase welding trials, all four automatic systems were deployed welding 1.000”x 0.065” Duplex tubes in 22Cr for one of the biggest refineries


operating in Scotland. AMI’s Model 96 tube-to-tube sheet


weld heads are capable of fusion welding a range of materials including stainless steel, through to reactive grades such as titanium which requires 100% gas shielding during the weld cycle. The Model 6 weld head, which includes radial action AVC and on-board wire feed, is used for heavier applications where additional filler wire is required to create strength fillet welds to meet the requirements of higher in-service pressures. The company’s Vice-President


Europe, Michael Allman, said: “Most heat exchangers have restricted axial and radial access where manual welding would be challenging so a compact orbital weld head is more accurate and able to deliver more accurate results.”


INDUSTRY NEWS


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32