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NEWS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN TO DRIVES & CONTROLS
reflecting the increasingly optimistic outlook for the manufacturing and engineering sectors.
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Drives & Controls Exhibition 2022 will once again bring together key suppliers of state-of-the-art equipment representing the multi- tasking culture of today’s design engineer, covering critical areas such as energy efficiency, machine safety, drives, motion control, robotics, and automation plus much more, all under one roof. Drives & Controls is co-located with Smart Industry Expo, Plant & Asset Management, Fluid Power & Systems, and Air-Tech Exhibitions, and takes place at the NEC between the 5-7 April 2022, alongside MACH. Returning exhibitors include Beckhoff, Rittal, Weidmuller, Mitsubishi Electric, Radwell, Bosch Rexroth, Elmo Motion Control, Binder, Carlo Gavazzi, Eaton Electric, Finder, Harting, Hepco, HMS Industrial, Leuze Electronic, Control Techniques/Nidec Industrial Automation, Omron, Pilz Automation Technology, Renold, plus many more returnees. While the latest confirmed exhibitors include: EAO, EMAS Electric UK, M Buttkereit Ltd, WEG (UK) Ltd, IDEM Safety, Applied Integration UK Ltd, and Trio Motion Technology.
Alongside the show, the wide range of topical panel discussions of COMMENT
The recent International Women’s Day may have shone a light on the numbers of women in engineering, with data from various surveys and studies being made available (see the ‘What’s trending?’ story, for example). But if we are to make an impact on reducing the skills gap, we need to encourage everyone, not just females, to consider STEM-related careers. To this end, Make UK has launched National Manufacturing Day, which takes place on the 7th July. British manufacturing companies will open their doors in a UK-wide Open House to give their local communities the chance to see first-hand the potential careers and jobs on offer in this exciting and diverse sector. The aim is to encourage all age groups, from school leavers to more experienced workers looking at reskilling, to consider the possibilities of a career in manufacturing.
To learn more please visit:
www.makeuk.org/nmd Michelle Lea - Editor
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WHAT’S TRENDING? ew research from
EngineeringUK has shown that 16.5% of those working in engineering are female, compared to 10.5% in 2010. Analysis of trends in women in the engineering workforce between 2010 and 2021 shows this 6% increase in the proportion of women in the engineering workforce. The actual number of women working in engineering roles also increased from 562,000 in 2010 to 936,000 in 2021, along with an overall expansion of the engineering workforce from 5.3 million in 2010 to 5.6 million in 2021. Strikingly, the increase in the number of women in engineering roles continued to rise even when the total number of people working in engineering fell in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic. Historically women have been underrepresented in engineering. For example, women make up only 12.5% of those working in engineering jobs within the engineering sector, compared to 24.4% outside the engineering sector. Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief
Executive of EngineeringUK, said: “The fact that women represent only 16.5% of those working in engineering should still be a major concern to the engineering sector. We hope that our analysis stimulates more exploration of how we can do better...”
www.engineeringuk.com/ women
4 MARCH 2022 | PROCESS & CONTROL
ith only weeks to go, Drives & Controls Exhibition 2022 and the co-located events taking place alongside it, including Smart industry Expo 2022, has confirmed it is 98% sold out,
the popular Talking Industry webinar events will move temporarily from the digital sphere to live panel discussions at the NEC, under the Talking Industry Live brand.
Talking Industry Live, as a CPD member, will include
accredited panel discussions that will fully reflect the ongoing global transformation to the smart manufacturing era and provide fascinating panel discussions and insight into the potential plants of the future, covering all aspects of the digital transformation across the manufacturing spectrum, as well as looking at how digitalisation has helped during the Coronavirus pandemic and its importance in any future outbreak. Leading experts will address the vast array of information around 4IR, discussing the practicalities, technologies and issues surrounding transition and implementation of digitalisation.
www.drives-expo.com For a more detailed version of this story visit:
https://processandcontrolmag.co.uk/the-countdown-is-almost- over-for-drives-controls-exhibition-2022/
YOUR GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE FLUID MANAGEMENT
Continuous improvement is central to modern manufacturing. Yet often manufacturers can find that they are restricted in what can be achieved by the fluids in their production process. A newly released white paper - The Complete Guide to Fluid Management - aims to tackle the issue head on. Report author Loris Medart of SR-TEK outlines some of the key recommendations. It can sometimes feel like fluids are a bottleneck, restricting production performance. Often the answer won’t lie in costly chemical alterations to the fluid itself, but simply a better understanding and control of the factors affecting performance. Here’s how to manage them. 1. External environment – There are some practical steps that can be taken to reduce the impact of the external environment. Ensuring fluid is stored as close to the dispenser as possible is one option, as this will drastically reduce the time that the fluid is out- side of a controlled environment. While insulated feed lines can further mitigate any temperature fluctuations. 2. Internal environment – While a lot of focus is given to dispensing, industrial fluids can spend as much as 90% of production time in the reservoir. Full temperature control at this stage not only ensures consistency at the point of use but can also enable operatives and line builders to optimise fluid performance, reduce waste and eliminate fluid related parts failure. 3. The top to bottom effect – Using the right sized vessel, and managing the pressure in a more precise way, enables control over the amount of compressed air inside the tank, to deliver a consistent amount of force. 4. Agitation – One of the other major impacts on the chemical composition and performance of fluids is movement – whether that be too much or too little. These are known as thixotropic fluids. Inconsistencies can result in too much or not enough material being added to parts which may then have to be reworked, cleaned or in some cases even scrapped. The answer lies in viscosity control through agitation. This can be either set as a fixed parameter for a full production day or coupled with sensors to adjust to changes within the fluid itself.
Download your free copy of The Complete Guide to Fluid Management here:
www.bit.ly/fluidmanagement.
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