UK’s SMEs say ‘apprentices are the solution to UK’s skills gap crisis’
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Over 80% of the UK’s SMEs believe apprenticeships are at least partly the solution to the UK’s skills gap crisis, with a further 69% of the view apprenticeships are a ‘valuable alternative to university’ Four in 10 (44%) feel not enough is being done to encourage young people to consider apprenticeships. The findings are taken from the latest independent research commissioned by Close Brothers Asset Finance and are in support of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), which highlights the positive impact that apprenticeships make on individuals, businesses and the wider economy....
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Tooling Intelligence supports ITC at Progressive Apprentice Academy
MTD Audiobook
Edging closer to its 50th anniversary, the Progressive Technology Group has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last decade. Founded in 1977, the relocation to larger premises in 2013 was one of the many catalysts for the Newbury company’s decade-long growth. Opening multiple new divisions and branching into new markets, the company now employs more than 250 staff. Among its accolades are many prestigious awards from AMG Petronas and Rolls-Royce, to name a few. However, this pedigree cannot be bought; it is embedded in the company’s culture, with Progressive Technology opening its Apprentice...
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Rebirth of a classic British motorcycle
MTD Audiobook
The Brough Superior, a classic British motorcycle designed by George Brough in 1919 and manufactured in Nottingham, was of such high quality that it was dubbed the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles. One famous customer, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), owned eight and died in 1935 from injuries sustained when he crashed number seven. The design was beautiful and practical, and a sidecar was often added. Although the factory closed after the Second World War, enthusiasts have ensured the name survives. In 2004, around 1,000 original Brough Superior motorcycles still existed. The brand is regularly...
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Mastering difficult-to-cut aerospace materials
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Difficult-to-cut materials are defined as engineering materials with significantly lower machinability than typical. These materials are often referred to in shoptalk as ‘hard-to-machine,’ ‘tough-to-cut,’ or even ‘nasty.’ It is important to note that high hardness is not the only characteristic that makes these materials challenging to machine; several other factors contribute to their machining difficulties. Every industrial branch, in one way or another, must deal with such materials. However, the leading consumer of these materials is the aerospace industry. It is in this...
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Kennametal revs up innovation with 3D printed tools
MTD Audiobook
Building on the success of their award-winning 3D-printed stator bore tool for electric vehicle machining, Kennametal has developed an innovative 3D-printed transmission housing tool for Voith that cuts weight by approximately 45% and reduces machining time by approximately 50%. As transportation components become increasingly more sophisticated and the requirements more stringent, manufacturers need complex tooling solutions to machine those components. That poses a challenge as the weight of such tooling can become too heavy for efficient operation on machining centres, tool changers and...
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Incentives needed to ease bumpy ride along Electric Avenue
MTD Audiobook
The electrification transition and inflexible EV production quotas are taking a heavy toll on the automotive industry, but buses and commercial vehicles posted their best years since 2008. Will Stirling reports. MTD magazine is unwaveringly positive in its coverage of manufacturing news, but facts are facts: automotive manufacturing is on a downward slide. Combining cars and commercial vehicles (CVs), the UK produced 905,233 units in 2024, -11.8% from 2023, and slipping below the psychologically important one million units mark. Electric vehicles now comprise over one-fifth of all new car...
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hyperMILL lights up productivity gains for medical manufacturer
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Opening its doors with just four toolmakers 50 years ago, Smithstown Light Engineering Ltd is now a business with three manufacturing sites and over 165 employees. Working with the world’s leading medical device and orthopaedic companies, Smithstown extensively uses OPEN MIND Technologies‘ hyperMILL CAD/CAM suite to streamline its throughput and maximise efficiency. Initially a toolmaking business supplying plastic injection moulds to the electronics industry, the Shannon-based business transitioned to medical manufacturing in 1990—and it hasn’t looked back since. With two sites in...
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Fast, versatile machine wins
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Michael Phillips, joint owner with partner Wayne Robins of contract machining firm Atomic Precision, describes their recently purchased, Japanese-built Brother Speedio U500Xd1 as ‘a Swiss army knife of 5-axis machining centres.’ His comment is due to the 30-taper machine’s high quality, versatile functionality, compactness, and ability to complete an extensive range of jobs quickly and efficiently. Brother machines are sold and serviced in the UK and Ireland by Whitehouse Machine Tools, Kenilworth. Founded in East Hendred, Oxfordshire, in 2020 by the two time-served mechanical...
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Engineered in record time
MTD Audiobook
Engines were already being built at the site in Zafra in 1875, where DEUTZ today has its main factory for processing engine components. Around 500 employees in modern manufacturing facilities produce engine blocks, cylinder blocks, connecting rods, and gears for the Group’s assembly lines in Cologne and Ulm. DEUTZ’s new 3.9-litre diesel engine is mostly used in agricultural and construction machines. It is designed for long service life as an industrial engine and will be built until at least 2035. Series production will start in the coming year after the current prototype phase....
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Automation delivers results
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Mills CNC has recently supplied Ayrshire Precision, a subcontract specialist based in Ayrshire, with two new SYNERGi systems. The systems, both derivations and highly customised versions of Mills’ standard SYNERGi ‘SPRINT’ solutions, were installed at Ayrshire Precision’s 14,000sq/ft site. In 2023, the first system was retrofitted to a Puma 2600SY lathe, and six months later, the second was retrofitted to a Puma 2100SY. SYNERGi Sprint automation systems are compact, flexible, and cost-effective. Mills’ dedicated automation experts can integrate them with DN Solutions’ lathes,...
info_outlineAnotronic Ltd is a well-recognised subcontract machining business and manufacturer of high-quality EDM fast-hole drilling and EDM die-sinking machine tools.
Founded in 1982, the Leighton Buzzard business started in ECM, ECD and EDM tooling and machining, evolving to the production and growth of its own ECM and ECD technology brand.
Along this journey, the company has worked with Sodi-Tech UK and the Sodick brand of machines.
Martin White, Managing Director of Anotronic Ltd, says: “My father started the business in 1982, and I joined the company in 1985.
We tend to machine a lot of difficult materials such as inconel, titanium, special stainless steel, and everything that is difficult to machine.
We take on the worst jobs because we can - and we have all the machines and processes in-house to do what we need.”
Over the years, Anotronic has continually expanded its factory footprint, services and range of machines.
This has resulted from an aggressive growth strategy, staff development, and investment in the latest machine tool technology.
The Bedfordshire manufacturer currently operates three Sodick machines, with the latest ALC600G Premium wire EDM with linear motor drive technology arriving recently.
The high-end plant list gives Anotronic the edge over its rivals.
The Sodick ALC600G Premium from Sodi-Tech UK, with its spacious X, Y and Z-axis of 600 by 400 by 500mm and the U and V-axis travel of 120 by 120mm, clearly gives the company an edge.
Martin recalls how Anotronic arrived at the ALC600G: “We always buy premium machines, and as the company has become more experienced, we always look to buy better machines.
This always comes down to reliability and the ability to run unmanned.
We have a Sodick AQ35L die sink machine that we’ve had for a very long time, and Sodi-Tech UK has looked after this machine for us for over 20 years.”
The reliability and performance of the Sodick AQ35L meant that when Anotronic was in the market for another EDM machine, it once again turned to the Sodick brand.
Martin says: “We bought a Sodick AG 600LH around seven years ago.
That machine enables us to do tool work up to 500mm high, which we regularly do.
We have a large bobbin on this machine, enabling us to run 70 to 80 hours unmanned.”
The remarkably high level of lights-out machining with the Sodick AG600LH and its incredible reliability persuaded Anotronic to invest in its latest EDM machine, the Sodick ALC600G Premium with linear motor drive technology.
“We bought this latest machine because we had a project with a sister part.
The project typically consists of 40 parts that would maybe take us three months to complete.
We suddenly had an order placed on us last year for 300 parts.
We couldn’t have done this without another machine, as we knew we would have had to have been machining 24 hours a day to get the parts done.”
Sodi-Tech UK Sales Manager Richard Bailey says: “Martin and Anotronic don’t just take on run-of-the-mill CNC jobs.
This company tackles the higher end of the industry and often the parts that companies don’t want to tackle themselves.
Anotronic looks at jobs from an application perspective rather than a ‘machining time’ point of view.
With the Sodick technology and the special characteristics within the machine, Anotronic can utilise this to run all of its applications and do jobs that are unique and out of the norm.
In this instance, the application that Martin has been working on requires some very steep angles.
The ALC600G Premium has very large U and V-axis travel, allowing the processing of tapered angles up to 45°.
So, when it comes to machining this part, it can be done in situ with the integration of a fourth and fifth axis.”
“Manufacturers can also use the on-board technology and IQ software system that brings Anotronic’s model into the machine and draws the profile on-board utilising the U and V-axis cutting technology.
The programme is generated, the parts machined, and the job is complete!”
“We're using a very complex 4-axis programme to cut a rotary part with 45° slots in it.
The only way we could do that was to use the software we currently use and without it, we couldn’t manage to do the part.
So, we used the on-board software within the CNC control of the Sodick machine to create a 3D model and a tool path to cut the part.
This is machining at extreme angles.
We're cutting at 45° and machining up to 40 to 50mm in the U and V-axis to create this particular part.
We also had to specify wide nozzles and wider guides to machine this part, and the ALC600G did a brilliant job.”
“I have been a Sodick user for 35 to 40 years, and the beauty of the Sodick machines is that you can jump straight into a point anywhere in the programme without editing the entire programme.
It makes things very easy as it is a powerful and user-friendly software system.
It has many benefits, such as the negative offsets - normally, you have to cut a comp on a machine, but with the Sodick, we can drive the comp the other way and cut the other side of the part using a negative value.
Most control systems would just throw that out, whereas the Sodick accepts it and gets the job done.”
“I was working 15 to 20 hours daily, which was too much. I wasn’t seeing my kids growing up, and something had to change, so we went down the automation route.
We have a great team that works very hard and helps us reach our common goal - we run a lot of machines with very few people through our application of automation.
Sodick is a very established brand, and they have a great customer base and exceptional knowledge with engineers who are really, really good.
I've known Peter at Sodi-Tech for over 35 years, and this relationship is based on our excellent support - it’s been a fantastic marriage between the two companies.”