Each day The Manufacturer compiles the top manufacturing news stories from around the web. To make your life a little easier, we trawl through all the major trade publications, broadsheets and business magazines to find you the most important manufacturing news each morning. Don't forget to bookmark this page and check back daily.
Manufacturing & Engineering Week gets smart for a bigger, better 2024
Following an incredibly successful event in 2023 Manufacturing & Engineering Week continues to evolve, becoming Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week in 2024. The small adjustment reflects the forward-looking nature of the event and focus on the new technologies, tools and solutions driving the sector forward.
Commenting on the change Verity Noon, Marketing Director at Nineteen Group said: “The week is all about cutting-edge innovations in hardware and software and solutions to the current challenges being faced around Industry 4.0, sustainability and supply chain shortages to name a few. More via The Manufacturer
TT Electronics opens Manchester power factory
TT Electronics has formally opened its latest power systems manufacturing plant in Manchester UK.
The 45,000 sq ft plant sees TT Electronics making AC-DC and DC-DC units for customers such as BAe Systems for the Typhoon and F35 aircraft, Airbus for the A400M transporter and Rolls Royce for submarines.
The plant is part of a strategic shift in production and also product development to high voltage avionics systems to reduce the weight of the wiring harnesses. This also opens up the market for electric air taxis. More via eeNews
Shepherd Neame embraces industrial technology solutions to increase asset reliability
RS, a global provider of product and service solutions for industrial customers, including maintenance and safety solutions, has helped a leading brewer avoid downtime that could have cost the firm £60,000, as well as a potential £4,000 bill for asset replacement.
RS Industria, an innovative cloud service and part of the RS Group, was utilised by the UK’s oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame, to help the company gain valuable insight into a key asset: a bottle filler which lies at the heart of the brewery operation on the bottling line.
With a capacity to fill 27,000 bottles per hour – which contributes to the firms output of 50 million pints every year – the asset is critical but ageing. Shepherd Neame’s engineers needed to develop a greater understanding of its performance so they could implement steps to increase the reliability of the machine to avoid costly downtime. More via The Manufacturer
IBM launches $500m enterprise AI venture fund
IBM has announced that it is launching a $500m venture fund to invest in a range of AI companies – from early-stage to hyper-growth startups – focused on accelerating generative AI technology and research for the enterprise.
With a differentiated model and strategy consisting of domain expertise from across IBM and a dedicated portfolio development team, the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund will invest in current and future AI leaders that are helping businesses around the world realize the potential of AI for business. Led by a dedicated team at IBM with decades of combined experience as highly successful investors and enterprise AI experts, the fund will provide each startup with opportunities to develop meaningful partnerships with IBM, while gaining operational expertise on product and engineering and go-to-market strategies. More via IBM
Coca-Cola and Nestle accused of misleading eco claims
Coca-Cola, Danone and Nestle have been accused of making misleading claims about their plastic water bottles being “100% recycled”.
A consumer body and two environmental groups have issued a legal complaint to the European Commission over the alleged greenwashing.
They argue that the bottles are never made wholly of recycled materials.
Coca-Cola said its packaging claims can be substantiated, Nestlé said it was cutting use of plastic packaging.
Danone said it was continuing to invest in recycling infrastructure. More via BBC News
Bruderer launches two new presses at Blechexpo
The world’s leading manufacturer of high-speed presses has unveiled two new machines on day one of Blechexpo.
Bruderer, which is 80 years old in 2023, used the major industrial event to introduce the BSTA 710-220 and the BSTL 350-88, the latter designed to support customers involved in volume production of small and miniature components.
As a fixed-stroke press, the BSTL comes into its own for precision and continuity and uses up to 30% less energy when compared to older machine models. More via The Manufacturer
Babcock’s LGE business goes from strength to strength as it secures record number of new contracts
Babcock’s LGE business, the world leader in marine liquefied gas solutions, has seen significant success so far this year after winning more than 40 contracts and delivering more than 50 projects.
The record number of new contracts this year are for the design and supply of cargo handling and fuel gas supply systems for marine transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Ethane and CO2, all using in-house developed and patented or patent-pending technology. More via Babcock International
