Electronic Specifier

The types of challenge that Camille Bauer Metrawatt AG has to address again and again as a manufacturer of high quality heavy current measurement technology include; energy transition, climate change, renewable or alternative energies, decentralised energy feeding, reduction of CO2 emissions, energy saving and smart cities.

You know that material plastic? It’s fantastic… in terms of design that is. It is cheap, durable and light - it is the doyen of packaging, the king of all our white goods and the magic ingredient in everything from shampoo to cosmetics. Guest piece written by Terry O’Reilly, Manager, NT CADCAM.

Did you know that 99% of the materials we use to make the things we buy are thrown away within six months? Over the last 60 years we have done away with the values of thrift and re-use that our grandparents lived by and designed ourselves a linear economy where we take things from the ground, ship it to where we want it to be, sell it and then bin it. Guest piece written by Terry O’Reilly, Manager, NT CADCAM.

Last week saw the start of construction on the first phase of Birmingham City University’s new creative innovation centre. The £3.5m project known as STEAMhouse will include the refurbishment of a former car dealership in Birmingham’s Digbeth area to house the new centre and maker space. By connecting arts into STEM subject areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), STEAMhouse will provide support to 200 sole traders, start-ups and local businesses with access to expertise and finance for growth.

At the W Hotel in Barcelona, the festive ambience has really been brought out as the winners of the 14th annual International Business Awards were presented their Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards on Saturday, 21st October 2017. High-ranking representatives from more than 130 honoured companies and organisations from around the world received their awards on stage.

  With the eighth instalment in the Saw franchise being released today, one fan has created his own remote controlled ‘Billy’ puppet. The Saw films focus on John Kramer (aka the Jigsaw killer) who sets a series of tests for his victims in which he tests their will to live. Rather than appearing in person to set his tests, Jigsaw uses the Billy puppet to explain the rules of the game.

There has been signs of recovery from the UK’s Manufacturing sector in Q3 2017, with a 4.2% growth in sales, 2.9% increase in total employment and a further 2.5% rise in new companies. The figures, which are released today in the Creditsafe Watchdog Report, follow a slump for the sector in Q2 when sales and employment fell, and there was a 14% drop in new companies.

The finalists for in the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business have been announced, as the event for the world’s top honours for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organisations they run approaches. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.

The currency fluctuations caused by Brexit have pushed up the cost of materials, making construction waste savings a real priority for many in the construction industry. Paul Cox of waste management and recycling solutions Reconomy, explains.

A lot of mid-size crane manufacturers rely on complete hoist drive technology solutions from ABM Greiffenberger, as these drives are specifically developed for this market segment and characterised by a high degree of functionality. With the new GHX-Series the systems provider has now developed new powerful and energy efficient hoist gear drives with outstanding overall energy efficiency. In addition new angular travel drives provide a new option for crane builders.

Foresight Group has announced an £500,000 investment on behalf of the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund into Southampton-based Utonomy, a ground-breaking intelligent gas grid solutions provider. The transaction represents the Fund’s first investment. Established in 2015, Utonomy has developed an innovative technology for reducing leakage in gas distribution networks. Its IoT solution automatically optimises gas distribution pressures through electro-mechanical actuators retrofitted to the network and controlled by intelligent, cloud-based software.

Manufacturing and engineering membership body, Made in the Midlands, has launched the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) as a dedicated online help desk and signposting service to support Britain’s manufacturing industry and help businesses access information they need in order to grow. The launch event, attended by over 150 leading Midlands manufactures, was held at Hotel du Vin on 24th August 2017.

On 4th August a major new entrant to North Sea decommissioning was unveiled. Well-Safe Solutions, set up by a group of oil industry stalwarts - including Alasdair Locke, Mark Patterson, and Paul Warwick - will provide a new approach to the safe and cost-efficient decommissioning of subsea wells. The new start company, which aims to attract £200m in investment and create 400 new jobs, will offer a specialist well abandonment service that allows operators to meet the challenges and regulatory imperatives around decommissioning, while significantly reducing costs.

  The engineering sector has become a thriving industry over the years, with 5.7 million employees working in registered engineering jobs in the UK. There are a huge number of jobs on offer within the engineering industry; from Field Service Engineer to Automation Engineer to Test and Integration Engineer to Design Engineer.

The number of business failures in the UK’s manufacturing sector rose by 19% in the second quarter of 2017, with 465 manufacturers closing their doors compared to 391 in Q1, while sales revenues stagnated and edged down by two percent.

Entries for the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business are now open and looking for the world’s top honours for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organisations they run. The final entry deadline is 23rd August and late entries will be accepted until 20th September with payment of a late fee.

The UK’s largest union, Unite and pladis, the global biscuit and confectionery company behind the iconic McVitie’s brand, have announced the signing of an Engineering Apprenticeship Agreement in the UK. The agreement sets the gold standard for apprenticeships and by 2020 the partnership will have will have enabled close to 50 new apprentices to be recruited into engineering roles at pladis.

The mechanical device at the heart of an automotive engine is also known as the Crankshaft. It has the ability to convert linear reciprocating motion of piston to a rotary motion for engine power transmission. These are widely used in automotive field, such as in cars, trucks, trains and in other automobiles. Without crankshaft it would not be possible for a vehicle to move even inch, since it is the main link between input powers to the output powers.

Using multiple suppliers across its region previously, BAM Western knew that by standardising access control and workforce management systems it would benefit from better economies of scale as well as more intelligent data, which would enhance decision making. BAM Western was already aware of the benefits Biosite could bring through its sister company BAM Plant. 

Did you know there are over five trillion pieces of plastic littering our ocean right now? Eventually that rubbish accumulates together in five ocean garbage patches, with the Pacific being home to the largest one, located between Hawaii and California; called the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch.’ If nothing was done about this patch and it was left to circulate the plastic would impact our ecosystems to a level which could damage health and society.