May 2018

Oxlee is D&C’s new sales director director, Scott Edwards.“Drives & Controls is a great way to meet many of our customers and supply partners during the three days. We were also able to demonstrate the full range of products TEC have to offer.” In the new Smart Industry Expo, Schneider Electric’s large stand was bustling most of the time. The show “gave us the perfect platform to demonstrate a fully connected factory solution over the typical product displays of Drives & Controls,” says marketing operations manager, Connie Taylor. “The feedback we received was outstanding.” The next Drives & Controls Show will take place from 21–23 April, 2020. The Mach exhibition, run by the Manufacturing Technologies Association alongside Drives & Controls and the other DFA shows, recorded a 5% increase in visitor numbers compared to its previous outing in 2016. A total of 23,125 people attended the five-day show, with about 15% of them arriving from one of the other concurrent exhibitions, including Drives & Controls. More than 5,500 personnel from the exhibiting companies also attended Mach. THE RECENT Drives & Controls Show at the Birmingham NEC set a new record for visitor attendance. By the time the three- day exhibition had ended, it and the other events organised by DFA Media – Plant & Asset Management, Fluid Power & Systems, Air-Tech and the new Smart Industry Expo – had attracted a total of 13,518 visitors through the doors. This represents an increase of more than 3% on the attendance at the previous event in 2016. The show’s move to the “new” section of the NEC, with its multiple entrances, appears to have gone down well with both visitors and exhibitors. Several exhibitors have already reported that the exhibition exceeded their targets. “The Drives & Control show was a huge success for Balluff,” says the company’s field sales manager, Adrian Sorsby. “We surpassed all expectations in terms of leads and the quality of each individual enquiry. It was great to see such a steady and constant stream of new, existing and targeted customers visiting our stand across the three days.” The independent motor supplier, TEC Electric Motors, also had a fruitful show.“Once again we had a successful and enjoyable exhibition,”says managing NEWS 4 May 2018 www.drivesncontrols.com Siemens is launching a collaborative online platform to accelerate the growth of 3D printing for industrial use. Called the Additive Manufacturing Network , it will provide access to on-demand design and engineering expertise, digital tools, and production capacity for industrial 3D printing for the global manufacturing industry. www.siemens.com/plm/ am-network The test and measurement specialist HBM has relocated to the Bedfordshire vehicle testing facility, Millbrook Proving Ground. HBM is owned by Spectris PLC , which has announced that, from January 2019, HBM’s German parent will be merged with another subsidiary , Brüel and Kjaer Sound & Vibration to create a new company called HBK (Hottinger, Brüel and Kjaer) . Camozzi Pneumatics has changed its name to Camozzi Automation , reflecting its expansion into new areas, including electromechanical axes, stepper drives, planetary gearboxes and couplings. Following the acquisition of the electromagnetic design specialist Infolytica by Mentor (a Siemens business), its European sister company, Infolytica Europe , has changed its name to Infologic Design and is acting as an independent reseller, which is not part of the acquisition process. Infologic Design will continue as the only reseller of the Infolytica software in Europe, Russia and the CIS countries. The Japanese motor firm, Nidec, which owns Control Techniques and Leroy-Somer , has made two more acquisitions. It is expanding its appliances business by buying Whirlpool ’s Embraco refrigerator compressor business for $1bn. Embraco employs more than 10,000 people and had sales last year of $1.3bn. Nidec is also buying the US-based Genmark Automation for an undisclosed sum. Genmark makes wafer-handling robots for the semiconductor industry. Stäubli Robotics and Schneider Electric have signed an agreement to integrate customised Stäubli four-axis Scara robots into Schneider’s EcoStruxure Machine platform. The robots, called Lexium STS, will be integrated with Schneider’s PacDrive motion control system, simplifying programming by using a common language based on IEC 61131-3, and reducing the number of interfaces, wiring effort and installation space. The Nuneaton-based solenoid valve specialist Avalco has moved to larger premises to accommodate future expansion plans. It is part of the Fluid Power Centre group of companies. The number of visitors attending the Drives & Controls and associated shows set a new record Drives & Controls Show is another record-breaker DAMIEN OXLEE HAS been appointed director of sales for Drives & Controls magazine, the Drives & Controls Show and associated products. He is taking on the role in addition to his existing position of director of sales for DFA Media’s Plant &Works Engineering Division. “I am really pleased to have the opportunity to run the leadingmagazine for automation, power transmission andmotion control in the UK,”says Oxlee.“For 30 years, Drives & Controls has provided advertisers the perfect platform to reach influential readers, while providing those readers editorial quality and integrity. “Having just finished another excellent Drives & Controls Exhibition, which saw visitor numbers increase by 3% from 2016, I plan to improve on an already excellent portfolio of products, working closely with Tony Sacks and the rest of the team to continue publishing the number one magazine in this market.” Oxlee has taken on his new role with immediate effect.