October 2020

n NEWS October 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com 6 THE DRIVES & CONTROLS SHOW and the other industrial exhibitions organised by DFA Media, which were due to take place at the Birmingham NEC in January 2021, have been postponed to 5–7 April 2022. They will run alongside the Mach exhibition – the UK’s largest manufacturing trade event – which has also been rescheduled. DFA decided to reschedule the events as a result of the continuing uncertainty over the Covid-19 pandemic, and following the Government’s announcement that it was going to the delay the restart of events such as trade shows from the 1 October date that it had announced in July. The DFA events being postponed are Drives & Controls, Smart Industry Expo, Plant & Asset Management, Fluid Power & Systems and Air-Tech. They will now take place from 5–7 April 2022 in Halls 9 and 10 at the Birmingham NEC – the same halls they would have occupied for the January 2021 event. “As a responsible events organiser, ensuring the health and well-being of all our exhibitors, contractors and visitors – many of whom face travel restrictions – has to be our top priority,” says DFA Media’s events director, Ian Atkinson. “Therefore, as a consequence of the continued global situation, the social distancing restrictions and the requirements of our exhibitors, we have taken the decision to postpone the events until April 2022. “The rescheduled dates in April 2022 provide clarity and ensure we have time and space to deliver the same high-quality event we promised,” he adds, “providing a safe and secure environment conducive to business, networking and career development for the manufacturing sector that we serve. The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), which owns and runs the Mach exhibition on behalf of the industry, asked its exhibitors whether they wanted to go ahead with the January 2021 dates. “The overwhelming sentiment was that to minimise the risks to visitors and exhibitors and to provide the best possible platform for both, the event should be moved to April 2022,” the MTA says. Mach will now be held at the NEC from 4–8 April, 2022. All of the exhibitors that had booked for Mach in 2021 have been offered the same space at the 2022 event. “We believe that this decision – which has not been taken lightly – is in the best interests of the industry and those who work in it,” says MTA CEO, James Selka. The MTA, he adds, is planning to launch a virtual platform which, “will perfectly complement the live show in 2022”. www.drives-expo.com www.machexhibition.com Drives & Controls show is rescheduled to April 2022 p ABB is investing around £34m in new r&d facilities and office space for its Motion and Industrial Automation Business in Turgi, Switzerland. The investment will enable ABB to strengthen its position in high- growth areas and to expand its innovation capabilities. Construction of the 7,000m 2 building is due to start in the spring of 2021, and to be ready for occupation by 2024. p The European Commission has opened an investigation into Eaton ’s planned $3.3bn sale of its hydraulics business to Danfoss . The Commission is concerned that the proposed sale, announced earlier this year, may reduce competition in the supply of hydraulic components for mobile machinery. Danfoss and Eaton both produce hydraulic components globally. p The US was the biggest export market for UK manufacturers in 2019 – with sales expanding by 19% to reach £54.4bn – but almost half of the UK’s exports (46%) went to Europe, with the top six EU markets accounting for around a third of total exports, worth £169bn. The figures come from UK Manufacturing Facts, 2020/21 , published by the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK and Santander UK . p The computer-aided engineering software provider Eplan has announced that from 1 August 2021, it will be selling licences for its products on a subscription basis only. It says the change will offer more convenient terms and flexibility to customers. The new subscription model is available immediately, but customers can continue to buy new or additional perpetual licences until July 2021. www.eplan.co.uk p ABB has acquired the Dutch delta robot manufacturer Codian Robotics , whose products includes a hygienic line, suitable for food, beverage and pharmaceutical applications. The deal accelerates ABB’s involvement in the expanding field of delta robots. Codian Robotics employs 20 people and will continue to serve its customers directly. p The Southampton industrial software developer Senseye has secured funding from two Japanese investors, NTT Docomo Ventures and Sony Innovation Fund , to expand into Japan and boost r&d on its AI technologies. Its Senseye PdM predictive maintenance system is used by some of the world's biggest companies. It claims to be the first asset management company to guarantee to save industrial users money if they adopt its systems. The next Drives & Controls show will now take place in April 2022 NEWS BRIEFS ATLAS COPCO IS buying the US automated metrology supplier Perceptron for $68.9m in cash and plans to add it to its newly created machine vision division, which it formed after buying the German machine vision specialist Isra Vision for $1.19bn earlier this year. Perceptron specialises in automated 3D measurement, robot guidance and coordinate measuring systems. It has around 300 employees, and in the last fiscal year generated revenues worth $62.3m. “Flexible automation and in-line quality control on the production line are two strong trends where we want to support our customers in their transition towards digital manufacturing”, says Henrik Elmin, president of Atlas Copco’s Industrial Technique business. “Through Perceptron’s position in automated metrology and robot guidance, together with the recent acquisition of Isra Vision, we are creating a strong offering in machine vision solutions and extending the smart factory automation business. Atlas Copco adds Perceptron to Isra to expand its new machine vision division