The 2020 pandemic has brought together some of the greatest minds from some of the most prestigious manufacturers in Britain to design, build, and ship vital medical equipment at very short notice.

Companies as diverse and skilled as Siemens, Rolls Royce, and BAE Systems have pooled their expertise to create large quantities of CPAP ventilators for use in hospitals and surgeries worldwide, in record time.

We are delighted to announce that we've won the 2020 UK Enterprise Award for excellence in Sub-Contracted Machining for Oil and Gas! We were extremely proud to be nominated by our customers for the Best Subcontractor Oil & Gas in the SME Energy & Power Awards at the end of last year and now we have been selected as the overall winner for Best Oil & Gas Subcontractor in the SME News Enterprise Awards 2020.

Although this is not to be formally announced until the end of August, we wanted to announce it as soon as possible to keep the positivity and good news flowing throughout our fabulous industry!

Single stroke honing uses a sequence of gradually larger sized abrading tools to complete a bore in a single cycle whilst using multiple tools. The process is conducted by a special-purpose CNC honing machine, through which the bore diameter and positioning are determined in advance.

Compatible materials for honing include stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel, ceramics, polymer plastic, and glass.

So-called drill wander is a common and frustrating problem in many deep hole drilling operations.

So long as the drilling machine is set up correctly, the drill should – in theory – both enter and exit from the centre point. In practice, however, this rarely happens on deep holes; defined as any hole with a depth to diameter ratio greater than 10 to 1.

This is a company that was set up for UK manufacturers to come together, to innovate as allies and to build networks closer to home.

And we are loving their new term for our wonderful engineering and manufacturing heroes – collaborationeers!

How perfectly this describes us all after the events and amazing achievements we’ve witnessed across the widest range of businesses and industries in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
For the last few months, we have been enjoying and applauding this new ethos of collaboration over competition - and this fabulous concept gives us the platform to harness the recent enthusiasm and recognition for UK manufacturers and manufacturing across the UK.

The last few months have been a time of seismic change for manufacturing industries across the globe. Despite the dark days of uncertainty, beams of hope have illuminated a future filled with potential. Here are some stand-out moments that show how companies have adapted to change.

Are you concerned about the practicalities of re-opening or continuing to trade safely after lockdown? If you’re feeling bewildered about the dates, the regulations, and the potential impact that everything will have on your business, you’re not alone.

Like most people in the UK, we breathed a sigh of relief last week. Although most restrictions are still in place, the atmosphere has changed. Businesses are becoming more optimistic and forward-looking, and are springing into action again across the country. It’s great to see. 

During a tough time for many businesses – ourselves included – it’s often the little things that help us see the bigger picture and sustain our optimism about the future.

Some of you may recall the new Pinacho STH 400 flatbed CNC lathe we announced on our blog back at the end of January? (Just three months past but it seems so much longer ago now!)

Well, the good news is we have recently had the brand-new Pinacho installed and calibrated at our workshop by the T W Ward CNC team. Despite us expecting delays due to the lockdown, the STH 400 Horizontal Turning Centre was delivered on schedule and assembled on site while maintaining full social distancing practices! It’s a great achievement for the T W Ward CNC team and we are extremely proud of our new investment.

There are some occasions in life when you need absolute confidence in the equipment around you. Whether you’re boarding an aircraft for a sunshine destination or being wheeled into an operating theatre in hospital, the equipment you rely on needs to be nothing short of excellent in every respect. In the aerospace industry, tubes, which are generally used in airframes, engines and instrumentation, must be sturdy yet light and able to withstand the most challenging of conditions. In medicine, tubes must offer the utmost reliability, ready to support the most complex of medical procedures without causing additional risks to patient safety.