The Mach 12 exhibition at the NEC is held every two years to showcase the machine tool industry and associated products.

The global, quality, and precision aspects of this industry were demonstrated by the number of Formula 1 cars on display.

Machining is an important secondary function that is of significant importance to us, especially when manufacturing specials.

Useful contacts were made with tooling and quality equipment suppliers.

We visited the bi-annual Wire & Tube exhibition which was held in March 2012 in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Hall 15 housed the large display of fastener machinery and associated suppliers.  This exhibition prides itself in being the most important of its type in Europe.

On the Nedschroef stand, they were featuring the latest generation of high speed multi-station cold forging machines.  The machine pictured below is the Nedform 6-die cold former.

The machine was set up to produce both the washer and the spline shaft which are illustrated in the pictures below.

The parts are complicated enough to produce yet the time witnessed to change from the one to the other was less than 5 minutes – truly amazing!  This speed of change is made possible by the computer and electronic controls featured on this machine.

A number of new manufacturing ideas were noted and contacts were made, which will ensure that our production capability is at the top of its class.

Smith Bullough manufactures bolts which can be used in the Nuclear and Renewable energy industries.

This video demonstrates the use of a Sorting Bridge in our QA Department.

A Sorting Bridge allows the user to separate mixed batches if items with equivalent dimensions but differing material types become mixed.

If the material of the sample matches the test piece, a sinusoidal waveform is produced.  If the material of the sample does not match the test piece, the waveform is inconsistent.

We are delighted to help the local economy.

There was a good level of interest in our manufactured bolts at this important exhibition for the On & Off Shore Wind Industry.

Many visitors were pleased to learn that certain sectors of the bolt manufacturing industry are still able to flourish in the UK.

Our stand is hosted by Envirolink North West.

We are now able to analyse many material types including Carbon, Alloy, Stainless Steel & Aluminium.

Obviously, the chemical composition of the raw material that is used to produce a fastener is all important.

We are one of the few fastener companies who have an in house capability to undertake material analysis.

This Spectromax analyser will be an important addition to the equipment in our Quality department.

Tim Garton and Peter Standring, Technical Secretary of the IMfT, visited the Advanced Forming Research Centre in September.

This world class research centre pioneers forming and forging techniques to support the manufacturing industry.  It was officially opened in January this year by HRH the Duke of York, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg visited in March 2011.

We are indebted to Professor Jeff Brooks for hosting our visit to this new and exciting metal forming centre, which is based in Inchinnan close to Glasgow airport.

Smith Bullough were invited at the beginning of March to attend a workshop held at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Park Technology Centre.

A group of industrialists and academics received presentations from Professor Andrew Sherry and Stephen Clements, Nuclear ARMC Programme Manager, as well as one from John Roberts of Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester.  John visited our Company last year.

After lunch we toured the Aerospace Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre – Factory of the Future – significantly funded by Boeing and Rolls Royce.

The ongoing construction work at the Nuclear AMRC can be seen on the picture below.

We then took part in a Breakout session that was facilitated by Parsons Brinckerhoff on Quality and Accreditation.  We are pleased that our existing systems and procedures ensure that we are compliant for this industry.