Sheffield Technology Parks (STP) has joined forces with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in a year-long campaign to connect the city’s burgeoning digital and creative community to the region’s diverse manufacturing sector.

A year-long programme of informal meets, part of the AMRC’s fast expanding Digital Meet Manufacturing initiative, will be hosted by STP, where some of the region’s most innovative digital companies
are developing software and programs for a variety of platforms.
For further information www.amrc.co.uk

Scottish engineering specialist Vert Rotors has appointed a new chief executive as the company enters a commercially-focused phase to bring its patented technology to market.

Manufacturing veteran Phil Harris has joined Edinburgh-based Vert from Clear Surgical, a medical device company based in Glasgow. He replaces Vert founder Olly Dmitriev, who set up the company in 2013 to develop a new type of compressor technology that is compact and quieter than traditional twin-screw devices, and capable of continuous running.
For further information www.vertrotors.com

Alba Gaskets has successfully completed a management buy-out (MBO). The announcement was made during a visit to the company’s Altens premises by Minister for Trade, Investment & Innovation, Ivan McKee, MSP.

McKee toured Alba Gaskets’ manufacturing facility and met with key members of the management team. Managing director Gavin Sim and director Sigfrid Ruz, will head up the new company structure. Sim is one of the company’s founders and has more than 21 years’ technical and management experience in the gasket sector.
For further information www.albagaskets.com

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Andrea Leadsom, has officially opened the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s new innovation and knowledge hub for metal additive manufacturing (AM), ahead of a major industrial launch event this week.

In a significant advance for the UK, the hub aims to lead research, development and collaboration on metal AM, developing and testing ideas for taking the technology forward. The hub, in the MTC’s Aerospace Research Centre at Coventry, will be formally launched to industry on 15 October.
For further information www.the-mtc.org

The Hamilton branch of metal-bending expert Barnshaws has delivered 11 rolled steel cylinders to form two deaerator vessels destined for the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea.

Work had to be carried out within three weeks, meeting transport arrangements and ensuring the deaeration vessels could be installed on the offshore platform as quickly as possible. Barnshaws rolled 35 tonnes of steel plate at 16 mm thickness to a diameter of 3.8 m, producing the 11 finished cylinders. Offshore platforms are hazardous working environments where safety and space efficiency are of the utmost importance, so the rolled cylinders had to adhere to stringent quality levels.
For further information www.barnshaws.com