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GROWTH IN USE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
The use of nanotechnology in industry is becoming increasingly important wherever complex geometries are required or the process demands very high shape accuracy to micron tolerances and equally precise surface qualities.
Examples of machining applications include optical components, injectors for the automobile industry and spinning nozzles for the textile industry.
A suite of solid carbide microdrills designed to meet the exacting requirements of micro and ultra-precision machining technology in the nano-range has
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NATIONAL MANUFACTURING SKILLS ACADEMY LAUNCHED
A new £14m national academy to raise manufacturing skills is to be launched by Alistair Darling, Trade and Industry Secretary. He will call for a ‘national mission’ to lift skill levels to compete with the growing economic powerhouses of China and India.
The new academy is one of a series set up by Government across sectors of industry. It will deliver courses designed for the first time by industry for industry, training 40,000 students a year by 2012. Some of the biggest names in British manufacturing Rolls
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A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR BIO FUEL
Biofuels are attractive replacements for gasoline and are rapidly penetrating fuel markets as low concentration blends.
The term ‘biofuel’ means that the fuel is produced from natural plant sources which are completely renewable. In addition, they are environmentally friendly because they reduce CO2 emissions, reduce our dependence on finite fossil fuels and help revitalise rural economies.
Small companies in the biotechnology industry have begun to supply advanced fermentation techniques for conversion of l
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CHINESE CLOTHING SLUMP
China’s textile exporters suffer close to $1 billion in lost profits for every 1 percent increase in the value of the yuan, a leading textile industry association has discovered.
Beijing has often said that one reason it cannot allow the currency to appreciate too quickly is because of the harm it could do to the margin-thin sector, which employs close to 20 million people.
Sun Huaibin, spokesman for the China National Textile and Apparel Council, said that for every percent rise in the yuan against the dollar
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BUSH TO PROMOTE ETHANOL IN BRAZIL
US President George W Bush is visiting Brazil in an effort to promote ethanol as a world commodity and alternative to petroleum.
Brazil and the United States account for about 70 percent of world ethanol output.
The United States recently displaced Brazil as the world’s biggest producer but Brazil remains the most efficient.
A pioneer in biofuels, Brazil began its sugar cane-based ethanol program 30 years ago when it was importing nearly 90 percent of its oil needs. The bulk of U.S. ethanol production is co
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KEEPING AHEAD OF THE GAME
With some major legislative changes in the pipeline this year, Industrial Focus sought advice from legal expert Brian McLelland to bring you and your business bang up to date
Anumber of bills will be presented to Parliament this year and will mark the end of the Blair era. When added to a number of acts that are not yet in force, their effect is likely to be fundamental and wide ranging for SMEs.
Firstly, limited companies and LLPs are affected by The Companies Act 2006 which will roll out over the coming year.
The f
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LEAN, MEAN AND GREEN
GREEN ISSUES will be increasingly enforced by the law. The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations came into force on January 2 (though compliance does not start until the summer), implementing the provisions of the EU WEEE Directive in the UK.
The Directive is intended to persuade producers to design more eco-friendly products, which can be more effectively re-used and recycled to reduce future levels of waste.
Under the proposals, manufacturers and importers will be responsible for ensuring tha
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SMALL MANUFACTURERS LOSING OUT ON £20M
Small manufacturing businesses are missing out on a whopping £20m each year by sticking with banks that don??t give them the best deal on their current account, according to new research released today by Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank.
The research found that it is the crippling charges for handling cash that are costing manufacturing businesses, with a turnover of less than £1m a year, the most. Collectively small manufacturing businesses could claw back more than £12m on cash transactions alone if they cho
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KEYBOARD CULTURE PUTS WORKERS AT RISK
Hours spent chained to the desk, Googling through lunch breaks and evenings spent surfing the internet or watching TV are all putting the UK??s workers at risk of a back pain epidemic, according to one of the country??s top ergonomics experts.
Tom Stewart, MD of System Concepts, which has provided advice to the World Health Organisation and regularly provides advice to the HSE and major blue chip companies on the impact on health of working habits, blames remaining inactive at a desk for hours on end as one of the bigg
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WORD CELEBRATES 18TH BIRTHDAY
Microsoft Word for Windows, is turning 18. Word was originally the ?´Bravo?? product, brought to Microsoft from Xerox Palo Alto Research centre by Charles Simonyi in 1981.
While many credit Simonyi as the ?´Father of Word,?? Microsoft Corporate Vice President Peter Pathe has been the program??s legal guardian throughout the ?´windows era?? beginning in 1989.
Pathe is credited with introducing key innovations to the product line and with early recognition of the shift from print to online documents in the workplace
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| Brains and beauty |
Furness and West Cumbria’s West Coast is about to experience a major investment that will strengthen the tourism and industry s ...
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| National Stadium, Beijing |
At the pinnacle of its construction, the National Stadium in Beijing had 7,000 workers toiling over the infrastructure. ...
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No smoke without fire
It seems that commentators, industry heads, central bankers and, dare I say it, Industrial Focus’s own journalists have made so ...
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Innovation for the nations
Hope for the future has arisen from the turmoil of the last few months, as industrial technologies have spun out some marvels o ...
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Supposedly the construction
materials of the future, composites are increasingly seen in
applications where optimum efficiency is paramount including
aircraft construction and renewable energy. As two research
examples show in this video, composites really are the future
for efficiency.
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