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26 Nov 2016

Innovations in the Defence Sector

Innovative engineering developments make for good news and when those developments include medical improvements it makes for even happier headlines. In the defence sector, however, the headlines are sometimes more muted, yet there are massive innovations and developments taking place.

Whatever your personal opinion about budgets and spending in the defence sector, the simple fact is that we need military vehicles and equipment on land, in the sea and in the air and they need to be equipped with up to date, modern technology and materials if they are to do their job. And it’s not just vehicles and equipment that matter. Developments in fabrics and communication methods also help personnel to do their jobs as safely as possible. Some of those innovations, while being piloted for military use, may also have huge benefits in other sectors.

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18 Nov 2016

Boom Supersonic Passenger Aircraft Unveiled

Since the withdrawal of Concorde, there has been little news of any supersonic flight service to replace it. In fact development in supersonic passenger aircraft appeared to have stalled with cost and economic viability seeming to be one of the reasons. Concorde, despite being a beautiful aircraft was, after all, a flight service used only by the wealthier in society. But that could be set to change with the unveiling of the Boom supersonic passenger aircraft.

The Boom supersonic passenger aircraft is promising flights from London to New York in 3.5 hours with a return ticket price of $5000 – a similar price to the cost of a current business class flight. Whilst for many of us, this may still be unaffordable, when the flight time is more than halved, it’s a cost many businesses will be more than happy to pay.

The aircraft will have just 40 – 50 seats and the technological and material advancements since Concorde, mean that aircraft can be produced and maintained more cost effectively and those savings can be passed on through the lower ticket price.

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4 Nov 2016

The next generation of UK engineers

Today Sir James Dyson announced that he is to open his own institute to train engineers stating that the UK needs another million engineers in software, hardware and electronics by 2020 if UK companies are to remain competitive.

The institute, based in Malmesbury, Wiltshire will open in the Autumn of 2017 with an initial intake of 25 students and will offer a four year engineering degree in partnership with the University of Warwick. Students will be paid a salary while studying and will not pay tuition fees, but most importantly in the world of engineering, students will work on live projects alongside mentors and research staff allowing them to get hands on, real life experience.

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14 Oct 2016

Why leaves cause delays on the rail network

The weather has turned positively autumnal with a drop in temperature and leaves starting to drop from the trees. At this time of year commuters across the country groan and begin to think about how often the weather is likely to disrupt their daily journey to work. Leaves on the track is frequently put forward as the major reason for causing seasonal disruption to services on our rail network, and whilst at face value the reason sounds a little far-fetched, leaves on the track are in fact, a real safety hazard.

So why do leaves on the rail network cause so many problems? There are 2 key areas where leaves cause problems:

  1. Trains lose their adhesion as the rails become more slippy
  2. Leaves act as an insulator and can disrupt electrical signals on the track.
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7 Oct 2016

Supply chain opportunities come with the approval of Hinckley C

The recent approval for the new nuclear plant at Hinckley Point had businesses across the region breathing a sigh of relief. Hundreds of companies locally and further afield pre-registered to become part of the supply chain solution for EDF Energy and its contractors with the aim of securing long term work in the region. With 90 major tier 1 contractors requiring further supply chain contracts of their own, the opportunities for businesses in and around the region are huge.

Many smaller local businesses took the step to improve their own staff development and training and internal processes with the aim of being ready and able to meet the demands of the project. The project which will take approximately 10 years to complete will provide more than 25000 jobs and have more than 5000 people working on site at any time. It is anticipated that it will provide 900 permanent jobs on completion.

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23 Sep 2016

Hummingbird – the world’s lightest folding bike is ready for testing

British motorsport company Prodrive announced this week that testing of the Hummingbird folding lightweight bike would begin in October, with anticipated production and sales starting early in 2017.

The Hummingbird is the concept of London based designer Petre Cracuin. Petre along with co-founder Ligia Stan has a passion for bikes and the project was born out of their desire to have a lightweight folding bike that was not only a pleasure to ride but was also easy to carry around and looked good. Despite having multiple bikes themselves, they realised there was nothing out there that fitted the bill so Petre set to work to solve the problem and the Hummingbird was born. A folding bike that is comfortable to ride, looks good, is easy to fold and carry and weighs in at an astounding 6.7kg. To put that in perspective, that’s the same as two normal weight domestic cats!

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21 Aug 2016

Siemens testing 707s for South West Trains

In 2014 South West trains introduced electrical multiple units (EMUS) on some routes from London Waterloo. This along with projects to lengthen platforms and trains on other services is just small part of an £800 million investment to improve rail services on the network. In 2015 South West trains ordered a number of Siemens class 707 EMUs for use on the Windsor to London Waterloo commuter service and the first body shell for the 707s was completed in October 2015 at the Siemen’s factory in Germany.

Last month testing of the 707s began in earnest at the Siemen’s dedicated test track in Widenrath, Germany. The state of the art testing site has been designed to test UK fleets to Network Rail standards and should keep disruption to UK train services to a minimum during the testing phase.

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13 Aug 2016

Finishing in manufacturing is as important as starting

When it comes to manufacturing parts or components the way each one is finished reflects the quality of workmanship. If you don’t finish a job properly, then it doesn’t matter how careful you’ve been with the initial production, cutting or moulding, the end product is not going to look good. And the way the end product looks will always have an impact on saleability.

There could, of course, also be an impact on your costs. If your customer is unhappy with the finish of an order, you may have to start all over again, meaning more waste and increased costs. And there’s the health and safety aspect of poor finishing. Rough or sharp edges won’t be acceptable to your customer and may also cause injuries to those working with them.

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14 Jul 2016

Farnborough International 2016 in full swing

Whilst the weather may have put a premature end to the day on Monday, the Farnborough International Air Show is back on track with attendance and business at the trade show thriving.

Statistics earlier in the year were predicting one of the most successful shows yet with increased numbers of international participants in the trade show and conferences, and more dedicated country pavilions. In addition to first time country pavilions for Austria, Brazil, Republic of Ireland and China, Boeing has a special pavilion celebrating their centenary which falls on the Friday of the show.

The show has become the UK’s shop window for all things aviation from the civilian, defence and space sectors

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10 Jun 2016

Longest rail tunnel in the world opens in Switzerland

After nearly 2 decades of construction work, the Gotthard Tunnel, the world’s longest and deepest rail tunnel opened in Switzerland earlier this month.

The tunnel is expected to revolutionise travel between northern and southern Europe by providing a high speed rail link underneath the Swiss Alps, moving freight traffic off the road and onto the rails. It is estimated that more than a million lorry loads of freight will move from road to rail.

Whilst the tunnels have been officially opened scheduled services will not begin until December 2016 when up to 265 freight trains and 65 passenger trains a day are expected to run.

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