August 2021

July/August 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com 10 The Powys-based robotics and automation specialist, RMGroup, has appointed MarkTucker as managing director. He will work with the existing board, consisting of previous MD, Edward Rees, who becomes chairman, Rosie Davies , commercial director, Edward Pugh , sales director, and Thomas Rees , technical director. The Association for Electrical and Mechanical Trades (AEMT) has appointed Shaun Sutton as honorary president, following two years as vice-president. Sutton, who succeeds ABB’s David Hawley , is a director at the rotating machinery repair specialist, Central Group. James Stephens , global sales and marketing director at the high-voltage motor coil manufacturer, PreformedWindings, has taken over as AEMT vice- president having previously been treasurer. Camozzi Automation has promoted its Northern key account manager Les Brogden to head of UK sales. Brogden, who has spent 23 years in sales roles, joined Camozzi eight years ago. In his new position he will continue to work with some strategic accounts on a project basis, while supporting Camozzi’s external sales team. Prof Miles Elsden has been appointed to lead a £45m research centre at the University of York dedicated to the safe operation of robots and autonomous systems. He will oversee the Institute for Safe Autonomy, which is due to open this year with a staff of about 100. Earlier, Elsden worked for several government departments, most recently as chief scientist at the Department for Transport. ln 2015, he left to work for a US AI company and to run a consultancy. n NEWS PRICES OF VARIABLE-SPEED DRIVES (VSDs) have risen by 2–5% as drives manufacturers continue to battle component shortages, rising materials costs and transportation problems. The latest analysis from Interact Analysis suggests that high-performance drives, which need more powerful processors, have been hit harder than general-purpose drives which use simpler processors that are easier to source. According to Interact, revenues in the drives market fell by 5–10% in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the first half of the year saw a steep drop in sales, many suppliers experienced a strong performance during the second half of the year. Now, as economies reopen, the after-effects of Covid-19 are becoming “glaringly apparent”, according to Interact analyst, Brianna Jackson. Global shutdowns hindered production around the world, she says, leaving manufacturers unprepared to meet the increase in demand when markets started to bounce back. Almost all drive components are experiencing shortages and/or raised prices, according to Interact. This means that end- product lead times and prices are rising as drive suppliers work to protect what margin they can, while continuing to serve their core customers. Interact predicts that, due to the semiconductor shortage, the product mix in the drives market will skew towards general-purpose drives, while high-performance drives will continue to face component sourcing issues. It expects this to be a short-term issue that will be resolved as supply chains normalise. The supply chain is also experiencing price hikes for materials such as steel, copper and even cardboard. These trends have left drives suppliers resorting to spot buying to procure components and materials. One work-around that is becoming more common is re-branding. Some suppliers that have coped better with the supply problems have found a new revenue stream by rebranding drives for other suppliers that are struggling to produce their own. The cost of transporting goods has become another major headache with drives vendors having difficulty securing shipping containers, as well as facing double-digit increases in transportation costs. The cost of hiring a 40ft container has risen nearly four-fold over past year, recently peaking at around $6,000. The rising transportation costs, coupled with component shortages, have caused drive suppliers to pass the costs onto consumers, raising drives prices by 2–5%. www.interactanalysis.com Component and transport problems push up VSD prices by around 2–5% One problem faced by drives suppliers has been the soaring cost of container transport PPMA Show 28–30 September, 2021 NEC, Birmingham The processing, packaging, machine vision and robotics event, organised by the Processing and PackagingMachinery Association, returns to the NEC as a three- day event withmore than 300 exhibitors, andmore than 1,500 brands, from the UK and Europe. Every aspect of the production line will be represented, from labelling, filling and packaging, to processing, robotics, automation and industrial vision systems. More than 8,000 visitors are expected. www.ppmashow.co.uk Engineering Design Show 19–20 October, 2021 Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry Described as the UK’s only event dedicated to engineering, electronics and embedded design, the EDS will be championing the UK’s engineering heroes with a dedicated area looking at the work done on the ventilator challenge. A two-day conference will run in parallel with the show, which will have more than 200 exhibitors. www.engineeringdesignshows.co.uk Advanced Engineering 03–04 November, 2021 NEC, Birmingham The manufacturing and engineering event returns for its 12th year, offering an opportunity for the UK manufacturing supply chain to source innovation and technology across multiple sectors. More than 90% of the exhibitor space has been sold. The Enabling Innovation zone is returning, hosting ten start-ups and innovators, and showcasing their inventions and innovations. In 2019, more than 10,000 visitors attended the show. www.advancedengineeringuk.com SPS (Smart Product Solutions) 23–25 November, 2021 Nuremberg, Germany SPS returns as a hybrid event with the online“SPS on air”running in parallel with the physical show in Nuremberg, giving people around the world the opportunity to take part in the event. An on-site studio will broadcast a programme of presentations and discussion panels covering topics such as digitalisation, Industry 4.0, communications, robotics, AI, visualisation and control. https://sps.mesago.com/nuernberg/en.html Drives & Controls 2022 05 - 07 April, 2022 NEC, Birmingham, UK The Drives & Controls exhibition and co-located events return to the NEC covering areas including automation, robotics, drives, machine safety, energy efficiency and motion control. A live robotic demonstration area will reflect this dynamic sector. Running alongside the Drives exhibition will be the Air-Tech, Fluid Power & Systems, Smart Industry Expo and Plant & Asset Management exhibitions, as well as the Mach show. www.drives-expo.com