Drives & Controls October 2022

n NEWS October 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com 6 DFA MEDIA GROUP has sold the Drives & Controls Show, and its co-located events – Plant & Asset Management, Fluid Power & Systems, Airtech and Smart Industry Expo – to Nineteen Group, which organises the annual Manufacturing + Engineering Week (M+E Week) event at the Birmingham NEC. The terms of the transaction have not been revealed. The deal does not affect Drives & Controls magazine and its Web site, or its sister publications – including Plant & Works Engineering , Hydraulics & Pneumatics and the online portal Smart Futures – which will continue to be published by DFA Manufacturing Media. The Talking Industry series of Webinars and podcasts will not be affected either, and all members of staff will be staying with DFA Manufacturing Media. The five transferred events will join the M+E Week line-up – which already includes the Design Engineering Expo, the Engineering Expo, the Manufacturing Expo and Maintec – in 2024. “Drives & Controls is another exciting addition to the Nineteen family and fits with our strategy to create the leading platform for manufacturing events in the UK,” says Nineteen Group CEO, Peter Jones. “The UK is the ninth-largest manufacturer in the world and is facing a period of unprecedented change which is always the major ingredient for trade show innovation. This event is completely synergistic with the rest of our rapidly growing manufacturing portfolio.” The Drives & Controls Show has been the meeting point for the automation industry since it launched at the Motorcycle Museum in 1991. DFA Media Group CEO Ian Atkinson and MD Ryan Fuller acquired the event in 2004 and relocated the show to the NEC where it has become the leading event in a growing industry driven by the adoption of automation and Industry 4.0. DFA Manufacturing Media will be the lead media partner for the event under its new ownership and will be responsible for producing the show catalogue and promoting the event. It will also have a significant presence at future M+E Week events and will support the events’ development. Haf Cennydd has joined Nineteen Group as exhibition director and will lead the integration of the exhibitions. “This is a fabulous opportunity for the Drives & Controls Show to continue on its growth path and expand as part of a wider group of world-class manufacturing events,” says DFA CEO, Ian Atkinson.“Peter Jones and his team have strong exhibition experience and will invest in the Drives & Controls Show. As lead media partner, we will work closely with Haf and the team at Nineteen to ensure the sector has lots of touch points throughout the year.” DFA Manufacturing Media’s MD, Ryan Fuller adds: “This also allows DFA Manufacturing Media to focus more heavily on developing its content-related products and electronic/digital products closely aligned to the Drives & Controls brand.” DFA Media sells Drives Show to Nineteen Group but keeps the magazine p Leadec , the German factory services supplier, has bought the UK automation specialist and systems integrator Elmleigh Electrical Systems for an undisclosed sum. Elmleigh’s customers include some of the biggest names in food and beverage and parcel distribution in the UK and Europe. Elmleigh will complement Leadec’s US parcels subsidiary Diversified Automation and add its F&B expertise – two markets in which Leadec wants to expand. Hinckley- based Elmleigh employs more than 50 people, supported by more than 120 contractors, and has completed more 7,600 projects worldwide. p Volkswagen has placed an order for 1,300 Fanuc robots to be installed at four European plants during 2022 and 2023. Most will go to a VW plant in Slovakia, with others being used to produce VW’s ID.3 EV model due to enter production in Wolfsburg, Germany, next year. Other robots are destined for Audi plants in Hungary and a battery assembly plant in Germany. p The Routeco Group has acquired a majority stake in Autologic Systems , an Oxfordshire supplier of simulation products, consulting and related services. Autologic is a reseller of Rockwell Automation ’s Emulate3D digital twin software, developed by a UK software firm that Rockwell bought in 2019. Autologic’s managers and employees are staying with the business. Details of the deal have not been disclosed. p The number of manufacturing businesses in the UK shrank by 9.6% last year, from 270,000 to 244,140, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). By comparison, the total number of businesses in the UK fell by 1.5% during 2021. Turnover in the manufacturing sector fell by 9.2%, from £636bn to £577bn, while the number of people employed in manufacturing fell by 1.7%. p Following its acquisition of the Spanish autonomous mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer Asti Mobile Robotics last year, ABB Robotics is rebranding its AMR portfolio under the Flexley name. The first models to be released, Flexley Tug and Flexley Mover, cover applications such as towing, transportation of loads up to 2,000kg, as well as lifting and transporting racks, containers, and pallets up to 1,500kg. ABB is also planning to incorporate an AI-based navigation technology from the Swiss start-up Sevensense Robotics , in which it took a stake last year, to help robots to navigate complex environments. NEWS BRIEFS The Drives & Controls Show will join the Nineteen Group’s M+E week in 2024 At the recent PPMA show in Birmingham, Schneider Electric unveiled its first cobot (collaborative robot). The 18kg device is capable of moving loads of up to 3kg. A version capable of handling up to 8kg is due to be released in early 2023. Schneider believes there is gap in the market for cobots of this size. The Lexium cobot can programmed using a wireless terminal. It can either operate independently using its own built-in controller, or be integrated with other robots via Schneider’s PacDrive control technology. The cobot is compatible with Schneider’s EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin, and can be tested virtually before being implemented in the real world. Pricing is said to be “competitive”.