February 2025 www.drivesncontrols.com 8 n NEWS The Automate UK trade association – formerly the PPMA Group of Associations – has appointed Peter Williamson as its new chairman, succeeding James Causebrook, who has stepped down at the end of his twoyear term. Williamson joined the 600-plus member association’s board in 2017, and has held positions as education director, nance director and CEO/vice-chair, before being appointed as executive chair. Causebrook will now serve as Automate UK’s nance director. Rockwell Automation has appointed Fabrizio Scovenna as its OEM sales director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Scovenna has been with the corporation for almost 35 years in a variety of roles, most recently as sales director, OEM, for Rockwell’s southern EMEA region – a position he has held since 2021. He is also president of the boards of directors of both Sensia and Asem. Scovenna will retain his role as managing director of Rockwell Automation in Italy. WEG’s Turkish gearbox factory will boost its manufacturing capacity outside Brazil WEG is investing around €28m to build a new gearbox manufacturing facility in the Izmir region of Turkey. The 12,000m plant, due to be completed by 2027, will increase the company’s capacity for manufacturing gearboxes and components outside of Brazil. The factory is being built in the city of Manisa, around 35km from Izmir, where WEG recently acquired Volt Electric Motors. Sales from the gearbox plant may be integrated with the industrial motors that WEG produces in the country. The operation will also have synergies with WEG’s gearbox manufacturing facility in Austria (the former Watt Drive business, which it acquired in 2011). “We are optimistic about the growth potential of the industrial gearbox market in Turkey and across Europe,” says Rodrigo Fumo, managing director of WEG’s industrial motors business. “This investment is a strategic step in our journey to expand our presence in the sector, strengthening our commitment to excellence in service, agility in deliveries and innovative solutions that meet the needs of our customers.” WEG has been selling products through local distributors in Turkey for more than 20 years. In 2021, it established its own local commercial structure and, in 2022, opened an electric motor factory in Dilovasi, near Istanbul. WEG currently employs 750 people in the country, and the new investment is expected to create 150 more jobs. Following WEG’s acquisition of Volt Electric Motors last September, a ceremony was held in December to mark the integration of the newly-acquired business. Volt, established in 1987, can produce one million motors a year. The acquisition takes the total number of WEG production facilities around the world to 64. n WEG recently inaugurated a new manufacturing site in Santo Tirso, Portugal, where it will produce medium- and highvoltage motors and drives, and oer services for WEG and third-party motors, drives, transformers and generators. The facility will cut delivery times for products and services, and serve markets in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It will also act as the headquarters for a WEG R&D centre specialising in hazardous area motors. The Portuguese site – spanning more than 100,000m2 – marks an important step in WEG’s European expansion strategy, increasing its competitiveness in the region. As well as the manufacturing and R&D facilities, the site also houses a High Voltage Solutions centre, which includes a 12MVA laboratory designed to make combined motor and drive testing more e¡cient and precise, and establishing a new global benchmark, according to WEG. WEG invests €28m to build a new gearbox factory in Turkey EVENTSSouthern Manufacturing & Electronics 2025 4–6 February, 2025 Farnborough, UK The annual regional event returns to Farnborough, aiming to attract people involved in design, engineering production and procurement. They will be able to see the latest in production hardware, components, consumables and other technologies. The organisers are expecting more than 500 exhibitors and 9,000 visitors. https://www.southern-manufacturingelectronics.com Hannover Messe 2025 Hannover, Germany 31 March – 4 April, 2025 The main exhibition areas for the 2025 industrial megashow will be Smart Manufacturing, Digital Ecosystems, Energy for Industry, Compressed Air & Vacuum Technology, Engineered Parts & Solutions, Future Hub and International Trade & Investment. Drive and uid power technologies will be highlighted in the Motion & Drives areas. The conference programme will include around 1,600 speakers. The partner country for 2025 is Canada. www.hannovermesse.de/en Smart Manufacturing Week 4–5 June, 2025 NEC, Birmingham More than 450 exhibitors and 13,500 visitors are expected at the two-day event that includes the Drives & Controls show, Smart Factory Expo, Maintec, the Air-Tech exhibition, Fluid Power & Systems and the Design+Engineering Expo. Running concurrently are the Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit, the Industrial Data and AI Summit, and the Automation & Robotics Accelerator Symposium. www.smartmanufacturingweek.com 2025 OT Cybersecurity Summit 17-19 June, 2025 Brussels, Belgium This event, organised by ISA, will focus on strategic OT (operational technology) cybersecurity based on the ISA/IEC 63443 standards. It will include various technical tracks, training courses as well as a cyberescape room. https://otcs.isa.org Automatica 2025 24–27 June, 2025 Munich, Germany The smart automation and robotics show will be bigger than in 2023, with more than 500 exhibitors from more than 30 countries expected, a third of whom will be exhibiting for the rst time. There will be more exhibitors from China than ever before. For the rst time, there will be a pavilion devoted to laboratory automation and clinical robotics. https://automatica-munich.com
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