TPT November 2017

I NDUS T RY

Unison to open US manufacturing facility TUBE-bending solutions provider

has been investing heavily in research and development in robotics, lasers and software, and during 2018 will be bringing several new products to the US market. Unison has been providing tube bending solutions for more than 40 years, working closely with customers to design and build pioneering tube bending technology.

Creek Centre Industrial Park, jointly owned by the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. Julian Kidger, joint managing director, commented, “We are incredibly excited about the benefits this facility will give our existing and future customers. Our plan includes the creation of 35 new jobs in the next three years. “It will be fantastic to genuinely be able to label our machines as Made in America. Supporting our customers’ needs is hugely important to us. Many of our initial hires for the US will be dedicated to service and support, ensuring a rapid and professional response for all customers.” Over the last three years Unison

Unison Ltd is increasing its manu- facturing capacity and opening a new factory in Virginia, USA. This will be Unison’s second manufacturing facility, establishing the company’s production capabilities in the USA. The new factory in Danville, Virginia, is intended to support the activities of the plant in North Yorkshire, UK, which has witnessed a manufacturing growth that is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe announced that Unison will invest $5.2mn to establish its first US manufacturing operation in the Cane

Unison Ltd – UK Email: sales@unisonltd.com Website: www.unisonltd.com Unison Tube LLC – USA Email: enquiries@unisonltd.com Website: www.unisonltd.com

BLM group presents latest innovations BLM Group recently hosted Intube, the company’s biennial open house in Levico Terme, Italy. The event allowed guests to view BLM Group’s entire range of tube processing innovations and its Industry 4.0 concept.

‘Changing the point of view’ has been a topic the BLM Group has been working on for many years: to consider production as a whole, instead of the effect of successive, independent and disconnected processes, and to shift attention from the individual processes to the finished piece and from the machine to the product. During Intube XVII, guests witnessed the BLMelements software suite import a three-dimensional model of a finished product and identify the individual processes of laser cutting, bending and cutting in order to assign them to the various production systems. The programmer is able to intervene, if necessary, but will always be able to see the piece as a whole, without the need to process individual steps or consider what happens upstream or downstream, since BLMelements does it automatically for them. One of the key concepts of Industry 4.0 is integration. It is not enough to design with only the finished product in mind. It is important to integrate the various stages of the production process. It is essential the machines communicate with each other to obtain the best result in as little time as possible. A production

The BLM open house event

found on several of BLM’s systems align fully with this trend. It is not often discussed, but the transfer of intelligence within production is an ongoing and inevitable process. Increasingly advanced functions make the crucial decisions that determine the success of the machining or final quality of the product, according to BLM. In short ‘The Future Is Calling’ is a call that cannot be ignored, said BLM Group. Advanced technology, automation solutions, integrated project visibility and management are the basis for building a solid future with performance, integration, innovation and safety.

management system must broaden the vision to the entire value chain to make the complete production process more efficient and effective. BLM Group has been active in this field for some time and offered many examples of technological evolution at Intube XVII, fromcells withmachines that always communicate with one another to the applications in the ProTube Enterprise package, an efficient and practical management and control tool for the entire production process of tube machining. The systems are also required to allow interaction with operators quickly, in a simple and intuitive way. To simplify man-machine interaction means to offer greater work safety and efficiency. The new graphical user interfaces that are

BLM Group – Italy Email: blm@blm.it Website: www.blmgroup.com

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NOVEMBER 2017