It is nearly 25 years since I came to the UK and throughout this time I have tirelessly tried, like many others, to change perceptions of engineering, to inspire young people to consider the opportunities of such an amazing discipline, to attract more women to the profession. All, to little, or no avail.

We need more engineers. The world needs them desperately to solve the challenges we are facing, and to prevent those we cannot even imagine yet. But no, we have failed, time and again, to convince parents and children, in this country, that engineering is not just a functional but a noble career.

 Barcelona (Spain), October, 6th, 2021.- BCN3D, a leading 3D printing solutions manufacturer, has announced a complete reinvigoration of its current BCN3D Cloud platform. The new web-based cloud will allow companies to scale up their additive manufacturing (AM) operations and make entire printing workflows more efficient, controlled, and easier than ever before.

The introduction of the new software follows a number of hardware innovations at BCN3D - including the recently launched Smart Cabinet - which were developed to meet rapidly growing demand for 3D printing.

The new BCN3D Cloud centralises all aspects of remote printer and resource management into one place for the easy implementation of a systematic workflow. Bringing a completely renewed experience and interface for users, BCN3D’s new platform is available under three different plans - Standard, Teams and Private.

The BCN3D Cloud Standard plan is included for all BCN3D customers (Epsilon Series and Sigma D25) and is ideal for driving the adoption of additive manufacturing within companies. Its main features are the digital library, queues management, organising and prioritising print jobs and clusters. These allow users to group printers according to their different characteristics or capabilities and to view statistics for real-time analysis.

The BCN3D Cloud Teams allows advanced organisations to administrate a departmental structure with customised roles and permissions for members. This plan also includes the Workflows feature, which enables several workflows to be created to effectively manage and control the printing process, all the way from design to the final piece. Depending on the role, some users can add files to the workflow while others are responsible for managing the printing process. The Teams plan will be available from late October onwards for a three-month probation period and will then be priced at 495€ per year (595$/year).

The BCN3D Cloud Private is an on-demand plan for corporations with very specific privacy and security requirements.

Daniel Arroyo, Chief Software Officer of BCN3D, said: “The integration of AM processes is becoming more critical for BCN3D’s clients because the applications are more demanding, with BCN3D machines often printing for more than 12 hours a day on average. With increasing printed part volumes, more people, and more machines interacting, the workflow needs to be robust and seamless. To support those customer needs, our vision is to provide software layers that add value to the hardware, effectively closing the circle of an enterprise-level solution.”

The new cloud is available from 13 October. BCN3D is hosting a live webinar on October 18th at 3pm. BCN3D’s Chief Software Officer Daniel Arroyo is on hand for a full walkthrough of the new BCN3D Cloud.

2021 has been key in the development of BCN3D’s software vision, with the release of the new slicer BCN3D Stratos and the addition of the integration with Teton Simulation’s SmartSlice for print parameter optimisation. Alongside this, BCN3D has also worked with Autodesk to include BCN3D printers in Fusion 360, to offer users a fast-tracked printing process. The new cloud has been built based on the Astroprint IP, a 3D printing software company known for its sophisticated cloud solutions, which was acquired by BCN3D in July.

Keeping pace with the continuously growing AM market, BCN3D now focuses on the automotive, manufacturing, and engineering sectors, which typically produce functional parts, tooling and low volume batches. The company's transition from entry-level to workbench machines started in 2019 with the release of the BCN3D Epsilon and the materials partnership with BASF Forward AM and Mitsubishi Chemical. Later in 2020, BCN3D completed the Epsilon Series by launching the Smart Cabinet which ensures filaments are consistently kept at optimal humidity levels.

Plants such as water treatment facilities and food and beverage factories rely on a large range of process instrumentation – quite obviously, without accurate readings of parameters such as flow rates, pressures and temperatures, their operations would grind to a rapid halt.

Devices such as flow meters and pressure transmitters perform this vital work, but is enough attention paid to the health of these instruments – who monitors the monitor and how is it done in a way that improves the efficiency and performance of the whole plant?

Today’s process instrumentation is largely digitally based. As such they produce a wealth of information, not only about the behaviour of the parameters they are designed to measure, but also about their own performance and accuracy. Many modern devices can check their own circuitry, help with their own calibration and evaluate their own performance.

Face-to-face seminar on 23 and 24 November: Okuma presents technologies that enable efficient tool and mould making

Krefeld (Germany), 14 October 2021. State-of-the-art, digitally connected solutions offer manufacturers real opportunities when manufacturing tools and moulds. Okuma is proud to show what the future of this demanding industry is and demonstrate how companies can increase their productivity with custom-fit machine solutions at an exclusive face-to-face seminar on 23 and 24 November at the company’s European headquarters in Krefeld, Germany. During a guest presentation by the Aachen WBA Tooling Academy, participants will discover how to raise their production to the next level with innovative functions. There will be live demonstrations of different types of machines and the added value they provide.

Brammer Buck & Hickman, the UK’s leading supplier of industrial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services, is hosting a new webinar on 21^st October, presented by SKF, on bearings in the food & drink industry.

The new webinar, designed for engineers and those responsible for operations and maintenance, examines the key issues that impact on bearings in the food & drink sector, with a focus on reducing risk when it comes to food safety.  It identifies bearings that are best suited to this industry, including a preview of the latest products and technologies due to be released shortly.  The value of technology upgrades is covered, using real world examples, along with how to manage lubrication as a strategy.

The webinar will be presented by Brammer Buck & Hickman’s dedicated SKF Bearings Product Manager, Alan Stewart, and hosted by David Oliver, Channel and Platform Manager Bearings and Units, Industry Manager - Food and Beverage at SKF UK.  David is well known and respected, with 16 years at SKF and over 40 years in the industry, so his knowledge and insight is invaluable.  The Q&A session held at the end of the webinar is an ideal opportunity to quiz these bearings experts!

To register on the free webinar on bearings in the food & drink sector on 21^st October visit here. There are two sessions available on the day, 10.30am and 2.00pm, lasting 45 minutes per session.

Brammer Buck & Hickman is part of the Rubix group. With turnover of more than €2.3 billion in 2018, Rubix is Europe’s largest supplier of industrial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services.   For more information, go to uk.rubix.com

Benzene is regularly ranked as one of the top 20 most commonly used chemicals in industrial manufacturing, particularly in the USA and China. While this hydrocarbon has a range of practical applications and uses, including in plastics, resins, rubbers and synthetic fibres, the risks associated with benzene are not to be underestimated. Benzene must be carefully monitored to mitigate the risk of exposure, but with correct management benzene can be applied in a variety of useful ways.

ION Science, the UK’s leading OEM for PID (photoionisation detection) technology, VOC (volatile organic compound) gas analysis, and monitoring, is an expert in protecting against benzene exposure. Working with a variety of industries that use benzene in their applications, ION Science has developed an experienced team who are able to advise, protect and manage benzene exposure in a range of situations.

Sometimes, I do despair.

I’ve just read a glowing article about how some cast iron mixers – not surprisingly – failed in a food waste application at a biogas plant.

The article then gives a rosy description about how these failing cast iron mixers have been replaced by………….another brand of cast iron mixers!

I despair of course because I don’t think you have to be a certified, professional engineer to know that with food waste’s typical low pH, stainless steel mixers should be used – not cast iron!

What a waste of time and what a waste of money to address the same low pH problem with more cast iron that is doomed to fail – yet the article isn’t shy of telling the reader just how wonderful and fluffy this all is for the environment. In a short space of time, they no doubt won’t be showing us the pictures of the failed mixers on their merry way to the scrapheap.

JJ Churchill, precision engineering specialists, completed their annual Placement Programme in July after a year of post-pandemic recovery and business growth. The programme began several years ago and has brought in four students to bring fresh ideas into the business.

The company provides a positive work experience for many locals and placement students by applying best practice to their task and duties. A main goal for the company is to continue their sustainable growth by continuing the annual placement programme and building their future workforce and enabling the individual to develop professionally and personally to improve their employment opportunities.