Members’ News
28 Apr 2021
New Technical Role for Nick Brown at Camozzi Automation
A long-standing member of Camozzi Automation’s internal sales team is taking up a new role in the company’s technical department, thanks to the knowledge he has acquired during 10 years with the company.
Former Internal Sales Co-ordinator Nick Brown has become Assistant Technical Manager with the Midlands based firm and is looking forward to getting more involved in the end use of Camozzi’s products.
Says Nick: “I started out in the stores picking and packing, before moving into internal sales and along the way have acquired a comprehensive knowledge of our products and their potential uses, so I am able to offer practical advice on applications.”
He continues: “I am really looking forward to having in depth involvement of whole systems and the role our products play within them. Rather than just dealing with individual component orders, I will now be involved in whole system development and helping customers select the most efficient combination of products to meet their specific needs.”
Camozzi Automation Ltd is renowned in the fluid power industry for the strength of its technical department which, in addition to offering application specific advice, designs and builds control cabinets and systems which integrate electrical and pneumatic components in compact designs.
Improve your pneumatics troubleshooting skills and optimise your production efficiency, says Festo
Would you know what to do if your pneumatic system was experiencing intermittent pressure fluctuations? Are you confident that the component you have just replaced was actually the cause of the fault? How can you extend mean time between failure to optimise productivity?
According to Festo, these are common dilemmas faced by engineers with responsibility for pneumatic systems in industries across the UK. From pharmaceuticals to machine tooling, electronics assembly to food production and packaging, pneumatic systems play a fundamental role in performing, highly repetitive tasks. Understanding how pneumatic systems work and being able to diagnose and correct faults effectively are therefore vital engineering skills.
Drawing on its experiences as a manufacturer and employer, Festo has been running training courses for many years that take engineers through the fundamentals of pneumatic system design and operation. It has recently added a new course, available from July 2021, that focuses on troubleshooting and fault diagnosis to further improve skill levels in the pneumatic systems arena.
Hakan Emince, Head Trainer for Festo Didactic, explains: “The performance of pneumatic systems in industry directly impacts overall equipment effectiveness, productivity and competitiveness. Our new course, Troubleshooting and Maintenance in Pneumatics, offers an introduction to common mistakes, fault finding, maintenance and inefficiency in pneumatics and electro-pneumatics systems. Using a combination of theory and practical exercises, the course aims to improve how engineers approach maintenance of pneumatic systems and enable them to deal with breakdowns more efficiently.”
The practical sessions are used to simulate various common problems, helping delegates to understand reasons and consequences of issues from real life. Among other things, participants will learn how to interpret pneumatic system diagrams, how to establish the root cause of a problem quickly, fix faults faster, and avoid costly downtime; and how to optimise system performance to improve the quality, efficiency and lifecycle of the machine. Aspects such as hazard identification and safety are also covered.
Troubleshooting and Maintenance in Pneumatics is a two-day course and is applicable for personnel in multiple engineering type roles, who already have a grasp of pneumatic system fundamentals. Courses take place at Festo’s dedicated purpose-built training centre in Northampton, although there is an option to run courses at the customer’s site for groups where circumstances allow. If potential attendees are unsure if they are at the correct level for the course then they can complete a free knowledge check via the Festo Didactic website.
For more details about the course and information on cost and course dates, visit: www.festo-didactic.co.uk/training
HydraForce shortlisted for Regional Export & Apprenticeship Awards 2021
HydraForce Hydraulics Ltd, Birmingham based hydraulic manufacturer, is delighted to announce that they have been shortlisted for both the Apprentice of the Year and Export Award at this year’s Made in the Midlands Awards.
The company, which produces hydraulic valves and manifold systems, has been nominated for the Export Award of 2021, alongside six other local businesses. Despite the challenges of the pandemic over the past year, HydraForce has continued to grow its new product portfolio and strengthen its distributor network:
“Like all other businesses, we faced a challenging year in 2020, working with our UK and European partners to meet our customer demands” explains Christine Tolley, Head of Human Resources.
“We could not have achieved what we did without the loyal support and dedication of our employees. We are currently seeing unprecedented growth in our market and are working tirelessly to fulfil customer orders. Being shortlisted once again for this award, is testament to the success of the business and collaboration between all stakeholders.”
The company’s second nomination at this year’s Made in the Midlands Awards goes to HydraForce’s third year engineering apprentice, Ahmad Ford, who has been shortlisted for Apprentice of the Year 2021:
“When initially joining Hydraforce I was looking for a new career path to develop a more challenging and rewarding future. The opportunities I have been given by HydraForce, to not only work on but to lead business critical projects, only reinforces my belief that pursuing an apprenticeship with Hydraforce was the right decision” said Ahmad, after receiving the news of his nomination.
“At the start of this process, it was not my intention to search for any kind of critical acclaim and I feel greatly honored and humbled to have not only been nominated but also shortlisted for the Made in the Midlands Apprentice of the Year award” continues Ahmad. “Whether I am successful or not, I can only say that my desire to pursue a career in engineering has never been stronger and I look forward to continuing my development with HydraForce and progress to a foundation degree, then onto my full honours degree.”
Ahmad is one of six nominees who will be competing for the award in July; with the other contenders shortlisted from other companies in the region including AE Aerospace and Sertec.
HydraForce has seen success at the Made in the Midlands awards in previous years, after being shortlisted for the Export Award in 2019, winning the Apprentice of the Year Award 2019, and achieving Manufacturer of the Year in 2016. This year’s award ceremony will take place on Thursday 15th July at The Burlington Hotel in Birmingham, where the winner of the award categories will be announced.
HydraForce’s four-year apprenticeship scheme has run since 2004 and sees the apprentices study at Birmingham Metropolitan College full-time for their first year. In their second year, apprentices work on-site at HydraForce in different areas of the business, with a day release to college to continue their studies. The current apprenticeship scheme gives the candidates the opportunity to achieve their BTEC, with the company sponsoring them to go onto either HNC or Foundation degree.
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Do you have a company news story we could feature?
BFPA would like to help publicise our BFPA and BFPDA members’ company news (free of charge to members) in our newsletter and / or on our website news page and want to feature more news stories from our BFPA and BFPDA members. Each news item will be set alongside a photo / logo / image (which you would ideally supply) and archived by date. We may also be able to publish on our news pages or send out to a wider media list as well on your behalf.
We would love to hear from you if you have any suitable UK fluid power industry news stories such as:
- Senior staff appointments
- New buildings being opened
- Awards being won / presented
- New industry sales partners announced
- New acquisitions / alliances etc.
- Innovative or unusual projects or case studies
Please send any news items to Sarah Gardner sarah@bfpa.co.uk – we look forward to hearing from you soon!