Johannes Brinkmann (51) was 40 years old when he had to file for the insolvency of the family-run tool and mould making company. In this interview, the current managing director of the form & function company from Hesse talks, among other things, about how this came about, how he assesses the current situation of the industry and why he would like to pass on his wealth of experience in good time.

April has come to an end and it is time to finally summarise what the standard parts specialist Hasco has added to its portfolio in recent months.

Moulding Expo is this year’s most important trade fair for the European tool and mould making industry. The event offers an opportunity to come together to explore current trends and challenges. 400 exhibitors have registered, with more than a third coming from abroad.

With the latest update of the Solid Works Database, Hasco is providing its customers with an exclusive tool with around 100 further products. The parametric data allows simple and precise working.

30-taper vertical machining centre (VMC) manufacturer Brother, Japan, has introduced a new 5-axis model with a swivelling rotary table, the Speedio U500Xd1. Despite having a nominal footprint of just 1.5 x 2 metres, it is capable of multi-face machining of components up to 500 mm diameter by 270 mm high and weighing up to 100 kg.

In the opinion of Hurco Europe, one of the exhibitors at this year’s Southern Manufacturing & Electronics exhibition, held from 7th to 9th February 2023 at the Farnborough International Exhibition Centre, the show certainly delivered in terms of visitor footfall and customer enquiries.

Founded almost 40 years ago, Travelling Wire was a business that needed updating, until Richard Weller bought the company just over six years ago. The change of ownership has brought a completely new lease of life to the company, and it has invested heavily — especially in Mitsubishi spark and wire EDM machines.

With Kelch's modular concept, companies receive individual support in setting up and expanding their Smart Factory. The so-called Smart Factory Services are tailored to the needs of machining companies and consist of modules that can be combined individually.

The developer of Vericut verification, simulation and optimisation software, CG Tech, has expanded its team of sales professionals in response to growing customer demand.

Highly complex contour areas required the smallest cutter diameters with 5-µm accuracy on 384 measuring fields, and extremely long machine runtimes: The Spe-Chip microfluidic sample carrier mould was in a league of its own. The toolmaking department at Erwin Quarder Systemtechnik in Espelkamp in Germany's Eastern Westphalia managed the project — with support from Moldino.