Kuka Robotics – Automation celebrated 30 years of operation in the UK and a new name by holding an Open Week at its UK headquarters in Halesowen, at which a diverse range of products and application solutions were exhibited. On show was the RoboCoaster, the “world's first passenger carrying...

Purpose – To review manufacturing automation products and technology on show at Interplas 2005, the UK's premier exhibition of equipment for the plastics and rubber industry. Design/methodology/approach – Some of the automation products on display at the show are highlighted, particularly...

Hozelock is a major user of plastics in its garden equipment products, and since flotation in 1993, has spent £26 million on new facilities at its Aylesbury moulding plant and its Birmingham assembly plant and warehouse. Investments have included new injection moulders with robot take‐out on...

RTS is a Finnish robot technology company that acquired the automation division of British company Thurnall in 1998 to form RTS Thurnall plc. The article discusses the background to this merger and describes the activities of the two operations and how they complement each other. RTS has...

Highlights the investment made by Rover for the launch of its new executive car, the Rover 75. Discusses the reasoning behind the building of a completely new factory on the existing Oxford site that has double the output capacity of the one it replaces. It also has a much better quality...