Manufacturers to showcase Leicestershire’s engineering expertise

09-06-2010

Phase Vision, the technology leader in white light metrology and Loughborough University spinout is joining forces with Tower Tool of Wigston to promote the county’s manufacturing expertise at two major international exhibitions.

The companies are jointly exhibiting their world-class products and services at the MACH 2010 show at Birmingham’s NEC (until 11 June) and at the International Farnborough Air Show in July.

For both firms it is their first showing at the two prestigious exhibitions attended by major companies from around the world.

The businesses will be showing buyers how they work together, marrying Phase Vision’s portable, cutting edge 3-D measuring devices with Tower’s expertise in toolmaking.

A recent project for an aviation business saw a replacement part rapidly made for a helicopter by Phase Vision’s technology scanning an old component and Tower Tool reverse engineering the tooling to make a new one.

Phase Vision, based at the Innovation Centre on Loughborough University’s campus, has pioneered the development of patented white-light 3D scanners for the shop floor, aircraft hangar, or dockyard.  It is launching its new Quartz range of scanners at MACH 2010, which will bring the scanning technology it created for major aerospace clients into the realm of medium-sized manufacturers, costing between £50,000 and £100,000 each.

Tower will be showing how it uses the scanners to create computer aided design (CAD) data of parts which pre-date sophisticated CAD manufacturing.  Tower managing director Myles Ball said: “It’s ideal for situations where accurate technical drawings are cumbersome, may not exist or are incomplete, or where recreating those drawings to generate CAD data would be inefficient or laboriously time-consuming.

“With Phase Vision’s clever scanners we generate a detailed CAD file very quickly, from which we make the tools to replicate the desired objects.  It is great that two Leicestershire businesses can use such high-profile shows to shout about what they can do together.”

Phase Vision chief executive Ralph Weir said: “We are bringing something very new to the industry.  So it is great we can do so along an excellent tooling company such as Tower who can demonstrate its application.”

ENDS

Photo: (l-r) Ralph Weir of Phase Vision and Myles Ball of Tower Tool

For all media enquiries contact:

Anna Seddon, Marketing (Enterprise), Loughborough University

a.j.seddon@lboro.ac.uk

+44 (0)1509 223445

Tower Tool

Tower Tool is a tooling manufacturing business, primarily working in the aerospace and medical industries. The business has been trading in Leicester since 1957 and aims to support local manufacturing in the area, and more widely manufacturing and new technologies, particularly in Great Britain.

www.tower-tool.co.uk

Phase Vision

Phase Vision is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of three-dimensional measurement systems.

Based in Leicestershire, the company’s products are supplied to industries including aerospace, automotive, marine and rail, where they are used for tasks from quality control and production testing, to inspection and reverse engineering.

Founded in 2002, Phase Vision is at the forefront of innovation in the field of 3D metrology, with expert teams in research and development, design and manufacture.

Further information can be found at www.phasevision.com