The Ryazan Machine Tool Plant, a production site of Russian machine tool company STAN, plans to produce 24 units of high-tech equipment in 2018, up from 17 in 2017. The plant is also modernizing production of CNC lathes and special machines with investments of 770 million rubles, creating several dozen jobs.

SOMAPAK Csomagolástechnikai Gépgyártó Kft. has awarded a contract worth HUF 94,509,700 to NCT IPARI ELEKTRONIKAI KFT. for the supply of CNC machining centers and a CNC lathe. The award was granted on 2018-09-17.

Blum GmbH built a new 4,000 sq m plant on a 25,000 sq m site in Hettenleidelheim, Germany, to create space for growth. The facility includes a Kasto Uniline sheet storage system for automated material handling.

Krones Inc. acquired W.M. Sprinkman Corp., a Waukesha, Wisconsin maker of food and beverage processing equipment with 125 employees, for an undisclosed price. The deal closed on October 2, 2018.

MBtech Bohemia, a member of France's AKKA Group, launched operations at its new plant in Plzeň. The facility, valued at 51 million crowns and covering 1800 m2, includes manufacturing and development facilities for jigs, robotic welding, and long-term vehicle testing.

Lointek, through Lointek Heavy Industries, S.L., is building a new production plant at the Port of Bilbao with an investment of EUR 5 million. The facility will cover 9,800 square meters and will be used for manufacturing and assembly of large, heavy special parts.

Bonfiglioli Transmission Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Bonfiglioli Riduttori S.p.A., commenced operations at a new 1.32 lakh square foot manufacturing facility in Thirumudivakkam, Chennai. The facility has a capacity to produce 75,000 units of gear boxes, gear motors and drive systems per year.

Schenck Process Group announced the acquisition of Process Components Ltd (PCL) and its subsidiaries, including Kemutec Group Inc. in the US, from EPIC Private Equity. PCL is a UK-based designer and manufacturer of powder processing and handling equipment.

Lenze laid the foundation stone for its Mechatronic Competence Campus in Extertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, a roughly €50 million investment that will employ more than 800 people. Completion is planned for end 2019 with operation from early 2020.

Komatsu Mining Corp. announced plans to build a new, state-of-the-art headquarters and manufacturing campus in Milwaukee's Harbor District, investing nearly $300 million. The 2.5 million-square-foot South Harbor Campus is expected to be completed in 2022.

Metalex Manufacturing has selected Starrag to supply a large-capacity, multi-axis Droop+Rein portal-type machining centre for its new Center for Advanced Large Manufacturing in Cincinnati, Ohio. The machine is the largest ever installed by the contract manufacturer.

North MS Tool, Inc. is investing $700,000 to expand its production center and relocate operations from Booneville to Ripley, Mississippi. The company began operations in August at a rented facility from CECA Forge.

Chart Industries signed a definitive agreement to acquire VRV s.p.a. and its subsidiaries, makers of cryogenic and energy and petrochemical pressure equipment, for €125 million plus assumed debt of about €70 million.

Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd installed the UK's largest five-axis vertical turning lathe (VTL) as part of a £6 million upgrade of its machining facilities in Sheffield, UK. The machine, manufactured by BOST and supplied by McDowell Machine Tools, will improve capacity for complex machining of components for defence, nuclear, and pressure-vessel markets.

Société du Grand Paris and Île-de-France Mobilités awarded Alstom a contract worth up to €1.3 billion to design and build up to 183 driverless metro trains for lines 15, 16 and 17 of the Grand Paris Express. The first trains will be delivered from 2022 and enter service in 2024.

Nuctech Warsaw, a Chinese manufacturer of scanners, is expanding its plant in Kobyłka, Poland, with a new 6,000 sqm hall that will double production capacity to up to 20 large scanners per year. The company invested 40 million PLN in the facility and plans to hire 80 additional workers.

Hidden Harbor Capital Partners acquired Anchor Danly and its sister company AWC Mfg., both based in Windsor, Ontario. Anchor Danly provides die sets, steel plates, and metal fabrication for industrial tooling.

URACA GmbH & Co. KG acquired DYNAJET GmbH of Nürtingen on 24 September 2018. DYNAJET will remain a standalone brand and keep its development and production at Nürtingen.

DTS UK Ltd has been appointed by Spanish lathe manufacturer Geminis and German machine tool producer Knuth to run their sales and service operations in the UK.

Dürr will build a new high-tech paint shop at Toyota's US plant in Georgetown, KY, including EcoReflect paint application quality control system, paint booths, ovens, and exhaust-air purification systems. The order was received in June 2018.

Ningbo Tianhui Machine Co., Ltd. passed a factory inspection by Siemens headquarters and will become a direct supplier to Siemens in Berlin, Germany, with orders placed from the German headquarters.

Japanese compressor maker Anest Iwata has acquired a 51% stake in Shanghai Screw Compressor, known as SCR Comp, to fund new products such as high-speed turbo machines and quality control improvements.

ShangGong Group (SGSB) acquired a 65% stake in Tianjin Richpeace Computer & Machinery Co., Ltd. for a total investment of $23 million, including $20 million for equity and $3 million for capital increase. The acquisition was announced at Richpeace's 12th anniversary celebration in Baodi, China.

Schmitz Cargobull will add two production lines at its Panevezys, Lithuania plant for S.KO box semi-trailers and M.KO truck box bodies, tripling capacity from 10 to 30 units per day by April 2019. Operations are expected to begin in October 2019.

Nilpeter opened a 3,500 sqm manufacturing and development facility with a technology center in Mahindra World City, Chennai. The site houses over 70 employees and will more than double the press manufacturing capacity.

Schmitz Cargobull's supervisory board approved a €100 million investment package for its Vreden factory in Germany, to build a digital and automated plant for box semi-trailers. The investment is part of Strategy 2025 to become global market leader.

DMG MORI has invested €60 million to expand and digitize its FAMOT plant in Pleszew, Poland, increasing total area to 50,000 sqm and enabling production of 2,000 machine tools per year. The grand opening is scheduled for October 2018.

SHW Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, which filed for insolvency in May 2018, has been acquired by the SFO Group, a holding company of a Munich-based entrepreneurial family. The workforce of about 240 employees at the Aalen headquarters has been taken over.

Kramer-Werke celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Pfullendorf production site and inaugurated a new training building. The site, built with an investment of around EUR 35 million, has produced about 40,000 wheel loaders and telehandlers since 2008 and currently employs over 500 people.

Mecmesin, a UK-based manufacturer of force and torque testing equipment, was acquired by PPT Holdings, a Battery Ventures company. Mecmesin will join James Heal Ltd. as part of Battery's Physical Properties Testing group.

Blue Wolf Capital portfolio companies Pearl Technologies and TGW Holdings merged to form Edge Industrial Technologies, a machine knife, blade and packaging manufacturer headquartered in Wilder, Kentucky, with plants in England, the US and India.

Fujian Tietuo Machinery Co., Ltd. signed a contract with Henan Mine Crane Co., Ltd. for the procurement of 80 cranes of various models, worth over 20 million yuan, for its new smart factory for asphalt mixing equipment. The new factory is a key provincial technical renovation project with a planned investment of 300 million yuan.

AGCO is investing EUR 10.5 million to expand its Feucht, Germany, competence center for forage harvesting technology, including a new 4,000 sqm assembly hall for mower production.

Konesko AS started construction of a new 5,000 sqm lifting equipment components plant in Türi-Alliku, Estonia, with an investment of EUR 10 million. The plant is expected to be completed in March 2019 and will create about 50 jobs.

Jinming Precision Machinery signed a purchase agreement with an international packaging company for a 9-layer co-extrusion multi-bubble tube method high-barrier film blown extrusion machine, with a contract value exceeding USD 3.2 million.

Cogsdill-Nuneaton Ltd invested in a new Doosan DNM 6700 vertical machining centre from Mills CNC, installed at its facility in May 2018, to machine precision components for its ZX facing and contouring head tooling systems.

FIS has awarded Emerson contracts worth $20 million to digitise operations at three manufacturing sites in Italy (Termoli, Montecchio, Lonigo). Emerson will provide automation technology including Syncade MES and DeltaV DCS.

Technomash LLC, a subsidiary of Hilong Holdings, won a tender from RN-Burenie LLC to supply drill tools and related products in Russia. The contract is valued at approximately 1.15 billion rubles.

Shanghai Hilong Drill Tools Co., a subsidiary of Hilong Holdings, won a tender to supply 5,946 tonnes of drill pipe for a project of Uzbekneftegaz in Uzbekistan. The contract is valued at approximately $15.968 million.

BCW Manufacturing in Burnley has taken delivery of two new Matsuura MX 850 5-axis machining centres to machine irregular castings for the automotive industry.

Schwing Stetter India announced a new 53-acre concrete equipment manufacturing facility in SIPCOT Industrial Area, Cheyyar, Tamil Nadu, with an investment of Rs 350 crore in two phases.

GoEngineer has entered a strategic agreement to purchase FATHOM's 3D printing equipment reseller business, allowing FATHOM to focus on digital manufacturing services.

Universal Dynamics (UNA-DYN), a PiovanGroup company, completed its move to a new 10,000-square-meter facility in Fredericksburg, VA, designed to double production capacity for storage, conveying, blending, drying and size reduction equipment.

Addtech Industrial Process, a business area in the Addtech Group, has signed an agreement to acquire 80% of the shares in Nordautomation Oy, a Nordic market leader in log handling equipment.

Valmet agreed with FICAP to deliver its continuous BioTrac steam explosion system for a black pellet plant with 120,000 tons/year capacity in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. Start-up is planned for 2020; the order value was not disclosed.

The LNS Group, headquartered in Orvin, Switzerland, has acquired ChipBLASTER, Inc., a maker of high-pressure coolant systems and machine tool peripherals based in Meadville, Pennsylvania. ChipBLASTER will continue operating from its current location under present management.

Stakeholders of Xerium Technologies approved the merger agreement with Andritz AG, under which Xerium will be acquired by Andritz. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2018, pending remaining regulatory approvals.

Avic Guizhou Anda Aviation Forging Co. Ltd. awarded SMS group a contract to supply an additional ring rolling machine for its plant in Anshun, China. Production is scheduled for mid-2019.

Elgi Equipments, an air compressor maker, will commission a motor production facility on its Kinathukadavu campus near Coimbatore, probably in Q1 of the next financial year, with an investment of ₹18 crore. The motors will be for captive use in its compressors.

DMG MORI opened a CNC machine assembly plant in Ulyanovsk, Russia, with an investment of over 70 million euros. The plant has a planned capacity of 1000-1200 universal digital, milling and turning machines per year, with a localization target of 70% by 2020.