Arco Professional Safety Services behind the dramatic stunt at the London Eye
Dressed in a tuxedo and bowtie, Steve Dawson from Arco Professional Safety Services was pictured climbing a ladder below one of the pods on the Lastminute.com London Eye yesterday morning, ahead of the film premiere of Britain’s most famous secret agent at the Royal Albert Hall.
As experts in safety and working at height, Arco Professional Safety Services provides consultancy, training, services and equipment to manage the most complex and high-risk, high-hazard scenarios, making the team perfectly placed to undertake this stunt at one of London’s most recognisable and iconic landmarks.
Steve Dawson, Work at Height Training Manager at Arco Professional Safety Services, said: “It’s been a real privilege for Arco, as the UK’s leading safety company, to partner with the team at the London Eye to deliver this exciting event, safely.
“Working at height is what we are trained to do and to demonstrate our skill and expertise, working with the lastminute.com London Eye, is testament to the trust that the organisers have put in us.”
Compliance Software firm expanding after securing Innovate UK Funding
Belfast based software company, Obbi Solutions, has secured significant funding from national body, Innovate UK, which will see new jobs created in both tech, sales and customer support in the coming months.
Obbi Solutions is a multi-award-winning software platform for integrated compliance of people, processes and safety through HR, Operations and Health and Safety teams. It enables firms to revolutionise and connect paper or manual processes into an automated workflow to save time, money and mitigate risk.
Gareth Macklin, Founding Director of Obbi Solutions said, “We are extremely honoured that we have been awarded the funding of £300,000 from Innovate UK. This was a nation-wide competition with almost 3,000 entries so to know that they believe in our solution just as much as we do and want to help us grow makes us immensely proud”.
“Securing this funding now enables us to accelerate our growth plans quicker than we have ever imagined. Our Software Development team will now be expanding, along with our sales and customer support teams.
We are delighted that innovate UK see such value and impact in what we’re doing.
“With concrete plans of growth with our solution, alongside expanding our team, this is an extremely exciting time for the entire Obbi team. We believe Northern Ireland has some of the finest talent out there, which is why we are exceptionally proud to be able to offer additional roles within Obbi, sooner than planned, because of Innovate UK.”
Obbi Solutions is a multi-sector solution with key markets including Manufacturing, Engineering & Waste but has adapted and evolved recently into sport through Golf clubs, all under the integrated compliance umbrella.
“The need for an integrated compliance, health and safety system in Golf Clubs particularly stood out as a gap in the market where we’ve already secured some of the top golf clubs across Northern Ireland as clients. For many clubs, implementing, managing and documenting Health & Safety legislation to demonstrate compliance is difficult but it’s a problem we know we can help clubs with easily.
“We are delighted that innovate UK see such value and impact in what we’re doing. We’re immensely grateful to everyone who’s helped us along the journey so far and cannot wait to launch the next chapter of Obbi.”
JCB remains profitable in 2020 despite pandemic turbulence
Staffordshire-based JCB remained profitable in 2020 despite the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its global manufacturing operations, the company announced today.
Last year sales turnover fell to £3.1 billion (2019: £4.2 billion), while machine sales decreased to 74,590 (2019: 92,216). Earnings on an EBITDA basis stood at £228 million (2019: £414 million).
JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald said: “In March 2020, £1 billion worth of orders disappeared overnight with the onset of Covid-19 and JCB was forced to close its 21 manufacturing plants around the world for around two months. Despite the severe impact on its business, JCB remained profitable in 2020 as it has done for the past 76 years.
“The turnaround in 2021 has been dramatic: we are sitting here now in September with four times the usual order bank we had in normal times two to three years ago. As a result, we are ramping up production to levels we have not had before. I have never seen anything like it in my career.”
JCB Chairman Lord Bamford said: “The past is the past and, while 2020 was undoubtedly one of the most difficult years in our history, our focus is now very firmly on the future.
“We continue to lead the way in zero emissions technology, particularly with the development of the construction equipment industry’s first internal combustion engine powered by hydrogen, which is already being tested in JCB machines. This is a great British breakthrough and we will be producing these engines by the end of next year.”
TOMRA celebrates opening a new flake sorting Test Centre in Italy
TOMRA Recycling officially opened its new flake sorting Test Centre, where the company will develop new applications and solutions in the fields of PO and PET flake sorting, while simultaneously expanding its service offering, it says
Under the theme of “Testing is believing,” TOMRA representatives welcomed participants to its exclusive opening event and guided tour of the new flake sorting facility, located next to its office in Parma, Italy.
The afternoon was filled with informative presentations and demos highlighting the company’s long-term plastics strategy, the purpose of the new facility and the numerous benefits it offers customers.
Fabrizio Radice, VP and Head of Global Sales and Marketing at TOMRA Recycling, opened the exclusive event and explained the rationale behind TOMRA’s investment in the new Test Centre. He “We have witnessed increasing demand for flake sorting tests and a strong market push for high-quality recycled plastics,” Radice told the participants.
In just 18 months, we have established a facility where new ideas and innovations will be developed to best respond to current market trends
“This requires the purest material fractions across all plastics applications, and the respective technologies and solutions need to be identified, developed and optimised. This will happen in our new facility, while closely collaborating with our customers and partners.”
Following Radice, Alberto Piovesan, Segment Manager Plastics EMEA & Americas, presented TOMRA’s flake sorting strategy and position in the plastics segment. The audience learned that the company aims to accelerate and shape the development of the sector through its vast application and industry expertise, its consultation and the most advanced technologies.
The new Test Centre will play a crucial role in doing so, as Piovesan highlighted. “In just 18 months, we have established a facility where new ideas and innovations will be developed to best respond to current market trends. More importantly, we are working on solutions that are indispensable for any sorting and recycling plant aiming to successfully upgrade plastics.”
Strong emphasis was also put on the new trends in plastics recycling and the impact these trends have on the industry. One of the trends is a discrepancy between input and output qualities. Whereas input materials are expected to come with lower qualities, the required output must feature the highest qualities possible.
