UK - Lifting equipment specialists Hoist UK & sister company Truss UK have recently moved to bigger premises, significantly increasing the size of their previous facilities. The new offices, workshop and warehouse are still based on the Wirral peninsula and are ideally located in the heart of the UK motorway network.

The move reflects the growth and success of both companies over the last year which has seen an expansion in the company, the product range and business generally which meant that they outgrew their previous site. The new workspace boasts a 10,000sq.ft building, along with extensive yard space.

Tony Dickson, director of Hoist UK & Truss UK comments, "Our new Moreton facility consists of ample office space for an ever growing sales / admin team, substantial customer meeting areas, plus extensive warehousing with a lifting equipment testing bay, that should sup

UK - Lift Turn Move based in Bromborough, Wirral, has already shown a commitment to training future engineers and this is set to continue with the announcement from director, John Jones, that they are training three apprentices this year; Joshua Baines, Brandon Gillam and Liam Shone.

Josh joins Brandon in the work shop as the second apprentice currently being trained in the LTM workshop. Brandon and Joshua are studying for an apprenticeship in Mechanical Manufacturing which will involve one and a half days of tuition at a local college to learn essential theory and 3 and a half days a week working in the hoist assembly area to develop their practical skills. They will both spend time in the warehouse receiving product training, dispatching goods and observing the other engineers at work.

Liam is joining as a sales office trainee. Liam will be studying for an apprenticeship in

USA - Zac Brown Band's Jekyll + Hyde North American stadium tour presented by Bai is the band's largest tour to date and features a production design created by James Scott and Louis Oliver, of UK-based creative specialist Okulus, which involves several moving elements with a Kinesys control system at its core.

The Kinesys control system was specified by the tour's rigging contractors Atlanta Rigging Systems (ARS) and is running 39 axes of movement facilitated by 38 Lodestar 1 tonne chain hoists and a custom screen element. Ten of the axes run with Kinesys variable speed Elevation 1+ controllers while 28 run with encoded fixed-speed hoists. The system also features eight pile-wind winches, which were custom-fabricated by ARS to control a gauze screen in front of the stage to be used as a projection surface at integral moments throughout the show.

Okulus were contracted for the

UK - David Cameron has announced the government approval of 59 group standards for 'Trailblazer' apprenticeships, as part of its commitment to supporting three million new apprentices in the UK by 2020.

Supported by key industry experts, this new initiative launches the first apprenticeship as a Live Events Rigger, the development of which has been facilitated by NRAG (National Rigging Advisory Group).

Representatives from leading industry employers formed the NRAG working group. In April 2015 the standard was agreed by the Government Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to be put forward to lead the rigging apprenticeship initiative, assisting other companies to do the same through the provision of structured opportunities to young individuals interested in a career in rigging.

Key rigging industry leaders already committed to supporting the Trailblazer initia

The Netherlands - Doughty Engineering will be debuting its new Studio Frame at this year's IBC show.

Visitors to Hall 11, Stand number 11.A60 will be able to find out more about the kit, designed to assist small studio spaces eliminate clutter on the ground caused by lighting and trailing cables. The modular system can be easily constructed to suit most spaces and offers a safe working load that is adequate to support most modern day lighting with the addition of pantographs and bars.

Mark Chorley, design engineer said, "The Doughty Studio frame really is ideal for use in studios where space is of a premium. It started life as many of our product ranges do, as a bespoke piece of kit for the animation department at Staffordshire University. The course's specialist technical instructor was looking for a way to enable his students to move more freely around their sets and so

UAE - Dubai-based production supplier Protec supplied HQ Creative with lighting, video and rigging for the opening ceremony of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament 2015, held at NAS Sports Complex on 21 June.

The event was created using two d3 4X4 Pro servers which created the mask, blend and warp for the custom made screens as well as integrating the use of primarily Clay Paky lighting fixtures which included 24 Clay Paky Mythos and 14 Clay Paky K10 B-eye, working together alongside eight Sharpys, seven Sharpy Wash 330s and eight Super Sharpys.

The venue had to function as a sports arena post show, so the design had to take this into account, staying out of the way of overhead house lighting as not to form shadows for the TV sports broadcast and not interfere with the games being played below. The rig needed to be light weight but still pack a punch for such a dynamic and fast

USA - Production Resource Group (PRG), the world's leading provider of entertainment and event technology solutions, today announced it will extend its branding in Germany and the UK to integrate the brand of the recently acquired XL Video Group. The integrated companies will be known as PRG XL Video for a transition period while the operations are being merged.

PRG will continue to use its brand name in all other countries across Europe and North America. XL Video teams in those territories will be immediately transitioned into the PRG family.

"Part of our decision to acquire XL Video was the premier value of its brand in many of our markets," said Jeremiah J. Harris, PRG's Chairman and CEO. "We recognize that the XL Video name and logo are synonymous with outstanding quality, customer service, and technical expertise in some of our territories, equal to that o

USA - Behind the scenes at one of the most popular talk shows in North America, five Straightpoint load cells monitor the weight distribution of Dr. Phil's video wall. Advanced Industrial Solutions, a distributor for the force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell manufacturer, supplied five bolt type anchor load cell shackles with wireless transmitters to the studio.

Straightpoint's wireless load shackle is supplied with an update rate of 3Hz and can be configured to run up to 200Hz. Data is transmitted wirelessly utilizing the latest in IEEE 802.15.4 (2.4 GHz) technology, providing transmission of both static weight and dynamic load to a wireless handheld controller or PC. The software allows for simultaneous control, display and real time data logging of up to 100 Straightpoint telemetry load cells.

Dr. Phil provides a forum to make psychology access

UK - With just under a month to go until PLASA Show 2015, pre-registrations are up 10% compared to 2013 and 2014, making this year's show already the most successful since the move to ExCeL in London's Docklands.

Featuring over 300 brands, with many showing new products and services, a major new initiative for this year sees PLASA Show adopting the successful 'Focus' model of a sector-specific, zoned layout, which will facilitate easier networking and make navigation around the show much easier than in previous years.

By the beginning of September, pre-registration data for PLASA Show 2015 was tracking at 10% up year on year over the past two shows, with 62% of those registered being either final decision makers or equipment specifiers. In addition visitors from 94 countries have pre-registered, against those from 74 countries who attended in 2014.

"When PLASA Show move

Azerbaijan - The European Games opened in Baku, Azerbaijan earlier this summer to a sell out crowd at the National Stadium and closed to equally great aplomb 17 days later. The ceremonies, brought together by world -leading artistic production and technical teams proved themselves to be historic event, not just for Azerbaijan but the entire European sporting community. With over 2000 volunteer performers involved in the ceremony and more than 300 production staff behind the scenes, the ceremonies were streamed, worldwide on Baku2015.com.

Such prestigious events demanded an expert team of riggers to provide the infrastructure for the ceremonies and as such, Nick Eltis, senior technical director for the Baku 2015 Ceremonies, chose Unusual Rigging to supply the full production rigging equipment and services.

Nick explained, "Having worked with Unusual Rigging in Sochi, I was

UK - S+H Technical Services supplied over 2000sq.m of their classic Pea-light starcloth and a rigging crew to Chinnick Theatre Services (CTS), which was used to wrap a special event space at the 2015 Royal International Air Tattoo staged at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

CTS supplied full technical production for the event area created in one of the aircraft hangers. This was draped off and used to present a high profile gala dinner on the Friday evening and an after-show party for RIAT staff and behind-the-scenes workers on the Sunday.

RIAT is geared to offering a great family day amidst all the drama, spectacle and adrenalized fun of a 7.5 hour flying display featuring a plethora of different aircraft.

CTS has been involved with supplying production for specific areas of RIAT since 1987. The gala dinner - now for 660 invited guests, including a host of dignitaries and VI

UK - Experienced sales specialist Susannah Rushden has joined VDC Trading in the role of sales manager.

Susie has worked in a sales management, development and training role for several major UK companies.

"My main areas of expertise include motivation, training and sales psychology," says Susie, "So, even though the company has super levels of after sales service, my efforts will be aimed at working on improvements which relate to the sales message and the morale of the team. My objective is to raise the energy levels of the team and to provide a better service from the first contact."

"I welcome any comments or questions from customers and aim to try and be available as much as possible for customer liaison."

(Jim Evans)

Vietnam - Using exclusively Van Damme cable supplied by VDC Trading in London, AVE ASTS-Series column speakers have been installed in the Tan Thinh Church in the Hoc Mon District of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, as part of a construction project that saw the demolition and complete renovation of the worship venue in the effort to accommodate a larger congregation.

QV Sound worked alongside the project management team during the construction phase to establish optimum speaker positions and cable runs, as well as providing audio equipment from which the entire sound system installation can be controlled.

The high demand of speech intelligibility requires a high transparency of audio signal. The entire sound system equipment is connected by Van Damme cabling and Neutrik connectors to ensure the spoken words are heard naturally and clearly.

The main worship area features 4 ASTS-1

UK - Now the summer season is over, regular LSi contributor James Eade is running more temporary electrical training courses around the country. The popular industry-backed Creative Skillset Certificate in Temporary Power Systems has several new dates for later this year and into January 2016, including a new venue in Salisbury in November.

With nearly 600 candidates having completed the course to date, the feedback is continually proving positive: visit bit.ly/scites to read more and find out about dates and venues. Some courses are being organised by BECTU so members may be eligible for a discount. Currently the major broadcasters plan to enforce Creative Skillset Certificate in Temporary Power systems on their productions by April 2016, so time is slowly running out to beat the de

USA - All three ETCP examinations will be offered at LDI in Las Vegas, NV on the morning of Saturday, 24 October, 2015. Interested applicants must submit their application, along with supporting materials and fee, to the ETCP office no later than 30 September, 2015. The ETCP office is located at 630 9th Ave, Suite 609, New York, New York, 10036.

Candidate information, including eligibility requirements and applications, is available on the ETCP website (http://etcp.plasa.org/ldi2015.html). Materials can also be mailed by contacting Meredith Moseley-Bennett, ETCP Certification Manager, at 212-244-1505 or etcp@plasa.org.

The ETCP Council members are key leaders drawn from entertainment business, labour, facilities, associations, and academia representing the diversity of the entertainment industry. Membership includes PLASA, Actsafe, AMPTP, Cirque du Soleil/MGM MIRAGE, CITT, Dis

World - Flight case and speaker component manufacturer Penn Elcom has invested close to two million pounds in new manufacturing plant and technology across the group's international operations in China, Mexico and the UK.

Over a million dollars alone has been ploughed into upgrading the powder coating lines at all sites, part of a planned reinvestment strategy in Swiss made Gema spraying equipment designed to increase efficiency and output worldwide for Penn to keep abreast of the current growing demand for its products.

The powder line installed at the factory in Guangdong Province, China, is completely new and replaces the previous one with the latest air cooled technology. This will enhance the working environment for the 30 employees as well as being more energy efficient, kinder to the environment and more cost-effective to maintain and run. The plant is also run on re-cy

UK - TSG Policing's first major contract saw the company play a pivotal part in keeping the 600-acre, 200,000 capacity Great Dorset Steam Fair safe this month.

Brought in by the event's operations director, Julian Hubbuck, late in the planning process, TSG built a fast, fluid relationship with Dorset Police. The company's skill set, developed by a former senior training officer for the Met, clearly distinguished its role from conventional show security.

Over the Steam Fair's five days, TSG worked on a number of operations with the local force, cutting the event's impact on core policing off-site and serving as a testament to its capacity to deliver a viable, cost-efficient policing alternative.

Julian Hubbuck comments, "I was looking for enhanced response cover and TSG provided a very competent, highly trained solution."

TSG director, David Boswell, says, "M

UK - PLASA has announced the first of its nominees for the 2015 Awards for Innovation, which recognise and reward new product ideas. Nominated products should meet at least one of the Awards' criteria for 'Innovation' - to offer a new style of thinking, an improvement in existing technical practice, a new or improved aid to safety, a new commercial advantage, use new patents or unique intellectual property, or introduce new technology, materials or manufacturing techniques.

The final assessment of those claims will take place at the PLASA Show, where an independent panel of industry experts will judge the entries, based on the strength of their innovation alone. Respected for their impartiality, the panel will hear a five-minute presentation from each of the nominees, and have the opportunity for questions and answers, before making their final selections.

There are no product

UK - trackingThis has launched a new shackle labelling solution that solves the headache of identifying loose rigging items in the events industry.

LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998) specifies that lifting accessories should be inspected every six months and that detailed records are kept. The problem is most small rigging items, such as shackles, don't have unique identifiers or serial numbers. Unless you can identify each item, it is not possible to maintain the detailed records required.

Traditional labels have not been suitable because shackles lack a flat area to stick a label to. If the adhesion area is small the labels do not stay on. Physical abuse, outdoor use and extremes of temperatures also make traditional labels prone to fading and distortion - making them unreadable.

As an alternative solution many companies mark such items with

UK - Launched last September, Current RMS has been working hard building new features into the system, now being used in over 400 event rental businesses worldwide.

To celebrate a year on, the Current team has launched a new website as well as the release of the new Resources Module. Now, Current not only manages all of the renting and sale of products but also the services that go with these jobs too whether that be crew, transport, venues or rooms.

Key features of this new Module include: View all your bookable resources and any job with unallocated services; Flexible service charging by; hours, days or distance; Simple resource allocation using drag and drop functionality; Handy iCal feed for all resource bookings; Use Stores to determine the whereabouts of your resource; Specify periods of unavailability for bookable resources.

The Current team look forward to demonstrat

UK - Star Events returns to Showman's Show on the back of a phenomenal season in 2015, which saw it providing infrastructure and ingenuity on grass, on tarmac and on water.

The Star stand, at the corner of Avenues B and G, will be focussed on the company's seating and fencing & barriers portfolio, the latter a component part of events from Cyclo-cross to Latitude Festival.

In the spirit of a taste test, at Showman's, visitors will have the opportunity to directly compare the industry's traditional, uncomfortable folding chairs with Star Events' tip-up, flat floor system, which comes complete with air insulated seats and backs.

This summer, the Star system was used across events including Greenwich Music Time, Nocturne Live at Blenheim Palace and Neil Diamond at Blackpool FC. In all cases the promoters reported superb audience feedback.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Triple E's ModTruss is being deployed as the 'universal building system' for the Theatres Trust stage, the Technical Theatre Awards/USITT stand and the Technical Theatre Awards stage at PLASA this year.

Triple E launched ModTruss - best described as full size Meccano - in the UK market at the ABTT Theatre Show in June 2015. It was immediately recognised as 'Engineering Product of the Year' at the ABTT Awards.

ModTruss was Triple E's most ambitious launch since the company was formed in 1984. The product is set to revolutionise theatre staging, set building, stage machinery, construction and event markets.

"We're very excited that visitors to PLASA 2015 will be able to experience ModTruss," says Triple E's managing director, David Edelstein. "The feedback at ABTT was overwhelmingly positive, not only from the wider industry but also from the ABTT Awards ju

UK - Flightcase, loudspeaker component and 19-inch rack manufacturer Penn Elcom highlights two exciting new products at the 2015 PLASA London expo - a brand new, super cool LED rack light, and the robust and innovative MOL3 latch with patented automatic cantilevered action.

These and a selection of other current Penn Elcom products will be prominent on stand L26 at the ExCeL exhibition centre, 4-6 October.

A seriously stylish and efficient rack lighting product to hit the market, the new Penn Elcom RADM-23 1U Raclite is designed to be fitted to any 19-inch equipment rack providing an elegant and practical solution for illuminating equipment in dark and dingy environments.

Twenty-five super bright cool-white (6500K) LED emitters provide a crisp wash optimised for clear vision of the kit in the rack, allowing the status of equipment to be checked at a glance.

A 130 - 150 deg

UK - Unusual Rigging is proud to announce that it is now meeting over 50% of its annual on-site power consumption with renewable energy via a solar PV system.

The 100KW solar PV system is installed on the roof of Unusual's new 1,056 sq m warehouse, which opened in June this year, and was energized on September 3.

Tom Harper, resource and sustainability manager at Unusual Rigging, explained: "This really is the icing on the cake in our drive to become a green business. Over the past few years, we have been implementing the key concepts of a circular economy - ensuring that all materials streams are efficiently managed and recycled, as well as striving to run entirely on the basis of renewable energy, mitigating negative effects on human life or our ecosystem. This implementation of the solar panels is our most recent step and will significantly reduce our annual C02 footpr

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