Every month Apexis Engineering send out our monthly newsletter, The Engineering Echo, where we share insights, project work and the little things that have piqued our interest or made us stop and think. 

2026 in flow

There’s always lots of optimism for a new year; after the strong headwinds the manufacturing sector faced in 2025 the glass must be half full for us.

Our experience has always highlighted what a resilient, innovative and adaptable sector we are whatever we are facing.

There’s lots to be positive about; there’s been some really great investments during 2025 and the new year has started strong too with examples like Cummins Inc. who’ve announced plans to invest $50 MILLION to expand its power systems manufacturing plant in Daventry. And at the close of 2025 Oxford-based Airbus Helicopters were awarded a £33.6 million contract by the Ministry of Defence to support the UK Armed Forces’ new H145 fleet.

Having visited Toyota in December and then starting the year at Jaguar Landrover for a site survey it’s always good to see the Automotive sector doing it’s thing amidst the complex environment they are operating in. One of our favourite stories from the sector in December was a 1965 Aston Martin DB5 being returned to Aston Martin Works’ Newport Pagnell facility for a full restoration, 50 years after it was bought for just £900!

Are you looking at the best place to invest for throughput or quality improvements? Have a chat with Apexis Engineering to tap into our expertise on how to get the best machinery at your site doing what you need it to do.

We are Apexis Engineering

Most of you are aware that we’re now Apexis Engineering.

At our Christmas fuddle one question that was regularly asked was ‘why Apexis Engineering’.

So Seleena took people up to our design office, showed them her desk and asked “what do you see”?

The roof of the factory in your yard.

Which incidentally has an apex. And we can confirm Seleena is an ‘out the window gazer’.

But more than that, it’s the meaning of apex – pinnacle, the meaning from racing (where apex refers to the inside corner where a driver is closest to the tracks inner edge with the crucial to success racing line being the optimal path around the course), the highest point and so much more.

So Apexis Engineering (Apex is Engineering) was formed.

And our new website is live! Have a browse of our case studies.

Good news stories that caught our eye

Good news stories are always great to read in the current climate!

Here’s some that have caught our attention over the last few weeks and yes most of them involve engineering.

A team of Dutch engineers created the world’s largest ‘vacuum cleaner’ designed to be attached to a ship and that is 600 meters long. It has one job – to collect plastic from the ocean – it’s doing that perfectly and has already helped to restore marine life in areas where it has been deployed.

NASA’s Shape-Memory Alloy Landing Gear will be used in upcoming lunar landers; these components morph during deployment and reconfigure after landing to reduce impact force. Lightweight and foldable, they’re a breakthrough in compact aerospace design.

A Finnish company called Polar Night Energy is tackling the intermittency problem by upcycling crushed soapstone to create the largest sand battery in the world. This ancient method has been bought back to a modern tool which can store up to 100 MWh of energy for months at a time.

Pandas are no longer considered at risk of extinction which is one of the greatest successes in wildlife conservation to date. Have you seen the videos of them falling and being jump scared on social media, they really are cute bears!

Thanks for tuning into the Engineering Echo for January, keep your eyes peeled for the February edition and if you want to be on our email newsletter mailing list just send an email to info@apexisengineering.co.uk with the subject ENGINEERING ECHO SUBSCRIPTION.