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REP Fitness Flexes in Europe’s Top Market: Plans Direct-to-Consumer Launch in the UK

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LONDON, April 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — REP Fitness, the Colorado-based strength brand renowned for its innovative, high-quality gym equipment, today announced the official launch of its direct-to-consumer operations in the UK. Building on a successful 2024 in which REP achieved over $130 million in sales, this expansion marks a significant step toward the brand’s ambition of becoming the world’s no. 1 strength brand, targeting 50% growth in 2025.

REP Fitness has announced the official launch of its direct-to-consumer operations in the UK.

“The UK is a pivotal market for REP as we continue to grow internationally. After the success of our EU launch in 2024, the UK was the logical next step for us,” said Ryan McGrotty, co-CEO of REP Fitness. “By bringing our class-leading racks, benches, barbells, and functional training tools directly to British customers, we can make quality strength equipment more accessible and continue empowering individuals to pursue their strength goals.”

UK Market Potential & Expanded Offerings

The UK is home to 11 million commercial gym members, supporting a $250 million strength training equipment market, a $500 million cardio equipment market, a $1 billion sports nutrition market, and a $5 billion fitness apparel market. Frequently cited—alongside Germany—as the 1st or 2nd largest fitness market in Europe, the UK offers a robust landscape for REP’s ongoing expansion. In addition to its established product lineup and new cardio line, the brand will also introduce its apparel line—featuring innovative performance fabrics and functional design—and its expanding Purist supplement & nutrition range to UK consumers, furthering its commitment to delivering a comprehensive fitness ecosystem.

Leadership & UK Rollout

The local expansion will be led by Martyn Jones, who joined REP in December 2024 and now serves as CEO of REP Fitness UK. Under his leadership, REP will introduce pricing similar to the US market: excluding VAT or sales tax, UK customers will see pricing closely mirroring US prices. REP is also bringing over 1,200 SKUs to the UK—matching its US assortment—and aims to launch 30 new products globally in 2025.

“Our goal is to ensure that our UK customers receive the same value and experience as our US customers,” said Jones. “Our product pricing will match our US prices as closely as possible. We’re also introducing an array of new products in 2025, including a cardio lineup, and collaborating with independent designers to bring fresh innovations to market—making this an incredibly exciting time to be part of REP and now, a UK fitness enthusiast.”

Transition from Fitness Superstore

REP Fitness will conclude its distribution partnership with Fitness Superstore on September 30, 2025. Fitness Superstore has been instrumental in establishing REP’s footprint in the UK since 2023, providing in-store demonstrations and exceptional customer service.

“We are immensely thankful to Fitness Superstore for representing the REP brand so successfully,” said Jon Little, Chief Operating Officer at REP. “They have been an outstanding partner, helping us reach thousands of UK customers. As our product lines expand into cardio equipment, apparel, supplements, and more, we recognize that a direct presence in key markets is crucial to achieving our ambition of becoming the world’s number one consumer strength brand. This transition is part of our broader strategy and is by no means a reflection of Fitness Superstore’s performance. We remain on excellent terms and look forward to continuing the overall growth of the UK strength market together.”

Paul Walker, Managing Director of Fitness Superstore, echoed these sentiments:

“We’ve been proud to partner with REP Fitness since 2023, introducing their top-tier equipment to thousands of satisfied customers across the UK. This transition to a direct-to-consumer model underscores REP’s strategic growth, and we appreciate being acknowledged for the crucial role we played. We’re pleased that all existing warranties, remaining REP inventory and service agreements will transfer seamlessly to REP Fitness UK, ensuring our customers continue to receive excellent support. We remain on great terms with REP and look forward to watching their continued success in the UK market.”

Existing Customers: All warranties, service agreements, and post-purchase support for REP equipment purchased through Fitness Superstore will transfer seamlessly to REP Fitness UK.New Customers (Interim): Fitness Superstore will continue offering REP products through September 30, 2025. After that date, all remaining REP inventory will be transferred to REP Fitness UK and Fitness Superstore listing will be removed. Ongoing customer orders will then be handled exclusively through the dedicated REP Fitness UK channel.

New UK Facility & Operational Timeline

From Q1 2026, REP Fitness UK will begin shipping orders nationwide from a new 40,000-square-foot facility at St Modwen Park in Gloucester. This facility will feature:

A head office capable of housing up to 40 staff members,A full retail showroom where customers can experience REP’s equipment in person,A warehouse capable of holding up to £10 million worth of stock, ensuring quick fulfilment and dispatch across the UK.

“Throughout 2025, we’ll be setting up robust operations so that when deliveries start in Q1 2026, customers experience REP’s renowned quality and service from day one,” explained Jones. “We want to ensure every aspect of our local operations—from customer support to logistics—is ready before we go live.”

If REP Fitness UK is not fully operational in time for its traditional Black November sale, the company will instead offer a subsequent launch sale so that UK customers do not feel they have missed out on any seasonal promotions.

Comprehensive Customer Focus

REP is committed to providing UK customers with the same high level of service and convenience it offers in the US. This includes:

Free Shipping within the UK for direct-to-consumer orders.Pick-Up Discounts for customers who collect their orders from the Gloucester site.Local Warranty & Returns mirroring the US, ensuring peace of mind for every purchase,UK-Based Customer Support with local phone numbers and GMT/BST service hours.Financing & Payment Options such as PayPal and Klarna, offering up to 3 years of finance credit to make equipment purchases more accessible.

REP will also introduce a B2B sales channel in the UK, enabling businesses of all sizes—from independent gyms to large-scale fitness facilities—to access REP’s expanding lineup of strength equipment.

Building a Strength-Focused Community & Looking Ahead

REP’s community-focused ethos extends beyond its product offerings:

UK Athlete Program: REP is actively recruiting local athletes and ambassadors to showcase the brand’s equipment, further connecting with the UK fitness community.FIBO 2025: REP will attend the global fitness event in Germany, unveiling a host of new products. Martyn Jones will be on-site to meet with UK customers and discuss the brand’s vision.Monthly Updates: Starting in May, REP will hold monthly online sessions to update UK customers on the launch process and address questions—ensuring the strength community remains involved and heard.

“By combining unparalleled innovation, top-tier customer support, and the best prices, we’re empowering individuals and businesses alike to take charge of their fitness journeys,” added Jones. “Our new Gloucester facility—and the dedicated team behind it—will be at the heart of that effort in the UK.”

ABOUT REP FITNESS

REP engineers and sells world-class, innovative strength equipment that is shipped worldwide. Founded in Colorado in 2012 by two brothers with a shared passion for fitness, REP has grown into a team of more than 200, with operations spanning multiple continents. That shared passion for strength drives REP’s innovative spirit today, as the company remains dedicated to creating class-leading fitness equipment at a great value.

REP has been listed twice on the Inc. 5,000 fastest-growing companies — in 2018 (#450) and in 2021 (#962). REP products frequently earn top-choice rankings across leading fitness publications, including Men’s Health and GQ. For more information about REP, visit repfitness.com.

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SOURCE REP Fitness

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JAMS Launches AI for Enterprise Job Scheduling: JAX and JAMS MCP, on the Model You Choose

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A new AI agent and an open-standard connector let IT teams query, diagnose, and manage automation in plain language, on the model they choose, with operational data staying inside their own network

LONDON, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — JAMS Software, an orchestration solution for scheduled and event-driven automation, today announced the general availability of two AI capabilities for enterprise job scheduling: JAX, an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client, and JAMS MCP, a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard that brings JAMS into external AI coding tools. Both capabilities ship at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

Automation environments grow faster than the teams that run them. Jobs multiply across SQL Server, Azure Data Factory, Airflow, SAP, JDE, and Banner, and when one fails, finding the root cause often means searching several consoles at once, frequently outside business hours. At the same time, IT leaders carry pressure to adopt AI while staying accountable for where operational data goes. JAX and JAMS MCP close both gaps together.

Full details on how JAX and JAMS MCP work, including the control model behind every action, are available at jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

JAX is an AI agent that runs inside the JAMS Web Client. It finds jobs, troubleshoots failures, and answers how-to questions in plain language, with each response grounded in the JAMS user guide and checked against a built-in glossary. JAX acts only when a user asks it to. Reads flow freely, and every write action pauses for the user’s explicit approval before it runs. JAX does not learn between sessions, and conversations are not retained on the server.

JAMS MCP is a connector, built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, that brings JAMS into the AI tools engineering teams already use, including Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex. Users query jobs, investigate failures, and manage runs in plain language without leaving their tool.

Both capabilities run inside the customer’s own network and act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions. There is no elevated AI account: whatever a user cannot do in the JAMS interface, JAX and JAMS MCP cannot do on that user’s behalf. Every JAX and MCP operation is recorded in its own dedicated log, and changes made through the JAMS API land in the JAMS audit trail like any other change. Customers choose their own AI model, whether a commercial provider such as OpenAI or Anthropic or a model running entirely on their own hardware, and JAMS never trains on customer data. In the current release, neither feature edits or deletes a job, folder, schedule, or agent definition. For teams that must keep operational data within a defined boundary, JAX runs on a local model entirely inside the customer’s own network, so nothing leaves at all.

“Adopting AI usually means giving something up, most often visibility into where your data goes,” said Pete Hegland, Chief Executive Officer of JAMS Software. “We built JAX and JAMS MCP so that trade does not have to happen. Every action runs as the signed-in user, every change waits for approval, and the model itself can run entirely inside your own network.”

“IT teams across the United Kingdom and EMEA tell us the same thing: they want the benefit of AI without losing sight of where their data goes,” said Greg McLaughlin, Account Executive for EMEA at JAMS Software. “JAX and JAMS MCP let them keep operational data inside their own network and still get answers in plain language. That combination is what makes this practical for the teams I work with.”

JAX and JAMS MCP are available now to all JAMS Web customers across the United Kingdom and EMEA, with no separate licence, SKU, or additional cost. AI-assisted creation of new jobs and workflows from a plain-language description is on the roadmap for a future release, gated by the same approvals and permissions as every other action.

Learn how JAX and JAMS MCP work at https://jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

Fast facts

JAX is an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client for job scheduling and workflow automation.JAMS MCP is a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, for Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex.Both act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions, and there is no elevated AI account.Customers choose the AI model, including a local model that runs entirely inside their own network.JAMS never trains on customer data.Both are available now at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

About JAMS Software

Founded in 1987, JAMS Software is an orchestration solution that helps IT teams centralize, automate, and manage scheduled and event-driven jobs across complex, hybrid environments. Over 850 customers rely on JAMS to run their automated workloads. JAMS Software, LLC is headquartered at 108 Patriot Drive, Suite A, Middletown, DE 19709.

Media Contact
Bobby Schmidt, Vice President of Marketing
press@jamssoftware.com
800.261.4267

 

 

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/jams-launches-ai-for-enterprise-job-scheduling-jax-and-jams-mcp-on-the-model-you-choose-302833908.html

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Video: CNPC offers green chemical answer

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BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

Located on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tarim 1.2 MTA Phase II Ethylene Project and its supporting green and low-carbon demonstration facility of PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, are offering a new example of China’s low-carbon industrial transformation.

Watch the video to discover how CNPC is exploring a cleaner and more circular future for the industry.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/video-cnpc-offers-green-chemical-answer-302834036.html

SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn

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Shanghai Electric showcases embodied intelligence robot matrix and AI-native smart factory solutions at WAIC 2026

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Featuring humanoid robots with 41 degrees of freedom, pipe‑inspection robots with ±1mm positioning accuracy, and 51 industrial‑grade AI agents

SHANGHAI, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Operations in high-end equipment manufacturing often involve confined spaces, complex objects, and fine manipulation tasks that demand sustained and stable precision. At the recent 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC 2026), Shanghai Electric (SEHK: 02727, SSE: 601727) showcased its comprehensive portfolio of embodied intelligence solutions tailored to a range of industrial scenarios.

Themed “AI for All: Smart Squad, Shining Without Limits,” Shanghai Electric highlighted its capabilities across embodied AI robots, robot core components, and AI-native smart factory solutions, demonstrating end-to-end capabilities spanning complete robot systems, critical parts, industrial software, and smart factory architecture.

“The true value of embodied intelligence lies in understanding real industrial tasks: combining the strength, precision, and stability of machines with human experience and judgment to drive a genuine paradigm of ‘machine-assisted, human-machine collaboration,'” said Wang Chunlei, deputy general manager of the Robotics Business Unit at Shanghai Electric Automation Group.

Shanghai Electric’s robotics portfolio covers five key industrial scenarios: connector insertion, electrical operations, flexible sorting, intelligent assembly, and pipe processing. Highlights include:

“SUYUAN” bipedal humanoid robot: With 41 degrees of freedom for enhanced mobility, it is equipped with a multimodal visual sensing system on the head and torso, along with a dual-battery hot-swap system. It is well-suited for inspection, material handling, and assembly tasks.”TUOYUAN” industrial wheeled humanoid robot: Powered by an embodied intelligence foundation model and force-position hybrid control, it is capable of multi-spec connector insertion, material sorting, and loading/unloading of automotive sheet metal parts.”Mermaid” bionic wheeled humanoid robot: Capable of autonomously identifying buttons, knobs, and air switches, it generates real-time operation paths.Autonomous pipe inner-wall chamfering robot: Designed for confined spaces, it can position and process thousands of hole edges with accuracy within 1 millimeter while transmitting data in real time.

Shanghai Electric also showcased its portfolio of core components ranging from power-output to end effectors. Among them, the planetary roller screw offers more than three times the load capacity of traditional ball screws, while the DexHand dexterous hand is designed to meet diverse gripping and manipulation requirements.

Shanghai Electric launched 51 AI models and agents under its “StarCloud Intelligent Manufacturing” series across three domains: R&D and design, production and manufacturing, and operations and maintenance—covering critical equipment processes such as process optimization and wind power facility maintenance.

These industrial agents are embedded in robotic decision-making systems and the operational logic of AI-native smart factories, transforming industrial expertise into digitized, reusable capabilities. They support production-line scheduling, quality inspection, and predictive maintenance, driving the evolution of manufacturing systems from experience-driven to data-driven operations.

Shanghai Electric also released the “AI-Native Smart Factory Technology White Paper,” proposing an active evolution architecture that enables real‑time, closed‑loop optimization of production data, giving the factory self‑perception, self‑decision, and self‑execution capabilities. Built on First Principles, the AI‑native smart factory vertically integrates process flows, industrial software, agents, and smart equipment to dismantle traditional hierarchies while horizontally bridging data silos. The architecture features three core layers: the AI factory brain as the “control center,” industrial agents and embodied robots as the “execution network,” and the physical twin as the “digital mirror.”

Leveraging its deep industrial expertise and comprehensive solution capabilities, Shanghai Electric will continue to drive the implementation of AI in industrial settings, tackle technical challenges facing embodied intelligence in complex scenarios, accelerate the large‑scale deployment of AI‑native smart factories, and deliver replicable solutions across diverse manufacturing environments.

SOURCE Shanghai Electric

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