View from the Mill, the Renishaw blog

Last week heralded a new Chinese year, which in the Shengxiào (Chinese Zodiac) is represented this year by the Dragon, a creature which is believed in many parts of Asia to bring fortune and power.  In the same week we also released our financial results for the first six months of our current trading year, and whilst our statement was announced without fireworks and dancing, we did make our own predictions for the future.

In his statement that accompanied the financial results, our Chairman and Chief Executive, Sir David McMurtry, included the following comments:

“The outlook for continuing global investment for production systems in automotive, civil aviation, agriculture and energy (including oil, gas and renewables) looks increasingly favourable. Furthermore, we anticipate a recovery in the important electronics sector. The Group is well-positioned to benefit from these structural growth trends as they should result in increasing demand for Renishaw’s systems and products. Following restructuring within the healthcare business, we anticipate an improved performance going forward. We therefore remain focused on positioning the Group for further growth and view the future with great confidence.”

Civil aviation is a particularly interesting sector right now and when recently asked to make a forecast for technology developments in the aerospace industry, Marc Saunders, our Director of UK Sales, and Chair of the Technical Fellows Board of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield, UK, said:

“With the continuing growth in the demand for civil aircraft, fuelled by the ever growing middle-classes in countries such as China and India, the future certainly looks bright for the sector. However, whilst there are opportunities, there are also emerging competitive threats to the Western primes, which together with economic uncertainties, means that all have a clear focus on economic sustainability.

The key drivers that we see are therefore a desire to increase manufacturing productivity, to reduce re-processing operations, improve quality, and incorporate more automation to create the possibility of ‘green button’ lights-out part production.

Responding to these trends, in recent years we have been positioning Renishaw as much more of a ‘solutions provider’ that is able to supply a full process control capability, rather than being merely a supplier of discrete measurement component products. Based on our own experiences as a manufacturer, we have been able to develop a manufacturing model that has interested many large aerospace companies, developing stable repeatable processes based on well maintained machinery and fully integrated on-machine process control, and off-line measurement systems designed to handle the rapid inspection of complex parts.

A good example of the application of the latter technology is gas turbine production, where the constant imperative to improve fuel efficiency is driving aero engine makers to focus closely on the precise shape of air flow surfaces.  Leading and trailing edge forms, the positioning of neighbouring blades and vanes, and the blends between blade and root surfaces are especially critical to engine performance.  This is driving manufacturers to gather more information about the aerofoil and root features, which are often produced in a series of forming and machining operations.  Here our REVO® 5-axis scanning technology for co-ordinate measuring machines has found a powerful niche, typically reducing aerofoil inspection times by 80% - 90% through high speed, continuous profile scanning.

Another area where we see increasing interest is that of metal-based additive manufacturing processes, due to the potential to minimise component weight and therefore total lifetime costs of aircraft operation. Through acquisition we have recently become a supplier of such technologies and we are witnessing a strong drive within Universities and larger businesses to research additive technologies and applications, including new powders and alloys. There is the potential to manufacture in one set-up a complete functional part, rather than an assembly of individual components, and the technology is already being investigated for the manufacture of flight system components such as fuel delivery systems and valves, with galleries and intricate internal features where weight is important.”

Whatever your industry and whatever calendar you follow, we hope that your year also looks as promising as that of our own.

(Image courtesy of Eva Heinsbroek, Bergen, The Netherlands)

Each year we like to create a bespoke Christmas card design, for which the only stipulation is that it must feature the iconic 19th Century mill building at our HQ near Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, which was constructed in 1801. We've taken many different approaches over the years with past cards featuring the building reflected in a bauble hanging from a Christmas tree, Santa walking along the balcony in our main Reception area, and even a fabulous cake in the shape of the mill.

It becomes increasingly difficult to think up new ideas so this year we decided to ask pupils from 25 of our local schools to help us out, by holding a competition to design our 2011 card. The competition was won by Rhiannon Street, a 15 year-old pupil from Stroud High School in Gloucestershire, who received a £100 Amazon voucher for her impressive advent calendar style representation of the mill building.

Rhiannon’s winning entry was an instant hit with those of us who acted as judges, winnning plaudits for its innovative design and attention to detail which shows the mill building’s many windows filled by a variety of festive characters.

When we met Rhiannon to present her with her prize, she mentioned how she was also designing Christmas cards for some of her friends, so she is certainly a future talent to watch out for. She said, “I’m really proud that my design will be seen by over one hundred thousand Renishaw’s customers around the world, both as a printed card and as an animated e-card which the company has created.”

Thanks to all the local schools that supported the competition and the students that took time to submit entries, and here is the winning entry in an animated animated form that we created within our marketing team.

Season's greetings to you all and thanks for your support during 2011.

It was perhaps appropriate that at a business awards event sponsored by the telecoms brand Orange, that Renishaw, with its main corporate colour of orange (pantone 151 if you’re interested), should win one of the night’s key accolades.

Thus it was on 8th November that we were really pleased to be given the accolade of being the UK’s Mid-Cap Business of the Year, an award that was sponsored by Grant Thornton, one of the UK’s leading financial and business advisory organisations. What for us was very special, was to be judged ahead of some very high performing short-listed companies including SuperGroup (manufacturer of the internationally renowned Superdry clothing), Majestic Wine (a leading wine retailer and personal favourite of this blog’s author), Moneysupermarket (owner of the UK’s most popular price comparison website), Rightmove (the UK’s largest residential property website), and the Cineworld Group (the number one UK cinema operator).

It is also an interesting award because it is open by nomination only to publicly listed companies or mutuals with a turnover of between £25 million and £500 million. For Renishaw it is also a bit special, because whilst we have been fortunate over the years to win many awards for achievement in engineering technology and innovation, this accolade takes a holistic view of a business, rating financial returns, growth and innovation strategies, and market sector prominence.

According to Grant Thornton’s blog, it was a very close-fought contest with all four judges (David Freeman of Huthwaite International, Martin Gardner of Grant Thornton, Clare Parsons of Lansons Communications, and Jane Tozer of ITNEA) ranking Cineworld, Majestic Wine and Renishaw in their top three. However, apparently we edged the contest for our ‘exceptional innovation and export growth over the year’ and we were also seen as strong on staff engagement and ‘won kudos for creating a campus culture attracting more graduates into engineering and providing a breeding ground for continued innovation.’

The comprehensive entry form that we had to complete covered topics such as business innovation, management style, customer service strategy, staff motivation, and business ethics. However, the last question was interesting as it asked what winning the award would mean for both Renishaw and the industry (in our case manufacturing), and here is what we said in response to the latter:

“The manufacturing sector generally has a poor public perception in the UK, with the belief often expressed that ‘the UK doesn’t make stuff anymore’ and generally has the image of grimy, oily environments, dominated by 50+ year old men operating manual machinery. This does nothing to help successful engineering companies like our own to attract bright young people, when influencers in schools and families have such negative impressions. The Government speaks often about rebalancing, but the national media generally doesn’t understand the sector and positive stories are rare.

Therefore to win this award would help the industry by publicising that manufacturing is alive and well, that it does make a positive contribution to the wealth of the UK economy, and that it does offer rewarding careers, developing and making products that are making a real difference to people’s lives in, for example, the fields of healthcare and green energy products.

The Grant Thornton award would also signal to the international community that the UK has chosen to recognise a UK manufacturer as representing the best of British Business, which would also be a very positive message for the sector.”

We’re very proud of being named The Grant Thornton Mid-Cap Business of the Year, and really hope that along with many other excellent companies in the manufacturing industry that we can continue to gain such recognition from outside the sector, and especially highlight the great opportunities for young people, both with modern forward looking apprenticeships and excellent graduate positions.