View from the Mill, the Renishaw blog

Improving the image of manufacturing and engineering and encouraging more young people into the sector has been a constant theme running across our blogs since we first started them in November 2009. However, we all know that our own words are not enough - so today, we're handing over to a recent visitor to our Stonehouse (Gloucestershire) machine shop who attended a schools open afternoon that we held this week as part of the inaugural Stroud Festival of Manufacturing & Engineering. 

We've hidden her identity, but otherwise these are the unabridged words of a lady who accompanied a group of young girls who attend a local secondary school: 

"Dear Renishaw,

May I just say a huge thank you for your time and effort. That was a truly fantastic tour and a marvellous visit for the girls and I.

They have learned so much and have taken away a brilliantly positive impression of engineering and manufacturing today.

We all really liked your  pride and enthusiasm, particularly that our apprentice-guide showed for his work. It is evident that Renishaw is a good employer.

I really believe it is something that more of our school children should have the chance to see, from an educational point of view as well as looking at future careers.

I love the way that everything was so clean and tidy and planned in such a way to reduce waste and promote safety. It was a lovely working environment, light and airy.

It was a truly superb display of up-to-date engineering and technology. The visit has helped to put into context the girls’ science and design studies and lessons.

We loved the quiz.  Thank you for the gift folders (and cake).

Please thank our tour guide once again for us, he gave us some fantastic answers to our questions and really helped us to understand what was happening.

Many thanks once again for giving us such a fabulous opportunity to see around the Stonehouse site."

As our local MP Neil Carmichael said at the opening of the Stroud Festival, 'show and tell' is very powerful.

This Saturday (28th April) we are opening the Stonehouse facility to the community, so if you know anyone that might like to see what modern manufacturing is REALLY like, then do let them know that we are open from 10am to 3pm, with last tours at 2pm.

More details and directions to the site can be seen at www.renishaw.com/openday

On Saturday we were again honoured to receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovations category for our highly innovative SP80 ultra-high accuracy analogue scanning probe. The product is used on co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) for the highly accurate measurement of complex parts such as automotive and power train components.

This is the 15th Queen’s Award that we have won in our 39-year history, making Renishaw one of the UK’s most successful award winners of all time, with only internationally renowned brands such as British Aerospace, Rolls-Royce and JCB having achieved more recognition from Her Majesty.

In some parts of the world Queen’s Awards are well known, but still remain something of an enigma to many people living outside the UK. However, they are quite simply the most prestigious award for business performance that a UK-based company can receive.

They were first granted in 1966 and originally known as ‘The Queen’s Award to Industry’, were only available for organisations. Today there are three Queen’s Award for Enterprise categories – International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development, plus an award for individuals, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. All awards are conferred annually by the Queen on her birthday, the 21st April.

As might be expected for an award given in the name of the British Sovereign, the assessment process for entries is rigorous. An Advisory Committee containing representatives from Government, industry and trade unions, assist the British Prime Minister in advising Her Majesty The Queen as to whom should win an Award.

Commenting on his company’s latest award, our Chairman and Chief Executive, Sir David McMurtry, highlighted the contribution of staff from across the world who have ensured the success of the SP80 scanning probe, from innovative designers and skilled manufacturing personnel, through to the highly dedicated sales staff from across our offices in 32 countries. 

The SP80 is designed for the highly accurate measurement of parts with deep features and can therefore carry very long styli up to 800 mm long with a mass of up to 500 g with no counter balancing and no significant degradation in measuring performance. The dynamic response of the probe enables highly accurate scanning without sacrificing speed, thereby reducing production bottlenecks and improving process control.

Given that annually around 150-200 Queen’s Awards are granted to businesses and individuals across the UK, the Queen has to delegate the presentation of awards to her regional representatives. Within each UK administrative ‘County’ (similar to a US state), there is a Lord-Lieutenant who is the permanent representative of the King or Queen in that County. In Gloucestershire, where Renishaw is based, there have been eight awards this year, ensuring that our own Lord-Lieutenant, Dame Janet Trotter, will be kept busy over the summer period at award ceremonies.

As has happened fourteen times before, representatives from Renishaw associated with the SP80 will also attend a special function in the grounds of Buckingham Palace during July, a special privilege that last year was enjoyed by two members of the design team for our TRS2 laser-based tool recognition system which won the same Innovations award in 2011. 

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)