The quality assurance and assembly team in Woodchester, GloucestershireTo recognise and celebrate real-life examples of its values, global engineering technologies company
Renishaw plc, hosted an internal competition where teams from around the world provided examples of the values in action. One winning team was selected for each of the four values — innovation, inspiration, integrity, involvement — with each team’s nominated charity receiving a donation of £5,000 (or local currency equivalent).
As part of the competition, different Renishaw teams demonstrated how a project they had worked on reflected one of the company’s core values. 34 entries were submitted, from around the world, with judging carried out by the executive committee, including Sir David McMurtry, executive chairman, and Will Lee, chief executive.
The innovation category was won by a software team, based in India, for its development of off-surface and on-surface planners for Renishaw measuring systems used to inspect complex components. The planners fully automate motion planning, which manufacturers currently perform manually through trial and error.
The inspiration category was won by a team of apprentices based at Renishaw’s manufacturing sites in Gloucestershire and South Wales who, as part of the company’s manufacturing apprentice development programme, delivered nine continuous improvement projects using lean manufacturing principles. All the apprentices’ projects delivered benefits to the company, either by reducing waste or increasing productivity.
The rise in demand for electronic components and other global factors meant that, in some cases, Renishaw had to redesign products, substitute for available alternatives from existing suppliers, or purchase from alternative sources. The quality assurance and assembly team at its Woodchester manufacturing site conducted essential work to manage risk and ensure that product quality maintained Renishaw’s high standards, winning them the category for integrity.
Finally, the winner of the involvement category was Renishaw’s Covid-19 committee for its work developing global guidance and taking action to prevent the spread of the virus within the company’s global sites. Formed in February 2020, the team’s work meant that, when compared with similar-sized businesses and local community rates, Renishaw kept transmission levels low within the business.
The four charities who were nominated by the winning teams to receive a £5,000 donation were the Smt Patashibai Lunkad Blind School based in Pune, India, and three UK organisations; the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, James Hopkins Trust in Gloucester and the Stroke Association based in London.
Mr Lee said: “Our values guide the way we do business, as well as how we act as individuals. This new competition has been a great way to celebrate the people around the world that demonstrate our values in their daily lives and share their success. We look forward to running this on an annual basis to recognise the excellent work our teams continue to do across the world to innovate, inspire, show integrity and get involved.”