24 April 2012

At the prestigious MWP Awards Dinner held in Birmingham, UK, on 17th April, Renishaw's unique Equator 300 gauging system was judged the winner in the 'Best Quality Control Equipment' category, beating shortlisted entries from Hexagon Metrology and Blum Novotest. The awards, which are often referred to as the UK metalworking industry's 'Oscars', are highly competitive and entry is open to any worldwide manufacturer with a UK representative.

The judges praised the Equator gauge for 'its unique design and significant potential' and also recognised the product 'for achieving great results.' Kevyn Jonas, Director of Renishaw's Automation & Measurement Products Division, who accepted the award, said, "This has been a great product to work on and all staff from across the company who contributed to the development and marketing of Equator should take great pride in their achievements."

Launched in March 2011, this is already the fourth international honour awarded to the Equator versatile gauge, which represents Renishaw's first move into the gauging market. With its unique design and method of operation, it is a radical alternative to dedicated gauges that helps manufacturers to significantly cut the costs of purchase, maintenance and fixturing. The system can be pre-programmed for multiple parts and takes just a few minutes to be re-programmed for any component design changes; a significant benefit over existing custom gauges.

Renishaw also sponsored the 'Best Research & Development Project', which was won by Versarien, developer of Lost Carbonate Sintering, "an innovative manufacturing process that enables engineers to replicate porous structures that occur in nature in a cost effective way." The award was presented by Renishaw's Chairman & Chief Executive Sir David McMurtry in front of a 700-strong audience.

Now in their thirtieth year, the MWP Awards are organised by Metalworking Production Magazine, and are traditionally presented during MACH, the UK's leading manufacturing technologies exhibition. Entries were judged by a panel of ten independent experts from manufacturing industry both practitioners and academics, and includes senior executives from leading organisations such as Airbus, the AMRC, Siemens and AESSEAL.

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