Renishaw Productivity Centre
The shortage of engineers has long been recognised as a constraint on UK industry, which is now demanding manufacturing engineering skills to develop robust automated productive processes in answer to the challenges posed by globalisation. Although major UK enterprises do have the critical mass to provide training for staff to utilise advanced technology, this may not be the case for small manufacturing enterprises.
Renishaw plc has announced a nationwide education initiative, which was launched in the West Midlands in spring 2008. In partnership with selected H&FE institutions, Renishaw has created a network of "Productivity Centres" to enable SMEs to have access to a contemporary manufacturing engineering education.
An educational package has been developed based around a concept called the Productive Process Pyramid ™, which is used to systematically identify and control sources of variation in machining processes, resulting in increased automation, improved process control, and reduced scrap and rework.