A GLOBAL engineering company which was originally founded in Wotton celebrated its 50th birthday with a series of events.
Renishaw was founded by two former Rolls-Royce employees Sir David McMurtry and John Deer five decades ago on April 4, 1973.
The team's first product was the touch-trigger probe, which was invented by Sir David to solve an inspection requirement for engines used in Concorde.
The company has now grown from a small enterprise to a multinational corporation with operations in 36 countries.
The firm works on everything from aircraft, cars, smartphones, EV batteries, and solar panels to brain surgery and dentistry, as well as Team GB Olympic bikes.
Anniversary events held across the globe
As part of celebrations Renishaw welcomed employees and their relatives to open days held at its New Mills site in Wotton and Miskin site in South Wales.
Meanwhile, Renishaw teams across the world also held hosted similar anniversary events in Edinburgh, Shanghai, Sweden, Taiwan and India.
The Renishaw team in Edinburgh celebrated with an office band which played hit songs from 1973 including Elton John, Stealers Wheel and Stevie Wonder.
Meanwhile, in Germany, staff from Reinshaw hosted a 70s themed summer festival.
While in Asia, CEO Will Lee joined Renishaw's APAC President, Andy Buttrey attended a family party in Shanghai and rock-climbing with employees in Hong Kong.
In Rajkot, India, an evening seminar for customers showcased Renishaw's products for smart manufacturing, including live demonstrations and a round-table discussion
A similar event was held at the Turin Automobile Museum in Italy.
“We celebrated the spirit of unity and collaboration"
Renishaw's CEO Will Lee said: “We've celebrated the achievements of our co-founders, plus past and present employees, who have contributed significantly to global advances in precision manufacturing
“While this landmark year has now ended, we're looking forward with confidence to another half-century of innovation and sustainable growth.
“The formula that has ensured Renishaw's success over the past 50 years remains at the heart of our approach to business.
"That means continuing to invest heavily in research and development, and focus on excellent customer service, whilst developing our people who are at the heart of our business.
"On behalf of Renishaw, I would like to thank them for making our continued success possible.”
Edwin Lau, HR Business Partner at Renishaw Hong Kong said: “The celebrations are about more than just 50 years of Renishaw's success.
“We celebrated the spirit of unity and collaboration that has driven us forward all these years and the exciting future ahead.”
Renishaw also donated a total of £150,000 to charities and not-for-profit organisations located in the countries where it has operations.
In the UK this included foodbank provider, the Trussell Trust, with all its branches local to the company's sites in Gloucestershire and South Wales receiving a donation.
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