The NeuroMate® image-guided surgical robot has been developed and manufactured by an expert team in Silicon Valley, USA and Lyon, France. To date the robot has been used in over 9,000 neurosurgical procedures including Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Motor Cortex Stimulation (MCS), Stereo Electro-Encephalography (SEEG), neuro-endoscopy, radio-surgery, biopsy, and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). It is the world’s only such robot with both the United States Food and Drug Authority (FDA) approval and European CE mark for stereotactic neurosurgery, and CE mark for neuro-endoscopy applications. In addition, the NeuroMate® robot is approved by the Japanese ministry of health.

The growth of precision-guided neurosurgery is set to drive further growth in the robot-assisted surgery market. As demands for increased accuracy, safety and efficiencies are required and clinical needs continue to multiply, the prospect of expanding the success of NeuroMate®  in France, where there is a proven installed base, to other markets, represents a great opportunity.

Renishaw’s existing neurological portfolio and investment plans in its stereotactic product range, combined with its commitment to this new technology, will enable it to shape this significant market opportunity providing neurosurgeons with improved clinical outcomes and overall efficiency.

Renishaw is already involved in cutting-edge drug delivery activities and neurosurgical planning enhancement technologies. The acquisition of Schaerer Mayfield NeuroMate and robotic expertise will provide a platform technology for these activities, advance the use of functional neurosurgical procedures and reduce clinical complication rates in existing stereotactic procedures, using the only FDA and CE approved neurosurgical robot presently available.

Commenting,

Sir David McMurtry, Renishaw’s Chairman and Chief Executive, said “This investment is an important step for Renishaw, Schaerer Mayfield NeuroMate and surgical robotics more generally. The combination of the pre-eminent stereotactic robot and the portfolio of neurological products that Renishaw is developing based on its precision engineering capabilities, will provide the neurosurgeon with the tools necessary for precise placement of current and next generation therapeutic delivery devices.” ; and

Professor Steven Gill, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, UK, and international authority in functional neurosurgery, said, “The combined capability of accurate image-guided planning and the precision delivery that the robot can provide will lead to a major advance in neurosurgery.”

The centre, a partnership between the university and engineering manufacturer Renishaw, will offer courses to businesses and develop teaching and research on manufacturing productivity, as well as giving local firms access to the latest technology.

Jonathon Shaw says: “Partnerships between universities and business are critical to give the manufacturing sector the skills and knowledge to compete in a challenging market.

“The Renishaw Centre is an excellent example of collaboration to meet this challenge. It exemplifies the best of what the talent and facilities in our universities, working in partnership with a world class British company, has to offer the wider community.”

One of the initiatives is a two-day course, developed by Renishaw to help manufacturing companies increase automation and improve quality.

Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Greenwich, Professor Tom Barnes says: “The benefits of the Renishaw Centre will be seen across the region through better skills, increased high-technology manufacturing capacity, enhanced productivity and faster innovation, giving more competitive edge.”

Renishaw’s UK General Manager Marc Saunders adds: “Renishaw has proven that it is possible to thrive as a UK-based manufacturer through exceptional levels of automation and process control. We have distilled our years of accumulated manufacturing knowledge into training material that will help companies to develop their own robust, automated processes to compete globally.”

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The new SBRI is a procurement programme through which Government Departments buy research and development services, helping to bring new technologies to market and leading to the possibility of future commercial procurement in the public sector.  
 
The programme is aimed at businesses working on the development of an innovative process, material, device, product or service. It is open to all businesses but is particularly beneficial to SMEs. 
 
Developments will be 100% funded and will be targeted at specific identified needs in each Department, increasing the chance of exploitation. Suppliers for each project will be selected by an open competition process and retain the IPR generated from the project, with certain rights of use retained by the contracting Department.  
 
The Technology Strategy Board is launching pilot competitions for the new SBRI, operating in two phases. Phase 1 projects are to demonstrate technical feasibility; contracts are limited to a maximum of £100k and 6 months. After Phase 1 each project will be evaluated, and successful ones will be eligible to enter a competition for Phase 2, to develop and demonstrate the technology, including prototypes and trials in a realistic operational environment. Phase 2 contracts are limited to a maximum of £1m and 2 years. Successful completion of Phase 2 may lead to individual arrangements for commercialisation and product procurement (outside SBRI and according to Departments’ needs).  
 
Successful businesses will be those whose technology addresses specific needs identified in the competitions, and could make a measurable improvement to what is currently being procured by the target government department. SBRI projects are intended to achieve major milestones on the route to commercialisation, including prototyping and demonstration, and to be particularly helpful to early stage companies. 
 
The first pilot competition, with the MOD, is now open, and further details of the Health pilot will be available soon.  
 
For more information please visit the Technology Strategy Board website. 
 
General enquiries about the SBRI programme can be directed by email.

One key issue in the sector is managing the future of manufacturing. The key themes ofskills, innovation and climate change will be aired. The key speakers are drawn from Industry with such companies as Honda, Mulberry, Relyon, Crumb Rubber and AerosThermal Group sharing with us their thoughts and best practices on the key themes. If you add in Professor Steve Brown, the author of Manufacturing the Future, and Gilbert Toppin, the author of A guide to how it works and how to make it work, the event is well worth spending some time away from your hectic day to learn and share with like-minded people. We are sure we will stimulate much discussion, which wehope will continue over the networking lunch! The event will also include a small exhibition of manufacturing and business support organisations.

For full event details and booking form please download flyer. Manufacturing event flyer

The Top 100 list includes companies that have their head office in Gloucestershire, including leading financial services providers such as Cheltenham & Gloucester plc and the Chelsea Building Society, but excludes public sector employers such as the NHS and GCHQ. The list is compiled from various databases and edited by Gloucestershire Media in association with accountants and business advisors Hazlewoods.

Within Gloucestershire, Renishaw has four main facilities. Its head office based at New Mills, near Wotton-under-Edge, houses the majority of the company’s research & development, whilst the company’s Spectroscopy Products Division is located at a site within Wotton previously occupied by Lister Petter. The main machining facility at Stonehouse has already been hailed by industry commentators as representing the very best practices in machine automation and process quality, and at Woodchester, near Stroud, Renishaw’s main assembly operation features the latest technologies used to automate the assembly of electronic circuit boards.

Speaking about the formal recognition as the county’s largest business employer, Renishaw’s spokesman Chris Pockett said, “We feel proud that a manufacturing business is now the county’s largest private sector employer. This simply reinforces the fact that contrary to popular belief, it is still possible to make real products profitably in the UK. We offer attractive career opportunities from R&D and engineering, through to IT and marketing, and with exciting developments in new areas such as medical devices, we look forward to continuing our strong employment record both within Gloucestershire and in developing overseas markets.”

On June 23^rd he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual West of England Business Awards, a special honour that was only given this year to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Awards, which recognised Sir David’s significant contribution to not only his own business, but also generally to the business community in the South West of England.

The Awards are sponsored and organised by PricewaterhouseCoopers in association with the Western Daily Press, ITV West and Beacon South West, and in its summary the judging panel noted that under the stewardship of Sir David McMurtry, Renishaw has grown to become one of the South West of England’s biggest and most successful businesses, and that his track record of success “left the panel with no doubt that he was the most qualified to receive this prestigious award”.

Just two days later, Sir David also received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Bath, adding to honorary doctorates that he has already received from three other UK universities.

The presentation speech was delivered by Professor Tony Mileham, Head of Bath University’s Mechanical Engineering Department, who said, “He is an inspirational role model for young engineers. In his career he has played a fundamental role in the design and manufacture of a family of products that have revolutionised precision measurements and made Renishaw the internationally leading company it is today.”

Actavis and Lambda were the big winners at this year’s North Devon Manufacturers Association (NDMA) awards in Barnstaple, scooping between them the Manufacturer of the Year; Best Team of the Year, and Best Transformation of the Year awards.

Tyco and Victoria Sawmills also received recognition in the most prestigious industry awards in the region, coming away with prizes for Apprentice of the Year; Innovative Idea of the Year, Sustainable Innovation Scheme of the Year and Trainee of the Year respectively.

As well as adding to companies’ trophy cabinets, the evening provided a unique opportunity for manufacturers, large and small, to rub shoulders with their contemporaries and celebrate operational excellence in North Devon.

Jimmy Jewell, chairman of the NMDA and managing director of Opticop Manufacturing, explains: “The awards dinner proved once and for all that North Devon has a flourishing manufacturing sector. To see so many people in one room acknowledging one another’s successes was truly humbling and a reminder of the excellent skills and leaders we have in the county, not to mention the diversity of the sector.”

There were 47 entries to the six categories and a 140 people attended the awards dinner, enjoying inspirational after-dinner speeches from Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, TV star and creator of the ‘Black Farmer’ range of food products, and Danny Bamping, inventor of the ‘Bedlam Cube’.

Linda Middleton-Jones of the MAS, a key sponsor of the awards, says: “Both Wilfred and Danny shared with a captivated audience how they have overcome adversity and cynicism to get to their current level of success. The message rang out loud and clear that to succeed in business you need to persevere and never give up - something that many of the manufacturers present could identify with.”

The event also raised £1,000 for North Devon Cancer Care Trust and Devon Air Ambulance through a raffle with prizes ranging from a flight for two to Dublin, seats for a Manchester United football match and a driving lesson on the Seaton Tramway.

Over 3500 award nominations in various categories were received from BAE sites across the globe. From these nominations over 1200 bronze awards and 54 silver awards were given. Eighteen nominations, including the Aish Technologies design, went forward to the Gold Awards ceremony, held at Hampton Court Palace in November 2007.

The enclosure, designated the Common Cabinet, was represented at the ceremony by members of the BAE Systems Rainbow Team (shown in the photo below), including Aish Technologies’ Chief Engineer Richard Morgan.

Within the Innovation category, the Common Cabinet was narrowly beaten by two US teams that had developed life saving devices for use in Afghanistan. BAE Systems Chairman Dick Olver personally congratulated the team for their achievement.

In a letter of congratulations to Aish Technologies, Murray Easton, Managing Director BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, said “Many people would expect the design, prototyping and testing of a new cabinet to be a 12 month programme, and to achieve this in only six months shows that a level of commitment above and beyond expectation must have been shown by your team”.

The Common Cabinet has been designed as a replacement for the Naval Equipment Practice (NEP) Cabinet, which is fitted to all current Royal Navy submarines for Sonar, Combat Management and other applications.  The new Cabinet provides improved cooling performance, increased electronics card density, superior payload flexibility and easier maintenance at a lower unit cost.  This has been achieved through a number of innovative design ideas, the most radical of which is turning the card rack positions, and hence the airflow, through 90 degrees.  The card racks are mounted in pairs in three rows, each row having a separate horizontal closed air/water circulation that eliminates the stovepipe cooling inefficiencies of a conventional vertical layout.

The Common Cabinet has been developed as the generic cabinet for the fourth Astute Class submarine, HMS Audacious, and is destined to deliver cost and performance benefits across all future RN Astute and Successor SSBN boats.

Aish Technologies takes pride in its close relationship with its customers, and is pleased to be part of the BAE Systems Rainbow Team, which has created an environment where the ideas that will make the Common Cabinet such a successful product, and major contributor to the affordability of future submarine programmes, have been fully encouraged.