Renishaw plc

Renishaw will design, manufacture, and supply metrology systems of the highest quality and reliability to enable customers worldwide to carry out dimensional measurements to traceable standards. Our product offerings will enhance quality and productivity, and we will strive for total customer satisfaction through superior customer service. Our aim is to provide leading edge technology by encouraging innovation to address our customers' needs. We are committed to sustained growth through continued investment in product development and manufacturing methods. Renishaw wishes to be recognized collectively and individually as leaders and contributors in our field and our community. We wish to achieve our aims in a way that is caring, open, and honest. Renishaw is an environmentally conscious and responsible company. We will strive to ensure that all aspects of the business have the least harmful effect on the environment. McMurty and John Deer acquire Renishaw Electrical Ltd and acquire license to produce touch-trigger probes. Renishaw forms joint-venture distribution agreement with RLS of Slovenia to enter Eastern Europe. Renishaw plc is the world's leading manufacturer of test-probe and measurement equipment for Co-ordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) systems offering precision sensitivity up to one-third of a micron. The company, based in Gloucestershire, England, is structured into six divisions, each focusing on a specific CMM product applications: Machine tools, Lasers, Calibration, Encoders, Digitizers, and Spectroscopy. Three additional divisions, Technical Services, Manufacturing Services, and Corporate Services offer support to the company's product divisions. Renishaw, led by founders David R. McMurtry, chairman and CEO, and John Deer, deputy chairman--who together own more than 50 percent of the company's stock--not only leads its market but has long functioned as its chief pioneer. The company holds a large array of patents, many of which are under McMurty's name, protecting its products and technologies, and is well known for defending its patents against infringements. The company operates on a worldwide basis, with one-third of its sales coming from the United States. The United Kingdom represents 11 percent of sales, and the company generates more than 35 percent of its revenues in Europe. Japan is another of the company's major markets, generating 12 percent of its revenues, which topped £125 million in 2001. The company is present in more than 20 countries worldwide. David McMurty worked as an engineer at Rolls-Royce during the 1970s, and, as Assistant Chief of Engine Design, was closely involved in developing the Olympus engine used to power the Concorde jet then under development. In 1972, McMurty was asked to come up with a solution for measuring the tiny tubes--as small as one-quarter inch in diameter--used in the Olympus engine design. Traditional measuring devices were unable to provide post-production measurement--a necessary step for ensuring the safety and viability of the engine--because they tended to deflect the thin tubes. McMurty took the problem home with him, and, over the weekend, developed the world's first "touch-trigger" probe, using materials that included six ball bearings and even a piece of his bedroom carpet. Mounted on a standard measuring machine, the touch-trigger probe offered a far more sensitive reading than any other available technology and was to remain an industry standard into the next century. Rolls-Royce instantly saw the potential of McMurty's invention, and protected it with a patent, listing McMurty as the inventor. The patent was owned by Rolls-Royce, however. Yet McMurty already looked forward to adapting the probe for use in other industrial applications. In this, McMurty was encouraged by his first third-party order, for ten probes from CMM maker Notsa. McMurty had already gained some commercial and manufacturing experience, having formed with a partner a small compa