Renishaw plc
Renishaw plc is a British engineering company based in Wotton-under-Edge, England. The company's products include coordinate-measuring machines and machine tool products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
The company was founded by Sir David McMurtry and John Deer in 1973. McMurtry had needed to measure fuel pipes on a prototype jet engine: at the time, coordinate-measuring machine sensors featured rigid styli, which required manual positioning on the surface and which yielded poor repeatability when measuring delicate components. To meet this need, McMurtry invented a touch-trigger probe device, which he then patented. The probe featured an elegant 'kinematic' location for a spring-loaded stylus, providing a highly repeatable seated position for the stylus combined with the compliance needed to measure such components.Renishaw floated on the Unlisted Securities Market in 1983, and gained a full listing on the London Stock Exchange in November 1984. In 2006, the Company bought 'itp', a German manufacturer of precision styli. In early 2009, the global recession reached Renishaw, resulting in a large proportion of the workforce being placed "at risk".
In 2010, Renishaw bought a stake of Measuring Devices Ltd, a company providing a range of services in the field of surveying equipment. In 2011, Renishaw purchased the 400,000 sq ft Bosch plant in Miskin, Wales.