From pens to particle physics - Brandauer receives royal visitor to help celebrate 150 years

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne was introduced to 11 former employees, existing staff that have more than 550 years service between them, recently qualified apprentices and the family owners, which included the co-founder's four great-great-grandchildren. She then viewed an exhibition of the many different Brandauer products from the past century and a half, including a tiny lithographic nib that has been in continuous production for at least 145 years, before viewing first-hand the state-of-the-art wire EDM cell, toolroom and upper press shop that is currently making vision system electrodes for a global automotive client. The visit ended with HRH Princess Royal unveiling a plaque - made by fellow Midlands Assembly Network member Advanced Chemical Etching - to mark the 150th anniversary. John Berkeley OBE, chairman of Brandauer, explains: "Back in 1887, our co-founder Joseph Letière Petit produced a pen bearing the Royal Coat of Arms to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, so it is a great honour for us to welcome a member of the Royal family here to celebrate our own important milestone. "Before companies like Brandauer were established, people were writing with birds' feathers sharpened to a point. The introduction of the steel pen revolutionised writing habits and today we are still at the forefront of innovation, supplying critical components to clean energy generation units and to ground-breaking projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider that will help transform our understanding of the universe." Heading for a record £9 million annual sales this year, Brandauer currently exports 75% of its sales overseas to more than 20 countries, including millions of components to the United States and China. The factory tour, which was led by former apprentice and now managing director David Spears, featured an in-depth look at a recent international contract win with a tier 1 automotive supplier. Estimated to be worth £700,000 per year, the order involves the production of specialist components for use in rear view mirrors on premium cars including Audi, BMW, VW and Porsche. A book - 'From Pens to Particle Physics' – charts the story of Brandauer, with a special edition given to Her Royal Highness to mark her visit. Image: The Princess Royal is given a book that tracks Brandauer's history More images of the visit: The Princess Royal views a variety of products Hearing details about products and processes On the shopfloor, taking a closer look at Brandauer's output The speech ahead of unveiling the plaque More shopfloor talk and smiles Studying Brandauer's history through a display of products Receiving a copy of Brandauer's 'From Pens to Particle Physics' book