In light of the proposals, Renishaw is beginning a collective consultation process with the 120 affected employees at the Stone facility. If it is decided to close the Stone site, it is hoped that the level of redundancies would be reduced by a number of the affected employees taking up newly available positions in Gloucestershire. These employees would be supported with relocation packages.
“We’ve invested heavily in all aspects of AM system design and are very pleased with the market adoption of the RenAM 500Q multi-laser machine,” says William Lee, Renishaw’s chief executive. “We have exciting plans for future systems that will further boost the adoption of AM for series production, but in a competitive global business we need to be agile and efficient in how we bring these new technologies to market.”
He adds: “Our current thinking is that the most effective way to achieve this would be for our AM technical and commercial teams to be co-located at our Gloucestershire facilities. The AM team at the Stone site has made a major contribution to our progress and we sincerely hope that a large number of them would relocate to our headquarters site if the closure goes ahead.”
If the plans are approved, Renishaw’s Gloucestershire headquarters would house an expanded demonstration facility, enabling customers to experience Renishaw’s range of industrial metrology and AM technologies, covering process development, 3D printing, finish machining and part verification.
