MSP have continued to make their mark globally in 2018. From its head office in Alnwick, Northumberland, the company revolutionise the way the world makes parts with their innovative manufacturing solutions, products that have been and continue to be embraced by many of the world’s biggest and best-known industry names.
Founded in 2002, MSP develop software which automates manufacturing processes and identifies errors on machine tools before machining starts, increasing productivity and reducing costs significantly. Their patented solutions are unique within the manufacturing industry and, as a result, the company has enjoyed major success on five continents of the world, within many sectors, such as Aerospace, Formula 1 and, most recently, 3D printing.
MSP’s services are commissioned by an increasing number of global manufacturing companies and have been used on many high profile industry projects including the BAE Systems F35 fighter jet and Eurofighter, as well as the Airbus’ A320, A350 and A380. Such impressive global achievements are possible because of their 40-strong workforce, consisting of Software Developers, Applications Engineers and Business Support teams.
Success for the company has been consistent, with an annual growth of up to 25 per cent year-on-year. This success has continued in 2018. International sales have increased by a massive 70 per cent and development started on three innovative new products. The company expanded to accommodate for this demand, which included the appointment of Marianne Whitfield as Director of Development and Keith Langford as UK Technical Account Manager. Marianne is responsible for managing the product development teams to ensure MSP’s products continue to be innovative and support customer needs. Keith is a key member of the commercial team, overseeing the UK expansion of MSP’s products. To round off the year, the company were acknowledged for their innovative technology with both a Dynamo Dynamites 18 and Made in the North East award.
In the coming months, MSP will introduce its newest product AutoClock, which will fully automate a stage of the manufacturing production process that hasn’t been possible to automate before.
Tony Brown, Commercial Director and one of MSP’s founders, comments:
“AutoClock is the first hardware product we have developed, making 2018 a pivotal year in our history. Being first to the market with this hardware means we can capture the majority of market share, giving MSP a huge commercial advantage. We can now return to many clients we have previously worked with to fully automate their process. We would say that many of our clients have become friends, such is the relationship we have with them, and we are really looking forward to working with them on the next stage of development of their processes.”
Success in reducing manufacturing times, improving efficiency, while making cost savings of often millions of pounds, is at the heart of what MSP do.
Peter Hammond, Technical Director and also one of MSP’s founders, explains:
“The global reach of the company and the success our products have, exceeds what would be expected of a company our size. Manufacturers come to us because we are world experts at what we do and we can solve their problems because of our metrology, engineering and software knowledge. Work in research and development is at the forefront of the business, as we continually innovate to ensure the company stays ahead of the game and maintain our upward trajectory.”
The impressive work MSP do can be highlighted through its work in Formula 1. Through use of MSP’s NC-Checker and NC-PerfectPart software products, part setup time has been reduced by an incredible 9.5 hours for one leading F1 team.
Peter describes how:
“Traditionally, a lot of the process to make components like the chassis would be done manually and would take around 12 hours. That’s just for one component. By using our software, we were able to get set up down to 38 minutes – added to 2 hours for the machining, that’s 2.5 hours, and a very significant time saving. In Formula 1, where innovation and speed is everything, that has proved to be very important, and we now work with three leading F1 teams based in the UK.”
Having achieved so much already, MSP are now looking towards 2019 and future growth.
Tony says:
“We want to create an end to end solution for all customers and even more simple solutions to complex problems for manufacturers worldwide. This process will never be finished as our customers always have to be advancing, and so do we. Growing our team – particularly our software development and application engineering teams – is key to that growth and we are hoping to expand greatly this year to accommodate for customer demand.”