Leeds West MP John Battle presented a special award to the Yorkshire based railway parts engineering company, Pickersgill-Kaye, who employ 130 people locally, on the 5th November.

The award certificate is in recognition of their successful participation in a Government initiative, the On Machine Measurement Project.

The project is designed to help manufacturing companies save money by minimising waste and maximising production through a free trial of state of the art measurement technology. After their involvement, Pickersgill-Kaye identified savings of £40,000 just through better measurement!

David Wilcock, Production Services Manager at Pickersgill-Kaye expressed his pleasure in being involved in the project and receiving the award, “When I heard about the project I didn’t hesitate to participate. As a direct result of being involved we identified substantial savings through a reduction in scrap materials. In fact it’s been so successful that we are investing in our own new measurement technology”.

At the award ceremony held at Pickersgill-Kaye, the former minister for the Office of Science and Technology, Mr Battle, conveyed his support for the project, “Manufacturing industry, throughout the UK, could benefit hugely from this type of exciting initiative. It shows that accurate measurement can be practical and add value. This is the ‘appliance of science’ at its best.”

The On Machine Measurement Project is funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Over 30 other small businesses were involved in the West Yorkshire area pilot. The On Machine Measurement Project is a collaboration between the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the University of Huddersfield, Leeds College of Technology (winners of the 2001 Training and Education Metrology Award) and Kirkdale Industrial Training Services as well as having the support from many of the UK’s leading instrumentation companies.

David Richardson, Marketing and Communications Director at NPL said, “This practical scheme is an effective way of getting state of the art measurement technology into small companies and applying it to bring real and rapid commercial benefits”.