The exhibition of cutting-edge British manufacturing takes place at the Science Museum from 24th July to 9th September to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic games. It is the culmination of the ‘Make it in Great Britain’ campaign launched last year by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to challenge outdated opinions of modern manufacturing and dispel the myth that Britain ‘doesn’t make anything anymore’. Xaar will showcase some of its leading technology to demonstrate to exhibition visitors the value of manufacturing to UK business.
Headquartered on Cambridge’s Science Park, Xaar has been at the forefront of industrial inkjet printhead development since its foundation in 1990. Its piezoelectric printheads are used to jet a variety of fluids onto a range of materials and Xaar’s technology has changed the face of industrial printing processes in the global print, packaging and ceramics industries. The company is currently achieving record growth. Over the last seven years alone, Xaar has grown from 180 to almost 500 employees, and year-on-year sales in 2011 grew by 26 per cent to £68.7 million. Xaar has recently invested £22 million to expand its printhead manufacturing at its state-of-the-art facilities in Huntingdon, UK.
“We are delighted to be part of such a great platform for British innovation,” said Ted Wiggans, Operations Director at Xaar. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our innovative printhead technology that was invented in the UK. Our flagship Xaar 1001 printhead [pictured] is manufactured in the UK and 86 per cent of our printheads are exported, sold and used all over the world, making an important contribution to the UK economy. We invest around 8 per cent of turnover in R&D and are always looking for highly skilled and motivated individuals to help us grow the business further.”
Business Minister Mark Prisk said: “Manufacturing accounts for 8 per cent of total UK employment and well over half of export goods, yet current perceptions of the industry are out of date and do not reflect that reality. We have selected a really exciting mix of exhibits, and I hope that as many people as possible visit the exhibition and see all of the great examples of British design and manufacturing – it will be spectacular.”
Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum commented: “We’re incredibly excited to be hosting the Make it in Great Britain exhibition this summer. The Science Museum and its world-leading collections demonstrate some of the greatest engineering achievements of the last 200 years. We hope that as many people as possible visit the exhibition, and see at first-hand how innovation in British manufacturing is still thriving today.”
The exhibition will be open from 24th July to 9th September, and is free to visit. For more information about the event please visit www.bis.gov.uk/makeitingreatbritain. To find out more about Xaar visit www.xaar.com.
About Xaar
Xaar is the world’s leading independent supplier of industrial inkjet printheads, inks and systems components to commercial printing and industrial manufacturing markets. Xaar’s innovative technology offers OEM customers and licensees commercial advantage through product differentiation, productivity, and faster time-to-market. Additional information about Xaar is available at www.xaar.com
About Make it in Great Britain
Make it in Great Britain is a campaign that will challenge outdated perceptions and transform the image of modern manufacturing.
- The Business Secretary and Mark Prisk launched the Make it in Great Britain campaign at a stakeholder event in Central London attended by 150 of Britain’s manufacturers and trade associations in November 2011.
- The Make it in Great Britain exhibition will be open to the public from Tuesday 24th July to Sunday 9th September, and is taking place at the Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, SW7 2DD.
- For more information about the Make it in Great Britain campaign, go to http://bis.gov.uk/makeitingreatbritain.
- The full list of exhibitors is:
Airbus
A.J Wells & Sons
Amber Composites
Andor Technology Ltd
Axon Automotive Ltd
BAE Systems
Bombardier
Ceravision
Coca-Cola
e2v Technologies
Elfab
Evac Chair
FT Technologies
GKN
Goodrich Actuation Systems
Gripple
Intelligent Energy
Jaguar Land Rover
Johnson Matthey
Mars
McLaren
Messier-Dowty-Ltd
Mettler Toledo
Naim Audio
Oclaro
Optos
POD Point
Raytheon UK( Air Traffic)
Rolls-Royce
Siemens
Stromatolite
Sunseeker
The Greenroof Tile Company
The Royal Mint
Topper International
Ultra Global
Westwind Air Bearings
Xaar
Yamazaki
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Contacts:
Xaar: Charlotte Baile T: +44 (0)1223 437273 E: charlotte.baile@xaar.com
Splash!PR: Ruth Clark T: +44 (0)1580 241177 E: ruth@splashpr.co.uk
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