Investment by Ricardo in leading-edge gear manufacturing machine tools has improved productivity and extended capability, as the recent investment of £1.5m in a Klingelnberg spiral bevel grinder has begun delivering market ready components – underlining the company’s commitment to meeting the needs of its customers for high-performance transmissions.

The Klingelnberg equipment is now installed and commissioned at Ricardo’s Midlands Technical Centre at Leamington Spa, UK, and is producing components of outstanding precision and quality for the current range of motorsport and sports car transmissions being made by Ricardo whilst simultaneously supporting the development of the new range of products destined for market release in the near future. In addition, the company has acquired new design and quality assurance capabilities through the software upgrades such as the KIMOS (Klingelnberg Integrated Manufacturing of Spiral Bevel Gears) software package from Oerlikon.

Dick Elsy CBE, CEO of High Value Manufacturing Catapult, recently toured the Midlands Technical Centre to see the new equipment in action, and commented: ‘“It’s great to see Ricardo at the forefront of digital manufacturing with investment in adaptive machining. Their new state-of-the-art spiral bevel grinder is already delivering great results in terms of process capability and productivity improvement. I was very impressed”.

“The investment in manufacturing technology and software, including the purchase of the Klingelnberg grinding machinery, has enhanced Ricardo’s capability to design, analyse, manufacture and inspect bevel gears with a closed loop system”, commented Ricardo Performance Products MD Martin Starkey. “This willingness to invest underlines our commitment to digital manufacturing development, and the new technology is a key enabler in supporting our customers with more advanced solutions, meaning they can look forward to even higher standards of product quality and shorter lead times.”