Renishaw opens dedicated healthcare facility

Engineering company Renishaw has opened a new Healthcare Centre for Excellence at its Miskin site in South Wales.

The centre was opened by the first minister of Wales, RT Hon Carwyn Jones. It provides a facility for the manufacturing of medical devices and offers education and training members involved in life sciences.

The centre contains spaces for education, training, workshops, lectures and a facility for the manufacture of class three custom medical devices. Perhaps most impressive is the inclusion of a mock non-sterile operating theatre.

The theatre operates as a real-life hospital setting that negates the complications of a sterile environment. It is lead-lined to enable x-ray use and surgeons can be trained to perform complicated procedures using a range of products. Also included in the theatre is video and audio technology that allows live streaming of training to the adjacent lecture theatre or to the neurosurgeon’s support team that may be located in another country.

 The centre’s manufacturing facility produces custom medical devices for dental frameworks, craniomaxillofacial patient specific implants, jigs and guides.

The Healthcare Centre of Excellence is located adjacent from Miskin’s production hall, which was opened in 2011 and has now been fully refurbished by Renishaw. The close proximity between the two facilities benefits collaboration between engineers and healthcare professionals.  

Sir David McMurtry, Renishaw’s chairman and chief executive, said: “When this site was formally opened in October 2012 I talked about our commitment to South Wales and the huge potential for the future. Four years on we have now invested over £40 million pounds at Miskin and The Healthcare Centre of Excellence is the latest example of that ongoing commitment. The healthcare and life sciences sectors are particularly strong in South Wales which made this location a logical choice for the centre. Its close proximity to Cardiff also makes it accessible to our healthcare partners and customers from across the world.”