New Year Update

2011 saw over £ 2 million worth of equipment, spares and service shipped by TQC Automation and Test Solutions. We are pleased to report that currently we are seeing an opposite effect to the reported hard times and manufacturing downturn and we are looking forward to 2012 being even busier that the previous 12 months.

During 2011 a couple of old faces and a new face arrived at TQC. Barry Newth has joined the Software department fulltime, we all know Barry as he spent some time with us back in 2009 helping us with a large project we were handling. Paul Martlew has joined TQC in an Electromechanical role, this will be very useful for us as we go through spells where different levels of workload are needed in the mechanical assembly and electrical wiring of machinery. Paul has "popped in to see us" on a number of occasions over the past few years to help with peaks in workload, we are happy he is now with us on a permanent basis. Finally we would like to introduce Garreth Jones who has joined as a Mechanical Design Engineer.

TQC is continuting it's recruitment drive in 2012 with a number of current vacancies, please view our Career Opportunities page for more information.

Kieran Reynolds who started with TQC back in 2009 as an apprentice has now completed his HNC in Electrical/Electronic Engineering and is studying for an extra year to top this up to a HND. Also he is hoping to complete his NVQ level 3 apprentership in the next 6 months or so.

Left to Right - Kieran, Barry, Paul & Garreth

Not quite employee news but more like company news, TQC had now added quite a few more video clips to their YouTube Channel and the video clips on our websites are now hosted by YouTube. This changeover enables us to upload longer and better quality footage of machines we have previously supplied.

TQC has now setup up direct spares and service email addresses so that all our customers can directly get in contact with the correct people at TQC. Please send any emails to either spares@tqc.co.uk or service@tqc.co.uk for a prompt response.

Finally, hot-off-the-press, TQC can announce that the latest ISO9001 quality audit has gone successfully and that our quality system is once again renewed. The successful audit was carried out on the 3rd January, yes that was the first working day back in 2012!!

Change at the Top

There is a new Managing Director at Nottingham based machine supplier TQC Ltd. Gavin Murray takes over from his position as Operations Director to become Managing Director whilst Keith Tupling moves over to become Company Chairman.

The two positions may be new but the names and faces are far from new. Keith has been with TQC since 1977, Gavin has been at TQC since 1979, that's over 60 years between them.

After successfully steering TQC through the recent difficult economic times, Keith has decided to pass the reigns over to Gavin and assume the role of Chairman. Keith's goal is to continue his work with TQC but gradually start to enjoy part time working and more of life outside TQC.

Gavin has been successfully overseeing the general running of the engineering and company resources side of the business for well over 15 years. This move to Managing Director is a natural progression for Gavin. He is keen to put his skills to use and to give TQC the direction it requires to continue it's success in the design, manufacture and supply of assembly and test solutions.

When asked in a recent internal meeting about his new position within the company Gavin said that he hoped to continue to do the job of having 'fun with engineering', something he has been doing since he started 32 years ago. His challenge is now to pass on 'the fun' to all colleagues, customers and suppliers over the coming years.

Keith has been Managing Director for 15 years, but with Gavin as the new man at the top and Keith available in support, TQC look forward to many prosperous years ahead.

We now have a new IT Support Engineer, Dominic Ainscoe. TQC has a complex networked IT system to maintain consisting of our 8 Solidworks 3D CAD stations together with our vault for drawing management. We also have our many packages of PLC and PC software, our office systems, customer relationshipment management (CRM) and our financial packages that enable TQC to provide a professional engineering service. Dominic has already upgraded several CAD hardware platforms to cope with the ever increasing size and complexity of the models we receive from our Clients. We welcome Dominic to TQC.

Also during the year, Pete Robinson retired. Kevin Guyler has joined us as Project Co-Ordinator (Purchasing). Kevin started in April and was almost immediately hit with the purchasing arrangements for the ISO9001/2008 accreditation visit with which he coped admirably. We wish Pete well in his retirement and welcome Kevin.

Also during the last 12 months our Sales Director, Mark Jones has become a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. Mark started as a Project Engineer with TQC back in 1983. Mark also has Engineering interests outside of TQC, being involved in a number of European Research Projects and Co-Chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre at Nottingham University (NIMRC).

Left to Right - Mark, Kevin, Dominic

On August 2nd 2010 TQC successfully achieved ISO9001:2008 accreditation for the design, development and manufacture of bespoke machinery and testing of Customer Products.

TQC has always endeavoured to operate a professional, organised management system and this formal assessment by external body SGS now confirms that the management system of TQC Ltd meets all the requirements set out by ISO9001:2008.

TQC has always encouraged the education and development of young engineers and their career development within the Company. In particular TQC offers financial support to apprentice engineers to help them gain engineering qualifications on a day release basis in partnership with Castle College Nottingham. In addition to these formal qualifications, when they are not studying at College, our apprentice engineers are exposed to a wide range of experiences and good engineering practise during their work in TQC's engineering workshops. They also gain much valuable knowledge and skills by working alongside, and under the supervision of, our experienced engineers.

Engineers joining TQC directly from school or perhaps after a year at College gaining an introductory engineering qualification, usually enroll onto a BTEC course ranging from National Diploma to Higher National Certificate level and engage in learning Skills and Competencies within a SEMTA Apprenticeship Framework.

Currently TQC have 2 apprentices. Adam, a mechanical engineering Technician is in his second year of a BTEC National Certificate in Manufacturing Engineering and Kieran has just started a BTEC HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering having previously completed a BTEC National Diploma in Electronic Engineering.

Oliver completed his Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship in 2007 and continued his education with a BTEC HNC in Manufacturing Engineering. We wish them every success in the advancement of their education and career at TQC.

TQC also have an undergraduate working as a Technical Support Engineer within the sales department. At the end of August, Prerna our first placement student left us after 12 months, we wish her well in her Final Year at Aston University. Nottingham University student Dan has now started and we hope he will enjoy his year at TQC.

TQC are pleased to have been involved in the filming of an educational DVD for use as a teaching aid for a GSCE module. (OCR Design and Technology for GCSE: Electronics and Control Systems - click here for further details)

The videos filmed at our Nottingham factory will be used to provide background information on machine design, pneumatics, sensors and control. We are always keen to help in educating our next engineers.

Please click here to view an example of one of the videos.