Xaar to represent UK manufacturing excellence

Xaar, a manufacturer of industrial inkjet printheads, has beaten competition from hundreds of other UK companies to win a place in the Government’s ‘Make it in Great Britain’ exhibition this summer. Xaar joins over 40 British businesses at the event, including brands such as Airbus, McLaren and BAE Systems.

The exhibition of cutting-edge British manufacturing takes place at the Science Museum from 24 July to 9 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. Xaar will showcase some of its leading technology to demonstrate to exhibition visitors the value of manufacturing to UK business.

Headquartered in 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 is used in industrial printing processes in the global print, packaging and ceramics industries.

Over the last seven years, Xaar has grown from 180 to almost 500 employees, and year-on-year sales in 2011 grew by 26 percent to GBP £68.7 million. Xaar has recently invested £22 million to expand its printhead manufacturing at its 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 is manufactured in the UK and 86 percent of our printheads are exported, sold and used all over the world, making an important contribution to the UK economy. We invest around 8 percent 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for 8 percent of total UK employment and well over half of export goods, yet current perceptions of the industry are out of date and do not reflect that reality.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 24 July to 9 September and is free to visit. For more information about the event visit www.bis.gov.uk/makeitingreatbritain.

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