2024 in Review

By Gary Rodgers, CEO

The enthusiastic start to 2025, seen right across the Magnomatics team, is in many ways a result of the great internal developments we have made during 2024. Together, these put us in a position to face larger and more complicated projects, develop the business and expand our workforce. To put these in perspective, below is an overview of Magnomatics' key events and achievements in 2024. ?

Team expansion

2024 saw Magnomatics recruit talented new team members in several key areas. These included the hiring of Operations Director, Joe Kitchen, in February. With over 15 years’ experience in lean implementation, continuous improvement and project, manufacturing and operations management, Joe has brought significant and invaluable expertise to the company.

Aside from Joe, we have welcomed mechanical fitters, Tiago and Dave, also mechanical design engineers, Chris, Jimmy, Joel and Tom, in addition to Jody as a test engineer. Chris and Jimmy originally came to Magnomatics from the University of Sheffield for their Year in Industry placement and now join us permanently following their graduation, a trend that has seen six engineers join the company in the last three years through the undergraduate programme.

Our commitment to nurturing talent continued with university students, Euan and Omar, who have also joined us for their Year in Industry placement. Interviews for the placements took place in April and last year, we took a novel approach with candidates, spending the day doing a range of activities that gave them the best overview of our company and plenty of opportunities to display their individual skills and qualities.

Key events

A greater focus on event attendance throughout 2024 has helped establish Magnomatics as an industry leader, raised the company profile in our key sectors, and led to the development of important new relationships.

Major events included the Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo North America, in March, where Chief Engineer, Stuart Calverley, gave a talk on ‘Advanced Propulsion Systems Using Magnetically Geared Transmission.’ During the talk, Stuart shared his knowledge of how Magnomatics advanced propulsion systems use magnetic gears to deliver exceptional efficiency.

Also in North America, Mechanical Design Engineer, Andrew Kay, gave a presentation on ‘Design of a Lightweight Magnetically Geared Motor for Use in Aerospace Propulsion Applications’ at the AIAA Aviation Forum in Las Vegas in April. Andrew was joined by several other members of the senior team, including myself.

In October, with Deputy Chair David Latimer in attendance, we attended the Advanced Engineering UK event. Here we showcased our electrification technologies to engineers and manufacturers on the Innovate UK 'Driving the Electric Revolution' exhibition stand. During the same month, Principal Engineer, David Powell, and Mechanical Design Engineer, Andrew Kay, also attended the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Conference.

We were also proud to take part in MakeUK’s National Manufacturing Day in September. This outreach event saw the Magnomatics team welcome pupils from local schools and introduce them to the world of engineering. A way to give back to our community and inspire the next generation of engineers, the children enjoyed a tour of the factory, learnt all about our operations, and even had a go on one of the on-site magnetic gear demonstrators.

Attendance by the senior team at other events included the Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo (Amsterdam) and MakeUK Defence Networking event in June, the Farnborough International Airshow in July, and SMM Hamburg and InnoTrans International Trade Fair in September.

Important Developments

During 2024, there have been a number of important developments that have been beneficial in advancing the business, enhancing our offering, and preparing us for more complex and larger projects.

These have included the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) partnership with Total Control Pro, a highly experienced company whose manufacturing-focussed DynamxMFG platform will help us to improve productivity and output in areas like customer management systems, planning and scheduling, inventory and shop floor interfacing.

In addition, 2024 saw Magnomatics achieve accreditation in two key areas, both of which will be hugely beneficial in helping us to deliver bigger and better projects throughout 2025 and beyond. In Health & Safety, we were awarded the ISO 45001:2018 Standard. Approved by the Clear Quality Limited Certification Body, this certifies that we operate a fully compliant Health & Safety Management System across our entire operations.

We were also awarded the Aerospace Standard EN9100 Accreditation. Approved by the Auva Certification Body, the award confirms that we have in place a fully compliant Aerospace Standard Management System throughout our operations and at all key stages of production.

Overall, I am delighted at the incredible progress Magnomatics made during 2024, and how that progress has set us up for a successful 2025. I am excited to see the developments and opportunities in the year ahead.??