North Tyneside Business of the Year: Monitor Coatings recognised for driving innovation

On Thursday 15th November, Monitor Coatings | Castolin Eutectic were presented with the Digital and Innovation Award at the North Tyneside Business Awards 2018.  Monitor Coatings were later that evening named North Tyneside Business of the Year, recognised for their commitment to the local area and driving innovation. Monitor Coatings (Castolin Eutectic’s UK-based subsidiary) strive for excellence, with research and development at the forefront. Monitor Coatings boasts an enviable research and development portfolio, currently leading four Innovate UK collaborative research projects, with a budget close to £2 million.

Rebecca Allcock, Monitor Coatings’ Managing Director said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have won the Digital and Innovation Award and be named North Tyneside Business of the Year. Monitor Coatings actively recruit from the local area where home time served ship building skills exist. This award will reinforce and promote the talent and drive behind our business.”

Quality, Productivity & Digitisation

Large enterprises operating globally are challenged with globalisation of operations, and demand to move more complex products to market faster while maintaining the highest quality standards. The key to success is producing better products faster and more efficiently, the first time around. In this direction, Monitor Coatings has implemented several automation schemes allowing them to control a multitude of complex processes with precision as adapting to environmental and commercial ever-changing requirements.

Working closely with their Academic partners and Research Institutes across the UK and abroad, Monitor Coatings have developed several testing algorithms based on artificial neural networks. A neural network offers a method for incorporating and processing qualitative knowledge gained in the shop floor and have the additional advantage of formalising machine learning in an explicit manner. Monitor Coatings are testing this exciting technology to address issues relating to manufacturing process planning (Simulation of Surface Modification Techniques prior to production), process control (on-line coating quality diagnostics using airborne acoustic signals), operational decision making and resource scheduling.

New Materials in Surface Engineering for Aggressive Environments

The value of the UK coating market is approximately £21.3 billion, and those coatings critically affect products with a value greater than £143 billion. Monitor Coatings’ vision is to remain at the forefront of new materials development providing significant contribution to future UK Government Strategies. Together with the government innovation funding body and their industrial partners from the aerospace, oil & gas and steel sectors, Monitor Coatings pave the way for large-scale use of nanotechnology,  that has been in the epicentre of global R&D for many years. Monitor Coatings are working hard to eliminate and replace industry standard carcinogenic chemicals from the coatings supply chain contributing to sustainable and green manufacturing.

Monitor Coatings see their new innovative products finding their way to global markets faster, achieving strong exporting dynamics with great regional impact. This has been a result of intense in-house efforts but also a result of team work. Monitor Coatings would like to acknowledge the contribution from their academic partners (Nottingham, Loughborough, Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge, Newcastle, Thessaly), and their industry collaborators (Rolls Royce, Indestructible Paint Limited and Sensor Coating Systems) and to highlight the critical role of Innovate UK for the improvement of the technological content of domestic goods, providing incentives to nurturing innovation.

With the above core competencies, Monitor Coatings have developed within industry and beyond, an enviable and highly respected reputation as true innovators and technology leaders. This is strengthened through their ability to retain, for fifteen consecutive years, their highly commendable international Aerospace NADCAP accreditation, of which they apply to all industry sector components. These practices and principals have led Monitor Coatings to win the prestigious contract for developing and applying an innovative non-skid, thermal gas wash-resistant deck coating for the Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales Aircraft Carrier Decks.

Gaining recognition for the company’s success is a testament to the talent, hard work and dedication of the Monitor Coatings team, which also demonstrates their significant presence in the region. This makes Monitor Coatings proud to be a North East born and bred business, proud of their history, heritage and comprehensive range of proprietary technology and services they can offer to the market. Monitor Coatings continue to invest in attracting, retaining and recruiting local talent from the North East, homed time served ship building skills which were key to the early development of the Carrier Deck coating system. Indeed the initial and ongoing quality assurance quality control still remains the duty of an ex-Swan Hunter Apprentice.