The UK arm of a global industrial automation company, based in Milton Keynes since 1967, with a remanufacturing centre and European warehouse in Bletchley.
Rockwell Automation makes the control systems, sensors and software that run factories, from the programmable controllers that act as the brain of a production line to safety systems and motion control. Its best-known brand is Allen-Bradley. The company says it works with customers in industries including oil and gas, food and beverage, life sciences and automotive, and with the smaller UK firms that build machines. A 2018 Make UK article described a push into Industry 4.0, which means connecting machines and data in factories.
The company traces its roots to 1903, when the Compression Rheostat Company was founded in Milwaukee in the USA; it became Allen-Bradley in 1909 and Rockwell Automation as a stand-alone business in 2002. The company's UK director, Phil Hadfield, described its mission in 2019 as "expanding human possibility". A 2018 Make UK interview with UK country director Mark Bottomley said people are the foundation of positive change and that the company wants to make a profit the right way. The company has also been named by Ethisphere as one of the world's most ethical companies, according to that article.
The UK business has been in Milton Keynes for more than 50 years. A local business article said Allen-Bradley opened a factory in Bletchley, making switches and push buttons, as its first site outside the USA, around 1967 to 1969. Today the UK headquarters is at Kiln Farm, and Bletchley is home to the EMEA remanufacturing centre, a European hub warehouse and customer application centres. The Make UK article in 2018 gave more than 850 UK employees out of more than 4,500 in the EMEA region, though that figure is dated. Edinburgh is also linked to the company through its 2017 purchase of Odos Imaging, which made 3D sensing technology.
The 2019 article gives a picture of long service. Average tenure at the Bletchley site was over 15 years, the remanufacturing operations manager had worked there for 43 years and said "People and teams make the company", and the newest team member was about to complete a first year. The company said it has a low attrition rate. These are the company's own claims, reported by the journalist. The Make UK article also notes that the company works with Primary Engineer and has UK STEM ambassadors, who visit schools to encourage young people into engineering.
People at Rockwell Automation UK include applications and control engineers, technicians who test and repair returned equipment, warehouse and logistics staff, technical support engineers, sales engineers who help customers design systems, software specialists, and finance, HR and marketing teams. Electrical engineering, computing, maths, physics and mechatronics are common routes, and hands-on technician work in remanufacturing suits people who like repairing and testing real kit.
Website: www.rockwellautomation.com
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