Ruth Lee Ltd
“It’s been a fantastic journey; long may it continue” – Ruth Lee. The words of the company founder describe a story of humble beginnings and old-fashioned entrepreneurship, followed by a recent transformation into a dynamic, rapidly growing organisation where innovation lies at the heart of its success. Located in the beautiful Dee Valley, its tranquil location belies the innovative nature of Ruth Lee. Over the last 30 years the company has established itself as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of training manikins, used by search, rescue and care professionals in over 50 countries. Key customers include fire and rescue services, military organisations, airports, coastguards, healthcare providers, offshore operators and a multitude of international search and rescue specialists. Back in 2016, Ruth Lee Ltd received a request from a Canadian lifeguard, who was frustrated with the traditional ‘disjointed’ training process, which she felt did not accurately replicate a real rescue. Ruth Lee set about creating a manikin that lifeguards could use to complete a full simulated rescue, and the result was the Pool Rescue manikin, which lifeguards can recover from the bottom of the pool, tow to the side and perform a safe extrication from the water.
Transforming lifeguard training by providing a realistically weighted body.
Creating better skilled lifeguards who are confident in their rescue abilities.
To ensure the manikin would meet the demands of training, and improve current practises, Ruth Lee consulted with the Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS UK) who were able to test and provide feedback on several prototypes before the product was launched at the RLSS Annual Conference in 2018. Since then, Pool Rescue manikins have been used by an estimated 8,000-10,000 lifeguards in 25 countries around the globe to improve their lifesaving skills. The product has been widely promoted at key industry events such as the World Conference on Drowning Prevention; the International Lifesaving Society’s flagship event, with plans to target the US market at the World Waterparks Association Annual Symposium, as well as the National Water line built for producing polishing tools, which additionally may be used on any CNC machine tool such as a milling centre or multi-tasking lathe. The material removal process utilises a flexible, diamond-impregnated pad, a compliant, dwell time grinding action and regular, abrasive-free coolant. The interface between the pad and workpiece is carefully controlled so that instead of chips breaking from the material surface by brittle fracture, a ductile relationship is formed that leaves a polished, shiny surface instead of one that is dull grey. Richard Freeman, MD of Zeeko, says: “We will always be grateful to the engineer in our research centre in Japan who, after observing an unexpectedly shiny finish appear after grinding the surface of a piece of silicon carbide, refused to dismiss it as a random event. His investigation ultimately led to the introduction of the SAG dwell time grinding and polishing process that we are now selling into world markets.” ZEEKO LTD 4 Vulcan Court, Vulcan Way, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3FW Tel: +44(0)1530 815832 • Fax: +44(0)1530 839631 sales@zeeko.co.uk • www.zeeko.co.uk Zeeko-Ltd @ltdzeeko @zeek018 zeeko-ltd
Safety Conference & Association of Aquatic Professionals Conference. Innovation is the heart of Ruth Lee and the company has several exciting projects in the pipeline, which will further enhance their offering and potentially be transformational in the rescue training sector. RUTH LEE LTD Lambert House, Glyndyfrdwy, Denbighshire, LL21 9HW Tel: 01490 413282 • mail@ruthlee.co.uk www.ruthlee.com ruthleeltd @RuthLeeLtd RuthLeeLtd/videos @uthleeltd @ruthleemanikins ruth-lee-ltd
Zeeko Ltd
Polishing machine manufacturer Zeeko is one of only five entrants this year to win two King’s Awards for Enterprise, Innovation and International Trade. Founded in 2000, the company is a global leader in the development and production of 7-axis CNC machines for polishing complex, ultra-high-precision, freeform glass optics and other material surfaces. Each year the company spends a minimum of 20% of annual sales revenue on R&D. The 2024 award for Innovation stems from the chance discovery of a new technology that is extremely effective for the polishing and finishing of very hard materials, including tungsten carbide, CVD-coated silicon carbide, ceramic and tough metals. Products such as turbine blades, orthopaedic implants, precision moulds and ball valve components may be readily processed, as can the relatively rough exterior of additively manufactured components. Called Shape Adaptive Grinding (SAG), the technique utilises a low-cost, robotic machining platform together with associated tools. Housed in a separate factory in Coalville, Zeeko Industrial is a new division that has been established to build and market the robotic polishing cells worldwide. To realise the project, a computer-aided manufacturing software package was developed, a remote calibration instrument invented and a manufacturing
A Zeeko CNC robotic polishing cell (RPC).
Zeeko SAG tools used in RPCs and other machine tools.
www. kingsawardsmagazine .com
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