Renishaw announces the passing of its Co-Founder, Sir David McMurtry

“Sir David will be greatly missed by so many, including the generations of Renishaw engineers who he inspired and mentored. The manufacturing industry has lost a great innovator and many at Renishaw have lost a father figure and a friend.”

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Renishaw co-founder and the inventor of the 3D touch-trigger probe for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) Sir David McMurtry has died at the age of 84. In 1973, Sir David and fellow Rolls-Royce engineer John Deer founded Renishaw after Sir David invented the probe the previous year. He spent 17 years at Rolls-Royce, becoming the company’s youngest-ever Assistant Chief of Engine Design.

When Sir David and Deer founded the company, the pair wanted to instil values in how technology was applied to world problems, how it made long-term investments, how the company focused on manufacturing rather than outsourcing, and how customers and local communities were treated.

Under Sir David’s guidance, Renishaw went on to revolutionise the development of CMMs, shopfloor metrology, and process control. He also helped the company diversify into other areas of metrology, manufacturing, and automation from encoders and calibration systems to neurosurgery and additive manufacturing (AM).

Today, Renishaw is a global power employing over 5,000 people across 36 companies. The company’s values, listed above, are still very much in place today, with Renishaw valuing integrity and making decisions for the “right reasons.”

Sir David’s awards and recognitions:

  • His Knighthood was awarded “for services to Design and Innovation”.
  • Appointed a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 1989.
  • He was a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society.
  • He became the first non-Japanese winner of the 7th ND Marketing Award in 1990.
  • The official magazine of the US Society of Manufacturing Engineers honoured him as a ‘Master of Manufacturing', in 2008. This was the first time a non-US citizen was recognised.
  • He won The Institute of Physics' 2012 Swan Medal with Deer.
  • He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 for his contribution to the economy of the Bristol city region.
  • Sir David was honoured at the National Business Awards with The Telegraph award for a Decade of Business Achievement.
  • During MACH 2014, Sir David was awarded the inaugural MWP Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) awarded Sir David the James Watt International Gold Medal for his outstanding contribution to mechanical engineering in 2019.

“Sir David will be greatly missed by so many, including the generations of Renishaw engineers who he inspired and mentored. The manufacturing industry has lost a great innovator and many at Renishaw have lost a father figure and a friend.”