EDRMedeso UK on a Mission to help make things better
Look around the room you are sitting in whilst reading this, and you will find at least two objects with components made using Ansys software – and yet, unless you are an engineer or have worked in manufacturing, research and design, you’ve probably never heard of it.
The American-owned software giants are ubiquitous in their sector, and unsurprisingly, a sizeable chunk of their UK operations is delivered from the Advanced Manufacturing Park Technology Centre, South Yorkshire; a workspace centre that caters specifically for high growth advanced manufacturing businesses.
Parts of the EDRMedeso UK team
Founded by Managing Director Gary Panes and Sales Director Carl Rudd in 2018, EDRMedeso UK is the UK arm of a much larger Group, responsible for sales, consultancy and account management of Ansys software in Europe.
Put simply, Ansys software helps companies design stuff that they couldn’t design without it. It makes products much better than they would otherwise be. It makes things more efficient, and with that, more sustainable. The specialist engineering software removes the need for physical prototyping and instead uses computer-based calculations and simulations to recreate the product ‘build and test’ process. Materials, sizes, angles, resistance, weight, speed, durability; it is all tested through the software.
Before setting up the UK arm of the business, MD Gary Panes had been working with clients using the software to improve wind turbine performance, amongst other green energy projects, for over a decade. In fact, optimising performance, improving efficiencies, reducing emissions and helping to deliver affordable green energies, are all part of the bigger mission for Gary and his team. And it follows that this too was a major draw when deciding to base their team in the AMP Technology Centre, within a wider community of innovative engineering, technology and manufacturing businesses working on similar projects.
MD Gary Panes, said: “The work we do is really rewarding because it feels like we are part of making the world a better place. Through the technology we use, we can help businesses reduce emissions and operate more sustainably. This is obviously very topical this month because of the COP26 Summit, but it is our day-to-day business, and we are proud to be part of the positive change that industry is making.”
As if to illuminate this point, Gary and his team recently worked on a project testing the weight-load and wind-resistance for the gigantic 75-foot-high ‘Hope’ sculpture, which is to be unveiled during COP26. The concrete statue of a child on top of a 65-foot-high plinth is said to represent a greener, brighter future in the face of the environmental challenges associated with climate change.
Initially taking a four-person desk space at AMP Technology Centre, EDRMedeso UK rapidly outgrew their new office and has since achieved year on year growth, doubling their floor space with each move. Now a 16- strong team employing a hybrid approach of home and office-based working, they value the flexibility the workspace affords them, and the social capital that comes from the wider community based within the centre and beyond. Since moving to AMP Technology Centre, EDRMedeso UK has won six new business contracts from relationships built with other occupiers.
Gary explains: “We’ve always had a flexible approach to home working and we’d recently invested in excellent conference equipment for the office, which meant that we were well equipped to adapt to the recent lockdowns brought on by the pandemic. I’ve always been a firm believer that as long as you have the tools and motivation to do your job then it really doesn’t matter where you do it from and so the majority of the team were able to operate from home as needed over these last 18 months.
“However, there are some direct benefits from having a workspace within a community like AMP Technology Centre and these have not gone away – in fact, I’d say they have become more apparent. There are the obvious business growth benefits that come directly from partnerships within the centre. And then there are the softer benefits, which come from having shared collaboration space for teams to work together. It is true that knowledge transfer can be achieved remotely, but actually ‘creativity’ is vastly reduced. Meaning that ideas are not explored, interrogated and evolved in the best way. This is particularly difficult for younger people and people who are new to the business. When you can’t meet face-to-face, you lose some of that spark that comes when fresh ideas and energy meet with experience and product knowledge.”
“Our focus over the next six months is very much on bringing everyone back together around our shared missions. For us, this does mean spending time together, and we have set up the office and working policy in a way that we can do that safely and continue to benefit from the best of both home and office working.”
Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, EDRMedeso UK has continued to grow their team over the last 18 months, winning new business working with engineers looking for alternative ways of prototyping and testing products without the need for physical product builds, shipping containers and testing labs. As a simulation software, all Ansys testing can be achieved remotely and digitally; essential requirements to accommodate the changing needs of industry at this time.
EDRMedeso UK’s growth ambitions continue, with plans to employ a further six people over the next 12 months from their base at AMP Technology Centre.
