Piccadilly Precision Engineering

Piccadilly Precision Engineering (PPE) is a sister company of Spline Gauges. PPE is based in Telford, arguably the source of British engineering. Certainly the name tells a tale. PPE was established in 1979 and focuses on precision gauging. It is known as an industry leader specialising in thread gauging. It sells its products world-wide and is especially strong in aerospace applications. Dave Thomas is the General Manager at Piccadilly Precision and has seen some changes! The company was for a long time owned by Acme Cleveland before this company was acquired by Danaher in the mid 90s. Last year (2010) Danaher merged its tool group with Cooper Tools to form the Apex Tools Group of which Spline and PPE are now both members. Dave says: 'it's not just the change of ownership but the changes in business practice which have been most marked. In the 80s we would employ around 30 people including 2 full-time sales reps. Nowadays our business is all conducted remotely with orders coming in by phone, fax and web and we need only a half a dozen people to do the job in the factory. Malcolm Ryman, Spline MD and Dave's boss says: 'Spline and PPE are complementary. the two companies share an engineering ethos; they are both authorities in their fields, they are both committed to quality performance and they are both companies trusted by their customers.'