7 December 2016
Woking 3D scanning firm invited to Downing Street
3D scanning company Physical Digital’s® Managing Director, Tim Rapley, was invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street after being selected as one of the United Kingdom’s top 100 small businesses.
Physical Digital invited to 10 Downing Street
The UK’s leading GOM 3D scanning and measurement service provider was honoured to be invited to an event at Number 10 Downing Street on 1st December. Managing Director Tim Rapley joined other business owners at a reception attended by the Small Business Minister Margot James, which was organised to celebrate the 100 companies selected in the fourth year of the Small Biz 100 campaign.
The visit to Downing Street is an accolade for Rapley and his expert engineering team, recognising all their hard work over the last dozen years. As he explains: “I am proud that our 3D scanning firm is part of the movement to promote the diversity and success of Britain’s small businesses. The Downing Street visit is an honour not just for me but for the whole company.”
Physical Digital has been providing 3D scanning, reverse engineering and quality inspection services for a variety of different industries since the company was founded in 2005. Due to the fast growing demand for high accuracy data for companies in such varied sectors as aerospace, automotive, medical and art, the team has expanded and now employs ten highly-trained staff.
Small Business Saturday is a non-commercial campaign that aims to promote small businesses in the UK over a period of 100 days, leading up to a national day of exciting events on Saturday 3rd December. Its aim is to prompt people not only to spend money with small independent businesses in the run-up to Christmas but also to create a mind-set to support them all year round. The Downing Street reception underlines the importance of small business to the British economy, which comprises 47% of all private sector turnover and 60% of all private sector employment in the UK.
Campaign supported by Prime Minister Theresa May
Prime Minister Theresa May commented:
“Small Business Saturday is an opportunity for us to celebrate the success of the UK’s 5.4 million small businesses - from family run restaurants, to innovative tech start-ups, to local corner shops.
I’m delighted that we had such a great representation of firms here in Downing Street to mark this event and recognise the prosperity they bring to the UK.”
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, said:
“The UK’s 5.5 million small businesses are the backbone of our economy, creating millions of jobs in communities across the country and helping to build an economy that works for all.
“I am proud to be joining Small Business Saturday in championing them, and would encourage as many people as possible to get out to their local high street this weekend to do the same.”
Saturday 10th September was Physical Digital’s dedicated Small Biz 100 day, recognising the firm as the UK’s longest-established and largest GOM ATOS 3D scanning and measurement service provider. In celebration of our special day, we created a video inviting some of our staff to explain the benefits of working in a small business, which you can watch here.
This was a busy week for Rapley, even by his own demanding standards: the previous evening Physical Digital was selected as a finalist in the 2016 SME Enterprising Business and Small Business of the Year categories at a glittering event held at Epsom Racecourse. This year the company has also been awarded the Gold Award for Digital Innovation by Surrey University Business School, in addition to shortlisting by the British Engineering Excellence Awards for the best small company 2016. For Physical Digital, the Downing Street reception marks the end of another successful year. Here’s to 2017!
More information can be found about Physical Digital on our website here, or call us on 01483 750200. For more details about Small Business Saturday, visit the Small Business Saturday Facebook page, Twitter page and website.
