Hexagon on track with new Red Bull contract

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence has renewed its partnership with Red Bull Racing's F1 team, meaning the company is now marking a decade of working with the four-times Constructor's Championship winner.

The three-year deal will see Red Bull Racing continuing to use Hexagon's precision measurement technology in its factory and at its track.

With a typical car made up of around 100,000 parts and a team completing up to 30,000 design changes in a season, Red Bull Racing's quality department faces constant pressure to support the design and development teams in its factory.

The team also uses portable measurement systems to ensure accuracy in car configuration throughout race weekends.

"We work to extremely tight lead-times but can't compromise on accuracy, whether in component production or in setup at the circuit," said Chris Charnley, quality manager at Red Bull Racing.

"Hexagon technology enables us to perform inspection tasks at speed, but with complete confidence in the reliability of the results."

Al Peasland, head of technical partnerships at Red Bull Racing, added: "The whole business of Formula One is about measurement, analysis and then continuous improvement.

"The speed and confidence we get from Hexagon really relates to performance and reliability – the reliability coming from quality."

Hexagon, which is Swedish-owned but which has its UK headquarters on Telford's Halesfield Industrial Estate, has previously revealed its working relationship with the Marussia F1 team. The company has a second facility in Milton Keynes, which is close to the Red Bull team's base.

It is also in the process of opening another subcontracting measuring facility at the British home of F1 racing at Silverstone, where a major technology park centred on motorsport is under construction.

The new contract, which runs until the end of 2018, consolidates the close working relationship between the two companies and will continue their collaborative approach to innovation.

As well as being users of Hexagon products and services, Red Bull Racing engineers are also involved with product R&D and testing. Their standards have helped Hexagon develop new technologies and ways of working.

"Our relationship with Red Bull Racing is a partnership in the truest sense of the word," said Norbert Hanke, president and chief executive of Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

"We are constantly exchanging information and ideas and the relationship has been hugely successful for both parties. In the ten years that we've worked together, we've been inspired to push the boundaries like Red Bull Racing, and I'm thrilled to continue our Innovation Partnership into what is sure to be another exciting season of Formula One."

Hexagon has been on a growth drive lately, and has now added two new acquisitions with the takeover of manufacturing software solutions company Forming Technology Inc, and optical 3D metrology business AICON 3D Systems.