News Archives

Solving Safety Issues With Radar Integration

Posted on 31st August 2022 at 3:20 pm.

When our Variable Message Signs (VMS) are integrated with radar, their functionality is expanded across a range of applications. The VMS-A, VMS-C and HD Compact VMS can all be integrated with radar to increase their capabilities whilst still maintaining all the fantastic features of our standard VMS.

All our VMS discreetly houses a data collection radar which can collect vehicle logs on speed, time and date. Data as a commodity has always been important for identifying trends and risks and the VMS-A offers this as standard. Better yet, all of our VMS are solar powered and highly portable, which makes them the ideal solution for data collection.

Data that has been collected is uploaded to our server every hour, ready to be downloaded at any time by the user via a web-based portal. If there are any issues, our outstanding 24/7 customer support is there to assist you in any way they can.

Combining data collection and VMS into one unit offers a multi-functional solution that can help collect valuable data at the same time as communicating important messages. These messages, such as speed alerts and responsive information, can be communicated to drivers in relation to their behaviour. This will then be used to positively influence driver behaviours and decisions. To encourage drivers to continue driving safely, a VMS with radar can also display a message or pictogram thanking drivers who are adhering to the set speed limit.

So, when used in conjunction with radar, a VMS can display:

A message
A message and the motorist’s speed
The motorist’s speed only
The motorist’s speed only and a ‘too high’ or ‘too fast’ warning

There are lots of great benefits to Radar Activated VMS, such as the capability to detect speed and use the VMS-A’s messaging power for Specific Speed Messaging, where messages can be overridden with a speed roundel if a vehicle exceeds the set speed limit. When the unit detects the speed of an approaching vehicle, it alerts the driver of their speed and advises them to slow down if necessary.

It isn’t just our VMS that can integrate radar, though. The IVD Radar integrates our Solar IP with the AGD 343 Highways Monitoring Radar to create portability and dramatically enhance road safety, capability and efficiency. This solution uses proven radar and measurement techniques to track and measure the speed, length, and direction of individual targets.

If you would like to find out more about how our products with integrated radar can benefit you, please get in touch with our Sales team on 01629 580 570 or email sales@m-vis.co.uk.

MVIS Helps Belper Pride Run Smoothly

Posted on 22nd August 2022 at 10:19 am.

Written by Ben Kettell

On Saturday 6th August, we supported and supplied several units free of charge for this year’s Belper Pride. As well as receiving some fantastic feedback from The Pride in Belper Team, they have also written us a blog post about how our signs helped with managing the event.

Pride in Belper returned to the town this summer, for the first time since its inaugural event in 2019. Although activities still took place online in 2020 and 2021, it wasn’t the same as everyone coming together in person to celebrate the town’s diversity and inclusivity with a parade around the town centre.

Three years ago, it was felt the parade (or ‘Strutt’ as we call it in Belper – after the local millowners) wasn’t long enough, so this time we wanted it to take to the main roads. Once, in the days of Belper’s carnival parades, road closures, long processions and a town centre grinding to a halt for an hour or so was an annual event – expected, accepted and, by many, embraced.

But the carnivals disappeared in the 1990s, so it’s been a long time since road closures, on the scale we had planned, have been seen in the town. Unless we could reach out and warn the multitude of motorists before the day, it could become a fractious and difficult day – not the inclusive celebration it needed to be.

The offer of three portable Variable Message Signs (VMS) from MVIS Ltd not only resolved those worries, but in being the first tangible signs of what was coming to the town the following weekend, they also brought a real sense of anticipation and an acceptance from the public. Acceptance that this would be a professional event – something that could be embraced and would work smoothly despite taking out some of the main streets of a busy town on a Saturday lunchtime.

The portable VMS signs weren’t huge but positioned strategically across the town, they were well-noticed, eye-catching and the perfect way of telling people not only about the expected traffic disruption but also why it was happening – a chance for people to avoid the area by car but instead come to the town centre and join in.

How fantastic that we were able to have rolling information – and that we had colours too, perfect for a Pride-themed rainbow illustration to accompany that information. They were much remarked on in the days leading up to the event, and well recognised as useful, professional tools for ensuring that Pride in Belper ran so smoothly.

Without a doubt, the VMS ensured that the all-important Strutt around the town was an absolute highlight for the town this year. It was a joyful event with very little drama on the roads because people knew what was happening and engaged with the signage before the day.

So, thank you, MVIS Ltd, for sponsoring us in this way, and helping to ensure that Pride in Belper was such an important, emotional and successful day for 11,000 people. You made such a difference, and we love you for it.

The Pride in Belper Team

No Hidden Fees When You Hire With MVIS

Posted on 18th August 2022 at 10:48 am.

Written by Ben Kettell

The MVIS approach is to consistently offer our clients the best service possible. This has allowed us to build up a reputation in the industry for providing excellent service to all customers on all projects, no matter the size or customer.

That’s why we’re proud to boast that when you hire with MVIS, there are no hidden nasty fees. In fact, deployment, advice, consultation and all the other added value that we offer as part of our platinum level service are included in the cost.

But what added value do we offer exactly?

One of the ways we look to offer added value for our customers is by taking the time and effort to learn about the different industries we work with in order to gain a greater understanding of their needs. This then helps us to continue our mission in looking for more ways to add value. Unlike some of our competitors, our expertise is specialised in our core solutions rather than diluted across many different types of products.

We are always consistently developing our units to make sure that customers are getting much more for their money than just a standard VMS. We do this by integrating other technologies with our signs in order to enhance what they are capable of. An example of this would be the integrated data collection radar, which comes as standard with all our VMS and offers a low-cost alternative to many data collection solutions on the market.

When it comes to innovation, we don’t just work with our customers to develop new products and solutions. Over the years, we have brought numerous innovations to the industry like the Solar IP, which offers a trailer-based solar powered platform designed for integration with other technology. We have also worked with a range of specialists in their respective fields to bring portable, solar powered innovations to the market such as ANPR and CCTV.

Although we specialise in portable solar powered ITS solutions, we never lose sight of the fact that we are a service-based company. Each member of our staff is committed to providing outstanding customer service and support with zero exceptions. We’re so confident about the service we provide that we are proud to offer customers our ‘Platinum Service Promise’. This outlines our commitment to delivering a ‘Platinum’ level service for a ‘Bronze’ level price.

Our Quality & Service Promise serves to outline what we consider to be ‘Platinum Level Service’ and also highlights all the additional aspects of our service that sets us apart from other VMS and ITS suppliers.

We also have a wealth of tools in place that helps us monitor different aspects of our units out in the field, all from our head office in Matlock. Thanks to our national coverage, we can quickly dispatch a team from the nearest of our strategically placed depots to investigate a problem. We even include battery changes, repairs and replacements if needed into the service promise that we offer our clients.

Going above and beyond what is expected from us is what we do here at MVIS. So, get in contact with our friendly Sales team at sales@m-vis.co.uk or on 01629 580570 to make sure that your ITS technology will be taken care of by the experts.

Proud to be Supporting Pride & Inclusivity

Posted on 8th August 2022 at 4:21 pm.

Written by Ben Kettell

Promoting an open, inclusive and fair company culture is extremely important to us here at MVIS. That’s why we’re proud to have supported and supplied several units free of charge for this year’s Belper Pride, which took place on Saturday 6th August. Supplying and deploying our VMS helped provide messaging of road closures and other important information to enable the event to run safely and smoothly.

Around 11,000 people are said to have attended Belper Pride, a number which has doubled in size in the past two years. The first Belper Pride was only in 2019, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the following two years sadly had to be held online.

We also had a member of the MVIS team, Clair Tranter who works in Customer Relations, volunteer for this year’s Belper Pride to help with the running of it and make it a great event after a 3 year wait. Several of our other staff have also volunteered for other causes in the past, such as local charities that we support like Ashgate Hospice. As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility, we take pride in our community outreach efforts, which have regularly seen us offer our products, time and financial support to a range of community causes that are close to our hearts.

Clair is proudly part of the LGBTQ+ community and is our FIR Ambassador here at MVIS. FIR Ambassadors aim to promote a culture of Fairness, Inclusion and Respect within the organisation where they work in. They are expected to embody the principles of FIR: work collaboratively, whilst stepping in to take action, challenge behaviours and positively impact workplace culture. Having an FIR Ambassador as part of our team further shows our commitment to an open and inclusive workplace.

That same weekend, we also supplied and installed a number of our VMS-As and VMS-Cs for Brighton Pride. Firmly established as the UK’s most popular international Pride Festival, Brighton Pride attracts a diverse audience of around 1,000,000 people from across the globe. Due to the size of the event and the fact it’s spread out over a city, the MVIS team had to work around the clock in order for all the units to be set up on time.

Brighton Pride’s ethos is to promote tolerance, diversity and inclusion which perfectly aligns with our morals as a company. We’re extremely proud to have worked with them for this year’s Pride celebrations in order to progress towards the goal of eliminating all forms of discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities.

MVIS Delivers Gold at the London 2012 Olympics

Posted on 4th August 2022 at 9:26 am.

Written by Ben Kettell

Our journey as a company began in June 2012 with the London Olympics, which required 177 mobile variable message signs (VMS) to be deployed and managed throughout London. Shortly after this in August 2012 came the Paralympics of a similar scale, forcing MVIS into delivering the platinum level service that we are known for today.

Transport for London (TfL) required the temporary deployment of an extensive network of VMS to be positioned along the Olympic Route Network, in order to provide clear and distinguishable route instructions to road users and help athletes get to their destination in a timely manner.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games presented TfL with the challenge of creating a road traffic system that would facilitate not only the seamlessly smooth running of both events but also the efficient flow of non-event traffic. TfL appointed MVIS to supply, install and support an incredible 177 signs in what was believed to be the largest single deployment of solar powered mobile VMS in the world at the time.

With the help of our sister company and manufacturer Bartco, all 177 units were able to be built and deployed onto the streets of London ready for the start of the games. Taking on a project of this size so early on in our lifespan was not without its challenges, though. A 10,000 mile supply chain length, weather problems, port closures, flight delays and customs issues all had to be overcome in order for the signs to get into the UK on time.

Since then, we have only expanded and grown from strength to strength. This has resulted in MVIS becoming a trusted asset in the industry with a focus on the values of efficiency, excellent service and trust with our customers.

In 2012, we had a fleet of only 8 x Bartco 5 colour VMS and now boast the UK’s largest fleet of over 600 VMS that have been built and maintained by our staff. Better yet, we are still working in multiple large schemes across the UK for happy clients who choose MVIS to deliver.

To find out more about our work on other projects, see our major projects timeline.

Celebrating 10 Years of Graeme Lee

Posted on 2nd August 2022 at 10:29 am.

Written by Ben Kettell

This week we’re celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Graeme Lee, our Sales Director. Graeme is now the second member of the MVIS team to reach a 10 year tenure after Anne Ashman celebrated her 10 year anniversary last year.

Graeme joined MVIS in 2012 having already worked in the highways industry in sales. His existing knowledge and experience quickly saw him forming relationships with clients that have continued to develop over the last 10 years. Graeme’s loyalty and dedication to the company has led him to become our Sales Director, where he oversees the Sales department with Customer Relations Officer, Juliette Wright.

Highly skilled in sales, networking and maintaining relationships, Graeme is well respected within the industry and is often seen as the face of MVIS to clients and customers. During his time at MVIS, Graeme has amassed a number of career achievements that have formed a crucial part of our success and growth.

With years of vital experience in producing high-value tender submissions and working with high-profile customers from many different industries, Graeme has become an incredibly valued member of the team and a crucial component of our operations.

Anne Ashman, UK Group Operations and Commerical Director comments, “We are all very pleased to be celebrating Graeme’s 10 year work anniversary this week. It’s been a pleasure working with Graeme over the last ten years. Graeme’s commitment and loyalty to the company is greatly appreciated and we are extremely lucky to have him as part of our team. Everyone at MVIS and Bartco UK thanks Graeme for his service and we look forward to many more years of him working with us.”

Graeme Lee comments, “I am very proud to have reached a 10 year milestone here at MVIS. I started working in this industry over 15 years ago when it was the early days for portable VMS in the UK. In the time that I’ve been here, the industry has changed substantially but the “can do” mentality at MVIS has not changed. Every member of staff is crucial, and they are all prepared to go the extra mile.”

Supporting Sparkle Night Walk 2022

Posted on 18th July 2022 at 2:57 pm.

Written by Ben Kettell

On Saturday 9th July, thousands from North Derbyshire and the surrounding areas came together to walk 10km and raise vital funds for Ashgate Hospice in the Sparkle Night Walk 2022.

Ashgate Hospice is a local charity based in Chesterfield that we have worked with and supported extensively in recent years. They provide end-of-life care, free of charge to patients with a life-limiting illness and their families across North Derbyshire. They rely on the generosity of our community and businesses like us to raise millions of pounds each year to help fund their specialist and brilliant care.

Last year, we supported the 2021 Sparkle Walk and we are proud to have done the same this year by deploying our signs in the lead-up to the event and on the night. Due to the scale of the annual Sparkle Walk, several main roads around the area are required to close so it is important to provide warnings in advance to help reduce risk.

In the last financial year, we raised an amazing £13,733.38 for Ashgate Hospice by sponsoring their High Peak Trail Walk, as well as other fundraising initiatives like an office bake off and their Treecycle initiative, in which several of our staff volunteered to help collect Christmas trees.

Whilst the amount raised for this year’s Sparkle Walk is yet to be determined, it is believed to be in the region of around £200,000. Every penny raised will go towards their care and helping nurses be there for families throughout Derbyshire who desperately need them.

Rachel Broughton from Ashgate Hospice comments, “I’d like to thank MVIS for providing the road signs on the night and in the lead up to the event. You helped us not only put on an enjoyable and safe event but also saved us money which can now be redirected to help our nurses to provide their crucial care through all hours of the day and night to patients and their loved ones and for this, we are incredibly grateful.”

New Marketing Manager Welcomed by MVIS

Posted on 12th July 2022 at 1:54 pm.

Written by Ben Kettell

As a small team, it is always sad when a member of staff departs but with a new employee comes new skills and fresh ideas. Last week, we celebrated our 10th anniversary and also a new face in our in-house Marketing Department.

We’re delighted to announce that Ben Kettell has joined us as our new Marketing Manager. Ben is an experienced marketeer and Marketing Manager in addition to having expert skills in graphic design. He will be working alongside Alex Handley, our Marketing Executive who has recently been promoted from Marketing Assistant and Ben Ashman, our Data Assistant. Together, they will continue to grow and improve our marketing channels.

Prior to working in the hospitality industry as Marketing Manager for two of Derby’s most established businesses, Ben has worked in marketing for a number of respectable B2B and B2C companies in the travel and retail industry.

Ben is now in his second week at MVIS and is starting to get to grips with an exciting new industry and our wide range of products and solutions. Outside of work, Ben is a passionate Derby County supporter and regularly attends home and away matches.

Ben Kettell comments, “I am delighted to join the MVIS team. Their enthusiasm for their work and expertise is unrivalled I can’t wait to get stuck in. I look forward to sharing ideas and working with the entire workforce to grow MVIS in new and exciting sectors along with building on the strong foundations already in place.”

Anne Ashman, UK Group Commercial and Operations Director comments, “Ben really impressed us in the interview process and I have no doubt that he will be a great addition to our Marketing Department and the MVIS team. He brings with him a solid set of marketing and creative skills that will help to expand and improve our current marketing infrastructure.”

Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week 2022

Posted on 10th February 2022 at 1:59 pm.

Written by Ben Kettell

During National Apprentice Week 2022, we are shining the spotlight on the members of our team who came to us over the years as apprentices and celebrating what they have achieved so far. We have had 9 staff members join us at an apprentice level, with 8 of them continuing with us after the completion of their apprentices.

Our longest serving former apprentice is Rebecca Prince, who joined Bartco UK as a Business Administration apprentice in 2015 and quickly progressed in the company to her current role as Purchasing and Stock Control Supervisor. Working alongside Bec in Purchasing and Stock Control is Pip Wood, who joined the Bartco UK team in early 2019 as an apprentice. Pip is extremely dedicated to her skills development, taking on fire warden and manual handling training during her apprenticeship.

Also starting in 2015 was George Sheldon, who joined us as an apprentice after studying Electrical Engineering. George has since completed his level 3 apprenticeship in 2019, seeing him progress within the company to the role of Senior Workshop Technician with fellow former apprentice, Cain.

Since joining our apprenticeship programme in 2017, Cain Gregory has come on leaps and bounds professionally during his time here and has recently completed his apprenticeship. In an effort to further his skills, he has recently completed CAD training and is currently doing a supervisor training course. We were so impressed initially with Cain’s talent and work ethic during his work experience that we very quickly asked him to stay.

Our most recent apprentice is Jacob Spencer, who is in year 1 of his Technical Apprenticeship. In a similar fashion to Cain, Jacob quickly impressed us with his amazing work ethic and attitude. Jacob is perfectly suited to his role with us, allowing him to stay busy doing what he loves.

Anne Ashman, UK Group Commercial and Operations Director comments, “all the apprentices that have come through either MVIS or Bartco UK’s doors have been given the encouragement and space to develop their skills. We cannot recommend the recruitment of apprentices enough to employers looking for hard working and dedicated individuals.”

MVIS and Bartco UK want to take this opportunity to thank our apprentices, both past and present, for all their hard work.

For more information about our apprentice program, please contact us on +44 (0) 3300 080 366 or email info@bartco-uk.com.

2021 Annual Round Up

Posted on 5th January 2022 at 8:46 am.

Written by Ben Kettell

It’s been another unusual year for everyone as the ever-evolving situation with COVID has been more up and down than even the year before. As we began 2021 entering into England’s 3^rd national lockdown, months later restrictions were eased off as the nation focused on vaccinations, allowing society and business to emerge from the imposed isolation of 2020 and begin to get back to something that resembles normality.

Despite this, things for most people will never be the same again. The same can be said for many businesses, who have had to continue to adapt to COVID-safe working environments, economic changes and of course changes to the way that all businesses operate. As a group, MVIS and Bartco UK underwent significant changes in 2021, but these changes have been ones that have allowed us to not only continue to deliver the excellent service that our customers expect, but to actually exceed the standards that we have set for ourselves.

We started 2021 as we were throughout 2020, still on the front line of COVID messaging, with public information delivery being an important part of keeping people safe. The nationwide deployment our units in town and city centres followed the same crowd control model more regularly seen by us when providing portable VMS for events. The adaptable nature of our service and our products provided a smooth transition into this realm of public notice, wayfinding and assistance for local authorities.

Ensuring that all our team were COVID Health and Safety qualified with CITB, we were taking no chances when it came to the safety and mental well-being of our employees, allowing us to continue to deliver our safety solutions for the safety and benefit of the general public.

When the restrictions were lifted, we did not just sit back. We maintained our strong focus on training and development. We have always been dedicated to the principles of safety, quality and best practice – accreditations help to underscore this focus. Our team are consistently training and looking for ways to improve on areas of skill levels and qualifications.

In the face of the global pandemic, we have been working hard in the background to ensure that we have the right accreditations to guide this dedication and focus, helping us to maintain our industry leading reputation during a time of uncertainty and instability. In this sense, not only did we put our focus on training, but also in maintaining the standards of a trusted and stable supplier of solar powered intelligent transport systems.

To enforce our ISO accreditations in the standards of quality (9001:2015), environmental management (14001:2015) and health & safety (45001:2018), we have earned other accreditations, memberships and recertifications this year that help to further our dedication and focus to these aspects.

Constructionline Gold, Gold status with the Supply Chain Sustainability School, recertification with Achilles Building Confidence, Cyber Essentials membership and the work we are doing through our membership of Forest Carbon’s Carbon Club are just some of the achievements we have worked on this year that allows us to continuously develop our commitment to safety, quality and the environment.

But our service is more than just these aspects. Indeed, focus on our products remains stronger than ever. 2021 brought a number of exciting product developments that we have already launched or will be launching soon. The ITS Environmental Sensor, for example offers clients a low-cost air quality monitoring solution that can be integrated with any of our ITS products. We have also made some significant upgrades to our Works Egress Safety Solution, making it simpler and more effective for site safety egress applications.

As 2022 comes around, we will be launching other new products that have been in development throughout 2021 that will bring new levels of safety and security to our customers.

Later in the year in 2021, we made a substantial change to the way we inform customers about our products and solutions at trade shows. At Highways UK, we launched a new method of sharing our product spec and info sheets with customers and visitors to our stands. In keeping with our commitment to the environment, we made the switch to using QR code triggered emails instead of handing sheets of literature out.

Not only has this helped the environment by reducing the paper, ink and the potential waste involved in the production and distribution of our literature, but it even reduced the fuel needed to transport the weight of our packs, which have now been swapped for a cutting-edge digital system that is both easy and convenient to use.

As our commitments extend further than the environment and safety, we also have commitments to improving our local community, especially in these times of difficulty. We have expanded our charity and sponsorship activities this year to be even more focused on our local community, including new sponsorship of the Derby Mountain Rescue Team, a voluntary emergency service who attend callouts in response to requests from Derbyshire Police, East Midlands Ambulance Service, and West Midlands Ambulance Service.

We have also remained committed to local charities. Throughout the year, we have been raising money for Ashgate Hospicecare, a local charity who provide palliative and end-of-life care free of charge, caring for people living with a life-limiting illness, including cancer, neurological diseases, and end-stage heart, kidney and lung diseases. We have taken part in a number of our own fundraising activities in 2021 for Ashgate, as well as supporting them with signs for their own fundraising events such as the Sparkle Walk, the value of which being over £8,000 during the course of the year, taking the total amount raised for Ashgate this year to over £11,000.

For Christmas 2021, as well as continuing to support Ashgate with their Light up a Life Ceremony and Treecycle fundraisers, we also donated 2 signs to Blythe House Hospicecare’s Jingle Bell Jog too to help with wayfinding and promotion. The team at MVIS have also offered very generous donations to Clay Cross Foodbank to help local families who are in need of support have a nice Christmas.

It’s been a busy year at MVIS and Bartco UK whilst we continue to navigate our way through a world blighted by COVID. As commerce and industry wake up to the stark concerns over the environment, we have been joined by businesses all over the world this year as we also continue along our 10-year journey towards being carbon friendly, which started right back to basics with our solar powered ITS solutions.

Whilst we said good-bye to some team members last year, we welcomed several new ones too. New team members help to bring new perspectives, new ideas and new qualifications to the group, allowing everyone to benefit and grow as the company does.

We are all looking forward to the developments that 2022 will bring for us, as we launch new products as well as continue to develop our never-ending focus on safety, quality and customer service.

10 years of working with Intelligent Transport Systems

Posted on 6th September 2021 at 12:37 pm.

Written by Ben Kettell

Anne Ashman, our Commercial & Operations Director is celebrating 10 years of working with us on the 5^th September. We have spoken to Anne and asked her to look back on her time with the now group companies and how she has seen MVIS go from a start-up company with only 8 x Original Bartco 5 colour VMS in the fleet to the UK’s leading portable Intelligent Transport System Hire Company, having multiple new products and over 600 units in the hire fleet, plus the sale of multiple units through Bartco UK and supporting them through delivering top quality platinum service.

When Anne started with the then named company, “Colour Mobile VMS” back in 2011 as the office manager, the dream was to win the Olympic Games Lane Project in 2012 in London. This seemed an impossible task for the company with only 3 staff and only 8 units in the hire fleet. Jump forward 1 year, and the company had not only won and delivered the Olympic project, it had almost 200 units in the hire fleet, a new name, a new sales manager in Graeme Lee and a new product called the ‘2012 platform’, better known now as the Solar IP.

Within 1 year of starting, Anne had been instrumental in the planning and shipping of the units from our now sister company Bartco AU, who manufactured the products for the 2012 Olympics, getting the units into the country in a very tight turn around window, often having to speak to shipping agents, customs and dealing with Forex companies to get the best exchange rates, this was no small task. On the back of this, Anne got promoted to Office and Finance Manager for the newly formed MVIS Ltd ITS Hire company.

Anne comments “after the Olympics was when the real work really started, having almost 200 signs with no established customer base was a very difficult time. We had units stuck in the yard, no hire system in place, a new sales manager and still only a team of 5 people”.

This did not deter Anne, in true ‘Anne fashion’ she rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in. Her day often included accounts work, chasing for payments, raising invoices, payroll, sales quoting, sales lead generation, marketing, web studio programming of the signs, getting units ready for hire, logistics of delivering, customer service, writing and implementing the much needed policies, procedures and processes, company first aider, even delivering the signs sometimes, generally the role was very all rounded at this stage with limited staff.

In 2013, when the then MD Tony Price left the company and Pat Musgrave become the new MD, Anne was promoted to General Manager. In the short two years of her employment, she had shown that she could easily manage the company and was the right person to take on the role, working with Pat and Graeme, to move it to the next level.

Since 2013 when Pat and Anne became the senior management team the company has not looked back, it has gone from strength to strength. In 2014 Bartco UK was formed to manufacture and sell ITS products in the UK, this also came under Anne’s watchful eye.

Since starting in 2011 Anne has seen the company go from 3 employees, Anne being the only original member left, to 22 staff across the 2 UK group companies, of which 20 Anne has recruited, these 22 staff make up everything that MVIS and Bartco UK are, with Anne’s passion, history and strive for perfection the team all buy in to this and give the best service to the company’s now large customer base.

During her 10 years with the group companies Anne has gained 3 ISO standards across the UK companies, she commented, “When I took this task on single headedly in 2014, as there was nobody else to do it, I really didn’t know what I had got myself into, I had a very quick learning curve and with a lot of extra hours worked I soon got in to the flow and gained the first 2 standards and implemented them across all areas of the business. Once Dom started to assist, it made getting the 3^rd standard easier with two of us working on it. Since then, we have gone on to get many more accreditations and none have been as difficult, as we now know exactly what is needed, most recently working on our FORS Bronze accreditation together”.

Anne strongly believes in the personal development of herself and her team, often mentoring the apprentices and ensuring all new starters get the right training they need. She has completed an OU Business Management Degree, gained a level 5 HR qualification, IOSH Managing Safely, Directors Development Program and most recently PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioner qualifications whilst running the group companies, amongst other qualifications she has.

Anne continues, “Doing a degree and making sure my 3 children and husband had the best life and opportunities I have had, due to my work at MVIS, has just been the cherry on top of the cake. When I started here 10 years ago, I was so ambitious but really didn’t know if this new start-up company was going to help me realise my ambitions. Looking back, there are too many highlights to mention. But there was my degree, a very proud moment when I picked up my certificate in front of my family after 7 years of studying, trips to our sister company in Australia, trade shows across the UK and Europe, being involved in the 2012 Olympics, winning most of the major High Speed schemes across the UK in the last 10 years and having the opportunity to build and work with a fantastic workforce, I think I can say my ambitions have been more than realised. Every day here at MVIS and Bartco UK is different and I wouldn’t have it any other way, overseeing all areas of the business really does keep me on my toes and I love it”.

As a company, a group of employees and as individuals, we all wish to congratulate Anne on this very important milestone. Anne is the first member of staff to reach 10 years’ service in our group’s history and she is also the longest serving employee, marking not just a significant occasion for Anne, but also for the organisation in general and we are all looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us.