Coventry Operations Manager takes off with ‘Top 100’ manufacturing honour
A Coventry-based autonomous vehicle Operations Manager has been named as an ‘unsung hero’ in one of the industrial world’s most prestigious competitions.
Aurrigo International plc’s Ricky Raines was featured in The Manufacturer’s Top 100 manufacturing professionals last night at a high-profile event in Birmingham, impressing judges with the way he has helped lead the deployment of first and last mile driverless pods and shuttles and Auto-DollyTug® – the next generation of luggage dollies for aviation.
The former hospitality worker has made the seamless switch into engineering and is now leaving his mark across the world, working with European cities and seven global airports, including Cincinnati, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Zurich. Each location has had its own unique intricacies and route mapping to consider, including bringing together multiple stakeholders to ensure a safe deployment space that delivers the trial conditions and data required to support the integration of autonomous vehicles.
“When I joined Aurrigo eight years ago, I never thought for one minute I’d be named in the Top 100 manufacturing professionals in the UK…I’m just doing my job,” explained Ricky, who has overseen more than 5,000 hours of domestic and international testing.
“For me, it shows how far we come as a business and the fact that we are now viewed as one of the first companies in the world to be deploying our autonomous vehicles airside. This is some achievement from the 110 people we employ in Coventry and at our international bases in the US, Canada and Singapore.”
He continued: “There’s certainly been some challenges along the way, including managing lots of different stakeholders, evolving legislation and some good old fashioned bad weather. Thankfully we’ve even now developed a rainwater algorithm, which means Auto-DollyTug® can still operate in up to 50mm per hour of rain.”
There is little doubt that Ricky’s expertise has directly contributed to the expansion of Aurrigo’s autonomous vehicle solutions, increasing customer confidence and adoption across the company’s pods, shuttles and aviation vehicles.
In fact, the last twelve months has seen the business report a 33% increase in total revenues to £8.9m, including a staggering 433% rise in autonomous sales covering Auto-Sim® (a software platform for replicating airport activity) and Auto-DollyTug®, the latter responsible for moving luggage and cargo around. Beyond deployments, the 32-year-old has also been a cornerstone of internal training and knowledge-sharing with the firm’s engineering department.
He has personally trained numerous team members and external partners in the safe operation of autonomous vehicles, bridging the gap between advanced engineering and practical implementation. Professor David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo International, concluded: “While others may focus solely on their designated tasks, Ricky takes ownership of the broader success of each project, ensuring that our solutions are implemented safely and efficiently.
“His commitment to training, knowledge-sharing, and operational excellence has had a lasting impact on both the company and the wider industry. He fully merits inclusion into The Manufacturer’s Top 100!”
For further information, please visit www.aurrigo.com or follow the company on social media.
If you tuned into hashtag#WakeUptoMoney on BBC Radio 5 Live, you might’ve caught our CEO Prof. David Keene speaking with Will Bain at 47:38 — covering the latest on our exciting partnership with Swissport and the upcoming autonomous operations at Zurich Airport Ltd.🎧 Listen back here: https://lnkd.in/ev4cimTq
📍 Jump to 47:38 for the Auto-DollyTug spotlight!
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