It's not everyday that a Duke takes a tour of your operations. But that's exactly what happened when Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, stopped by Brompton headquarters in the UK yesterday at the invite of Brompton founder and inventor, Andrew Ritchie.
The Duke toured the factory, starting with the sales, marketing, finance and design functions where he was shown some of the computer-aided design [CAD] work which drives the ongoing development of the Brompton. The tour continued with an inspection of the quality control section, where the Duke was shown a coordinate measuring machine [CMM], Brompton's latest instrument in the testing of parts against design intent.
Ritchie then took the Duke through the engineering and brazing sections, talking him through some of the machines (including auto-braze and CNC equipment) and processes that ensure the quality of the bikes, and meeting some of the highly-trained brazers who create them by hand. The tour then took in the stores and assembly sections, where Bromptons are meticulously put together, before finishing with a demonstration of some of the new developments currently being perfected.
