Happy 40th Birthday, Radan
instructions on the paper tape.”
Two senior lecturers at the
university, Tony Billett – who was
to become Radan’s Managing
Director – and Martin Swainston,
devised the software to read
the paper tape and simulate the
movement that the machine
would make, offline. “It’s very
primitive compared to Radan
today, but was far in advance of
anything else available in 1976.
For the first time, it was possible to
try a program out on a computer
instead of waiting until it was on
the machine and cutting metal.”
Radan has developed into the
world leader by staying solely
in the sheet metal industry, and
creating solutions for specialist
niches within that sector. These