The Princess Royal visited Crane’s new factory in Cwmbran on Friday 6 December 2024 and met long-standing members of the workforce, some with more than 40 years’ experience.
She toured the state-of-the-art facility that opened in November 2023 at Saunders Valves on Grange Road in the town.
Saunders opened in Cwmbran in 1939 as an innovator of diaphragm valve technology, serving the pharmaceutical, life sciences, chemical process, mining, and water treatment industries.
Saunders’ Operations Director Dafydd Lewis took The Princess Royal on a tour of the new 100,000 sq ft facility’s assembly lines before she unveiled a plaque.
The tour included a look around the research and development laboratories as well as the in-house rubber mill that allows the company to produce its diaphragms on-site.
She was welcomed to Saunders by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Gwent, Brigadier Robert Aitken, CBE, alongside Saunders’ leadership team, including Senior Vice President Andrew Powell, and Vice President/ General Manager Rodrigo De Moraes.
Princess Anne also met Rachel Ritter, Head of Fundraising at Tŷ Hafan Children’s Hospice in Sully, Cardiff which Saunders supports.
Saunders has been a long-term supporter of cystic fibrosis initiatives. King Charles is a patron of the the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, a charity supported by the company’s Global Engineering Manager Adam Walton. This led to today’s visit being arranged.
Following the visit, the Princess Royal then visited Safran, the airport seat manufacturer on Llantarnam Industrial Estate.