Mitchell Barnes is the Founder of RYSE 3D, and after winning a King’s Award for Enterprise last year, he became one of the youngest managing directors, at just 27, to lead a company to this achievement.
He kept us waiting for a little bit when we arrived at the RYSE facility in Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire. Popping his head back around the door a couple of times, he apologised, stating that he had to see to a few things.
He struck me as a boss that likes to be across every detail if he can help it. A mind that seems to race at 100 miles a minute, but is still able to fixate on the job in hand.
RYSE is, after all, his baby. It’s perhaps unsurprising to imagine him running things from top to bottom, given that he started the company in his mum’s garage.
That’s where he built his own 3D printer for a university project, and subsequently for his university classmates, for a price. After some time in consultancy in Formula One, which reading between the lines, probably led to some future clients (although he couldn’t confirm this to us) he was able to start RYSE 3D.
At the time of meeting Mitchell, RYSE was involved in 23 hypercar programmes and was employing 27 people.
He challenges UK businesses in this interview. His outlook on changes to employment law and more generally, business strategies brought forward by the government, are a little pessimistic.
He doesn’t think the sector should be reliant on government, he believes in making your own luck by “investing in innovation and technology.” Taking control , as I mentioned at the top, seems to be his way.
He also challenges the current state of additive manufacturing. He believes it’s still immature, and poorly utilised. He suggests the industry is naïve to the benefits of the technology.
One final bit to look out for in this article, and something I found interesting, is RYSE looks for skills in unlikely places. Mitchell believes that university courses are severely lacking in educational quality, so ex-apprentices are often targeted instead. And in some cases, RYSE has hired baristas and fast food workers.
The logic being that turning raw ingredients into food or drink is a process in itself. In essence, its manufacturing. If someone knows a process already, and has the attitude to learn and follow a new process, then RYSE will have them.