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Originally the company didn’t have a name. Chess' founder, Graham Beall traded as a design consultant. By early 1993 it was clear that the business was growing, and he needed to operate as a Limited Company. Eventually he came up with the name, Chess Engineering Systems Ltd. “Chess” was chosen because it was a great description of the function of our pick and place machines. Also “Chess” is an internationally known name and was easily recognizable. Our machines were so intelligent and accurate that they had the ability to “play chess and move around intelligently” – hence why “Chess” was a fitting name for the early business.

Chess operates in two strategic business areas: Land (branded as Hawkeye Systems) and Maritime (branded as SeaEagle Systems). Our capability areas include: Surveillance, Fire Control and Special Projects.

Yes, Chess is a sub-system supplier and would welcome the opportunity to collaborate and work with other companies. Design excellence and collaboration are at the heart of all we do.

Yes. Our customers often face individual challenges where one size does not fit all. Chess Dynamics has three decades of experience in designing, developing and manufacturing specialist electro-mechanical products and solutions to meet individual needs. We deliver bespoke designed, modified, tailored and fully customised products that can be embedded into our customer integrated solutions to meet any challenge.

All of our systems are designed and manufactured in-house across our three UK sites.

We export in line with UK guidance.

Chess holds ISO9001, the international standard for a Quality Management System. We also work to IPC soldering and wiring standards.

Chess Dynamics products do not contain any ITAR controlled parts or parts of Russian origin. 

Chess Dynamics has three UK sites. Horsham (Head Office), Plymouth (Maritime Centre of Excellence) and Wokingham (Software House).

Cohort is the parent company of six innovative, agile and responsive businesses. The six operating subsidiaries are Chess, EID, ELAC Sonar, MASS, MCL and SEA.

Protect what matters most with dependable, cost effective technology. Chess has three decades of experience in designing, developing and manufacturing solutions from the ground up. This includes being able to offer first-rate bespoke design and rapid prototyping services. And as we are the engineers who design and build our solutions, we also provide high-quality training, refurbishments and maintenance services.

Yes. Prior to the stand of any supply project, our team are available to attend site and conduct in-depth site surveys for equipment placements, cabling consideration and any other site-specific requirements.

Yes. All of Chess’ systems are modular. This ensures the highest levels of operational availability, while also providing end users with options to reconfigure and customise the system to meet a variety of mission profiles, ultimately offering a great range of sensing capability.

Yes. Chess provides training to suit all needs and budgets. We can conduct training on-site or in-house at our factory in Horsham. We have standard training modules or can provide customised and refresher training.

Yes. Chess has a team of Field Service Engineers who can attend customer site for repairs and upgrades.

Yes. Our team of Field Service Engineers are on hand to support our products and systems around the world.

We are committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2025 within our operations and will continue to progress the design-for environment view of our products and build sustainability into our product life cycle, increasing the percentage of recyclable materials used in our products to a minimum of 50% by weight. Our people are our most important asset. Employee safety and well-being remains our priority. We have taken steps to create open and respectful environments for all our employees which is foundational to a culture of integrity and inclusion. We’re committed to increasing the representation of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities at every level of our company. And we continue to invest in our future through technical and educational organisations that inspire the next generation of engineers.

Chess holds ISO14001, the international standard for an effective Environmental Management System.

Our company values are Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence and Courage.