Parker Hannifin wins Britain's Best Factory Award

A factory that provides filtration solutions to help prevent the spread of infection in hospitals and remove yeast and bacteria from sparkling wine, has been named the Best Factory of the Year at the 2011 Best Factory Awards. Now in their 20th year, the awards are run by Cranfield School of Management in partnership with the magazine, Works Management. Parker Hannifin Manufacturing’s Domnick Hunter process filtration plant in Birtley, Co Durham also scooped the Best Household and General Products Plant award.

The Birtley facility has gone from an operation with long production runs and high inventory levels to a lean operation. This transformation has been achieved through following a clear road map with an emphasis on lean manufacturing, underpinned by the development of empowered employees at every level in the organisation.

The Best Factory Awards bring together the best manufacturers in Britain to share best practice and celebrate their achievements. Dr Marek Szwejczewski, Director of the Best Factory Awards said: “From products to profit and customer service to strategy, Parker Hannifin’s Birtley facility is a high performance plant in every sense, one where the pride of those that work there is filtering through everything they do. It has grown its sales by more than five times its target and productivity has increased by over 11%, making it a very worthy winner of the 2011 Best Factory of the Year Award.

Dr Szwejczewski continued: “It has been another difficult year for manufacturing but the Best Factory Award winners have continued to improve and grow. This year’s finalists include an increased proportion of SME owned factories suggesting that size is no deterrent to seeking and achieving manufacturing excellence. As we have seen in the past, and again this year, investing in people and process yields significant results. UK manufacturing is continually changing, adapting and growing; and it is this ability to continually adapt that brings success to any business. This year’s winners demonstrate that you can manufacture products in the UK and make a healthy profit. In fact, several of the plants have been able to attract production to the UK, because of the improvements they have made in production, making them cost competitive.”

Works Management editor Max Gosney said: “It's fantastic to see UK based businesses trail blazing world class manufacturing standards. Recent government attention on the sector has focused on household names like Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce; but our winners prove the British manufacturing renaissance has real strength in depth. These companies demonstrate the outstanding acumen being used to develop, manufacture and supply a spectrum of market leading products from commercial ink to air filters."

The list of winners and highly commended plants for 2011 are as follows:

Best Factory of the Year: Parker Hannifin Manufacturing, Domnick Hunter Filtration, Birtley, Durham.

Best Process Plant Award: Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems, Broadstairs, Kent – Producers of printing inks for digital printers.

Best Engineering Plant Award: Camfil Farr, Haslingden, Lancashire - Producers of air filters for industrial and medical application.

Best Electronics and Electrical Plant Award: Carl Zeiss NTS, Cambridge – Manufacturers of scanning electron microscopes.

Highly Commended: Carefusion, Basingstoke, Hampshire and Brüel & Kjaer VTS, Royston, Hertfordshire.

Best Household and General Products Plant Award: Parker Hannifin Manufacturing, Domnick Hunter Filtration, Birtley, Durham.

Highly Commended: Aimia Foods, Haydock, St Helens and CooperVision, Southampton.

Best SME Award: Aimia Foods, Haydock, St Helens - The plant operates extensive co-packing and outsourcing facilities for the vending and food service industries and is an independent specialist in hot and cold drinks.

People Management Award: Carl Zeiss NTS, Cambridge.

Skills Development Award: Aimia Foods, Haydock, St Helens.

Supply Chain Award: Carefusion, Basingstoke, Hampshire - Assemble and test infusion pumps for use in hospitals.

Most Improved Plant Award: Aimia Foods, Haydock, St Helens.

Health & Safety Award: Carl Zeiss NTS, Cambridge.

Highly Commended: Camfil Farr, Haslingden, Lancashire and H.C. Starck, Calne, Wiltshire.

Innovation Award: CooperVision, Southampton – Manufacturers of soft contact lenses.

Energy & Environment Award: Barfoots of Botley, Pagham, West Sussex - Suppliers of sweet corn cobs to supermarkets and restaurants.

Highly Commended: Camfil Farr, Haslingden, Lancashire.

The Judges’ Special Award: H.C. Starck, Calne, Wiltshire - Manufacturers of molybdenum semiconductor components used as carriers and contact plates for silicon wafers in thyristors, transistors and diodes.

Highly Commended: Arla Foods, Lockerbie; ConvaTec, Deeside, Flintshire; Gurit, Newport, Isle of Wight and Robert Bion & Co, Reading, Berkshire.

The Best Factory Awards celebrate UK manufacturing excellence. All 14 award winners were named at a ceremony at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London on 30 September.

All entrants receive a free benchmarking report on their plants' performance.

Ends

Notes to editors

Photographs from the award ceremony are available on request.

The Best Factory Awards 2011 are sponsored by Toyota Material Handling UK, DAK Consulting, IOSH, PP Electrical Systems, ABB, Schaeffler, Kronos, Zurich and DHL Supply Chain, EFA.

Cranfield School of Management is one of Europe’s leading university management schools renowned for its strong links with industry and business. It is committed to providing practical management solutions through a range of activities including postgraduate degree programmes, management development, research and consultancy.   www.som.cranfield.ac.uk

Works Management is a leading industry journal, 62 years old this year, and renowned for covering best practice in the manufacturing sector. It is published by Findlay Media. www.worksmanagement.co.uk

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Emily Reed, Media Relations Office, Cranfield School of Management on: 

T: +44 (0) 1234 754348 or  E:  emily.reed@cranfield.ac.uk