Spooner Industries, Ilkley, U.K., this past week was presented the Manufacturer of the Year award at the Bradford Means Business awards in the U.K. In its fifth year, the awards run by the Telegraph & Argus, with partners Bradford Council and the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, have gone "from strength to strength" with the level and quality of the entrants this year "being the best yet," T&A editor Perry Austin-Clarke noted.

Manufacturing Director at Spooner Robert Proctor (in photo with award)  said that "it’s a great pleasure to be recognized. At Spooner we have been engineering industrial solutions for more than 80 years and sometimes you forget how successful we are when engrossed in your day-to-day work."

 

This new accolade follows a visit to Spooner Industries’ Ilkley operations by Prime Minster David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne in February, who were impressed by the technology and commented that "Spooner is a great example of the kind of ‘advanced manufacturing’ businesses this government is trying to get behind."

  

In addition, Spooner has also been recognized in the Apprenticeship Awards and identified as one of the "1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain." Collated by the London Stock Exchange, the annual report is a celebration of some of the fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.K. To be selected, Spooner had to demonstrate not only consistent revenue growth over a minimum of three years but also significantly outperform peers in the same sector of manufacturing.

Manufacturing industrial process machinery such as industrial ovens, dryers, coolers, provers/proofers, air turns, stabilizers, oxidizers, and solvent and energy recovery equipment, the company has been a leading innovator in the principles of forced convection technology since 1932. Designing and manufacturing from purpose built premises in Ilkley, Spooner currently employs 160-plus people and exports custom made products worldwide.