A Oswestry-based firm, a manufacturer of special fasteners and precision components and standard fasteners distributor, won two prestigious business awards recently for their manufacturing achievement and for their continued growth and innovation.
GWR Fasteners Limited was named the Overall Winner at the Made in the Midlands Awards which took place at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in Birmingham on the 29th October 2015. Made in the Midlands (MiM) celebrate and promote all that is great about manufacturers and manufacturing within the region. The award was presented by Professor Kevin Morley, Former Managing Director of the Former Rover Group, Marketing Authority and Entrepreneur. Professor Morley gave an inspirational speech to the audience and said “If everybody in this industry from the top to the bottom took a vow of excellence within their company, they would be successful and they couldn’t fail.”
Professor Morley presented this prestigious award to Jude Robinson, Commercial Director of GWR Fasteners Limited. She said “I am absolutely overwhelmed because our peers and the judges have no doubt more experience than us and have seen something in us to give us this recognition. I just feel honoured and humbled by it all.”
GWR Fasteners are a manufacturer of special fasteners and precision components and also a world-wide distributor of standard fasteners. This year has seen an increase in their manufacturing orders by 3000% as a result of their increased CNC machine capacity, investment in people, and a greater focus on search engine optimisation and social media presence.
Christopher Greenough, President of Council for MiM and Director of Salop Design & Engineering Ltd said “It was a great honour to be part of the Made in the Midlands awards on Thursday – celebrating great businesses and fantastic people. There was so much enthusiasm, and coupled with World Class manufacturing, means we can only go on to succeed. It is great to see GWR Fasteners go on to take the top award and show what Shropshire businesses can do.”
But that is not all. On the same day at the same time, GWR Fasteners’ Managing Director, Gary Robinson, was attending the British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs) at the Hurlingham Club in London. The BEEAs are national awards which promote the quality of engineering design and innovation which exists in companies all around the UK. Amongst formidable competition, GWR Fasteners won Highly Commended in the Small Company of the Year Award sponsored by D Young & Co LLP. It was said to be a difficult choice by the Judges in this particular category so BEEAs and the judging panel of industry experts gave one of only two Highly Commended Awards on that day to GWR Fasteners.
BEEAs said that small companies are the lifeblood of the UK economy and the Judges were looking for a company with a sound business plan, a product that meets a market need and the successful reception of that product. Beyond that, the Judges wanted to see evidence that the company was either taking on the ‘big boys’ or exploiting a viable market niche.
Graham Pitcher, Group Editor of Findlay Media Engineering Design Division, said about the awards overall “Yet again, the entries to the BEEAs highlighted the fact that the UK’s manufacturing and design industries are in good shape.”
Shropshire Live is regulated by