Weighing and packaging equipment specialist Ishida Europe has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the UK’s highest accolade for business success. The company received its award for its stellar International Trade.
The award was presented by Dr Paul Sabapathy, the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, at a special ceremony in front of more than 200 Ishida Europe staff. Ishida Europe project engineer Nick Price and assembly technician Andrew Bridges were the representatives receiving the award on behalf of the company.
Dr Sabapathy said: "This award celebrates what each and every one of you at Ishida Europe has achieved.
"None of this success would be possible without your hard work, commitment and dedication, so I am particularly pleased to be presenting it to the employees, and of course to be acknowledging the achievements of a West Midlands business."
Ishida Europe was recognised for increasing exports as a percentage of total turnover from 65% to 76%. To deliver this growth, Ishida implemented a strategy that both facilitated increased market penetration in established markets, and enabled entrance into new geographic regions.
Ishida Europe managing director Graham Clements said: "This is an outstanding achievement and is the result of the hard work and dedication of all our employees.
"From our establishment in 1984, we have always recognised that we operate in a global market and created a business model that ensures our customers receive the same high standards of service and support wherever they are in the world. Coupled with our market-leading equipment and pro-active new product development programme, these have helped to drive our success, even in the recent troubled economic times."
Ishida Europe is the European subsidiary of Ishida Co of Japan, the inventor and world market leader of the multihead weigher, which is said to have revolutionised the accurate weighing and packing of a huge variety of products, including snacks, confectionery, frozen food, fresh salad, meat, poultry and ready meals.
Clements added: "We have ambitious plans to continue to develop our global business.
"The Queen’s Award provides the ideal foundation for the next phase of our growth."
