Sony UK Technology Centre (UK TEC), manufacturer of professional and broadcast camera systems, has been crowned Britain’s best factory at the 2013 Best Factory Awards (BFA).
As well as winning the prestigious accolade of BFA Factory of the Year, Sony UK TEC has also won the Best Electronics & Electrical Plant Award and the Innovation Award. The site also received a Highly Commended in the Energy and Environment Award.
Now in their 22nd year, the Best Factory Awards recognise manufacturing excellence in the UK and bring together the leading manufacturers in Britain to share best practice and celebrate their achievements.
Following a tough application process and an intense site audit, the Pencoed-based business is the only Welsh organisation to have won the prestigious award since the awards inception in 1991. Sony UK Tec has beaten stiff competition which ranged from large high-tech organisations such as Siemens, Fuji and Bosch to small-medium sized manufacturers of hand crafted mattresses, teabags and material for airbags.
Director of the Best Factory Awards, Dr Marek Szwejczewski said: “Sony’s facility in Pencoed is a high performance plant in every sense. It has a highly skilled workforce, state-of-the-art electronics manufacturing equipment and processes, and a visionary and proactive leadership team, who are ensuring continued growth. The factory’s unique combination of skills meant that it recently started production of a range of professional camcorders, the only factory in Europe to do so for Sony. The fact that global production of the new Raspberry Pi mini-computer moved from China to Pencoed is testament to the factory’s ability to manufacture high quality products.
Dr Szwejczewski continued: “Our awards aim to recognise and reward those factories that have quietly and consistently improved their operations and created world class plants. One of the encouraging trends that can be seen among this year’s winners, is that manufacturing is coming home. Several of the plants have been able to attract production to the UK by offering competitive labour costs and improved flexibility by compressing lead times, reducing set-up times and developing multi-skilled workers. This has given Britain’s best factories a competitive edge compared to competitors in other countries, where flexibility is not valued and employees are reluctant to work flexible hours or weekends.”
Steve Dalton OBE, Managing Director of Sony UK Technology Centre, stated: “We are overjoyed to have to have won the esteemed BFA Factory of the Year Award plus two category awards. This is the first time a Welsh organisation has won the accreditation and it demonstrates we are excelling in our manufacturing techniques and capabilities outside of England.
“We were up against some well-known and established manufacturing sites and to be named overall winners is a huge achievement. Myself and the rest of the team at Pencoed are immensely proud of this award.
“We have a reputation for being a centre for manufacturing excellence and this award is testament to this. As a team our drive and ambition to continue to innovate has meant we have been able to make our processes and techniques more effective and efficient. Furthermore, the team’s loyalty, commitment and hard work to continuously help grown the organisation has ensured we are exceptional in customer service delivery and has encouraged new business opportunities by offering third-party manufacturing solutions as well as extending our own product portfolio.
“As a site we are always searching to do something better today than yesterday. I am confident that our commitment to innovation and improvement will put us in good stead to compete with our competitors and ensure our site’s sustainability and longevity. Our hope is that our success will inspire other Welsh manufacturing companies and encourage them to follow in our footsteps.”
Congratulating Sony UK Technology Centre for its outstanding achievements, Economy Minister Edwina Hart said:”This is excellent news and a fitting tribute to the hard work of the management and workforce who between them have transformed the Pencoed facility. It has an international reputation as a centre for manufacturing excellence and the highest quality standards which has been further endorsed by winning these highly prestigious awards that are well deserved.”
Max Gosney, Editor of Works Management said: “From cam switches to tea bags, the diversity of the Best Factory Award winners proves you don’t have to be making something advanced to thrive as a manufacturer in the UK. The true brilliance of our Best Factory stars is not in the technological prowess of what rolls off their factory floor, but in the enduring power of their ideals: innovative processes, outstanding product quality, inspiring people management and an unyielding desire to exceed all customer expectations.”
In addition to the converted Factory of the Year Award, the finalists competed for 13 category prizes including: Best Process Plant Award; Best Engineering Plant Award; Best Electronics and Electrical Plant Award; Best Household and General Products Plant Award; Best SME; People Management Award; Skills Development Award; Supply Chain Award; Most Improved Plant Award; Health & Safety Award; Innovation Award; Energy and Environment Award and the Judges’ Special Award.
The Best Factory Awards which are run by Cranfield School of Management in partnership with the magazine Works Management, took place on Friday 27th September at London’s 8 Northumberland Avenue and attracted an audience of over 300 manufacturing leaders. All entrants receive a benchmarking report comparing aspects of their plant’s performance with the average for the sector.
