AESSEAL in Rotherham is celebrating after being crowned the winner of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for Customer Focus at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Manufacturing Excellence Awards (MX) 2010. The company which manufactures mechanical seals and support systems picked up the accolade on Wednesday night (23/06/10) in London.

There were 12 awards up for grabs last night at the event attended by Mark Prisk, Minister for Business and Enterprise, including Overall Winner and Best Small to Medium Enterprise which went to Leyland Trucks in Preston and Pipex in Plymouth respectively. AESSEAL made the final shortlist for six out of the 12 in MX, the UK’s most prestigious business award scheme for manufacturing.

AESSEAL manufactures mechanical seals and support systems used in pumps and rotating equipment to protect the environment from the leakage of liquids and gases. Since it was established in 1983 its approach for high quality end products has helped it become the only major international new entrant to the mechanical seals industry in the last 20 years.

Richard Cook, Production and Personnel Director at AESSEAL said: “Participating in MX is challenging and fun, and winning the PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for Customer Focus is a real honour and vindication of our efforts. We always enter awards with the same objective in mind; continuous improvement. As an organisation that pursues excellence at every level, benchmarking against other world-class organisations is a key element of our improvement strategy.”

“The biggest benefit of entering is the feedback report and knowing that you are being judged against industry’s best - those who have similar aspirations to reach worldclass performance levels,” he continued.

Chris Baker, Partner and UK Industrial Products Leader, PwC explained why they won the award. He said: "A focus on customers is key to success in any business and is increasingly important in the highly competitive world of today. The assessment process for all the MX awards is a rigorous one in which PwC plays an active part. This year we have once again been very impressed by the companies we have visited.”

Minister Mark Prisk, who attended the awards, said: “Manufacturing and engineering are vital to the economy.” Adding: “The UK is renowned for its high-value, advanced manufacturing products and solutions and we must ensure that companies, like those recognised by the MX Awards, are given the support they require to exploit their competitive advantage and thrive in an increasingly competitive world.”

This year ASSEAL was also a finalist for the Autodesk Award for Product Innovation, IMechE Award for Business Development & Change Management, Professional Engineering Award for People Effectiveness, ERA Foundation Award for Best Partnership between Business and Education, IMechE Award for Integrated e-Business and Arup Award for Sustainable Manufacturing.

Throughout the competition a leading panel of industry experts from organisations including Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Barclays Corporate and Autodesk have been on hand to provide free business advice to entrants, worth more than £20,000.

(24 June 2010)

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