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Rotherham’s AESSEAL is overall winner at top business awards
November 24, 2011
AESSEAL wins two awards at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Excellence Awards
24 November 2011
Rotherham’s AESSEAL was named the overall winner as well as winner of the Customer Focus Award at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Excellence Awards, held in London last night (Wednesday 23 November).
Rotherham’s AESSEAL was named the overall winner as well as winner of the Customer Focus Award at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Excellence Awards, held in London last night (Wednesday 23 November).
Jonathan Wilkinson, CEO of AESSEAL plc, said:
“The company’s mission statement has always been clear: to deliver such exceptional service that our customers need never consider an alternate means of supply. Delivering on that promise is difficult – but the business has been designed to achieve it. We have great people who care about customer service, and we give them the tools to deliver”.
While Stephen Tetlow, Chief Executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said:
“AESSEAL’s win is hugely encouraging for manufacturing in Rotherham and UK manufacturing more generally.
“The Manufacturing Excellence programme is not just about celebrating manufacturing success around the country, but about providing practical advice for businesses to support them on their journey during these difficult economic times.”
AESSEAL won the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Award for Overall Winner and the Award for Customer Focus.
Rotherham-based AESSEAL, founded in 1979, is currently in its 33rd year of consecutive sales and trading profit growth.
The mechanical seals manufacturer has continued to grow through three significant economic recessions and has a direct presence in 104 countries, including 9 manufacturing and 58 repair sites, and the ability to conduct business in 10 languages.
Everything at AESSEAL is kept at component level and made to order by a skilled team to quickly satisfy customer demands. A modular product range allows over 10 million permutations of product to be supplied incredibly quickly, and the company also manufactures over 13,000 custom-engineered specials per year. On-target delivery is 98.7%, against far more ambitious targets than its competitors. Customer focus is truly at the heart of its business.
While growing its existing customer base, the company has more recently targeted the energy and mining sectors as a means of potential future growth. In addition it’s moving away from being just a mechanical seal supplier and is now crossing into new complementary areas like bearing protection, seal support and healthcare contract management of host equipment. Its innovative industrial water-management technology now saves customers over 25 billion gallons (113 billion litres) of water per year.
The Manufacturing Excellence judges who visited the AESSEAL plant were particularly impressed by the company’s high customer focus, and the 24/7 nature of the manufacturing process there. Staff were motivated and enthusiastic and the company has proven strong relationships with local schools.
The company’s business was also seen as particularly robust given its high number and diverse range of customers as well as its numerous new market targets. The company is also considering installing thermal insulation at its plant to cut energy wastage.
The company is currently the world’s 4th largest mechanical seal manufacturer with an objective to reach sales of £150 million by 2012, but through its focus on customer service it aims to eventually become the number one seals manufacturer in the world.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Excellence programme is the most successful and long established manufacturing support programme in the UK, and the only one that provides a detailed benchmarking and assessment process to help improve manufacturing businesses.
As part of the Manufacturing Excellence programme, companies can get a free consultancy package worth £20,000. Companies that enter are asked to conduct an in-depth self assessment and those who complete one or more of the eight parts receive a free, bespoke and confidential benchmark report. The best companies in each module receive a free visit from a team of expert assessors who verify the audit responses and offer practical advice and suggestions for the business. The winning companies in each category then receive an award at the Manufacturing Excellence Awards.
Manufacturing Excellence is supported by PwC, Autodesk, PP Business Improvement, The ERA Foundation, Lombard, WMG, Arup, and Barclays Corporate.