Northwest Automotive Alliance Award Winners reflect the successful growth of the region’s supply chain
The North West region has achieved great success in helping suppliers in the automotive sector grow into larger companies, and this progress has been showcased at the Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) Awards, which took place in Cheshire on 6th November 2014, featuring keynote speaker Jerry Hardcastle OBE, Chairman of the Automotive Council Technology Group, and General Manager for Innovation and Performance Projects, Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited.
The winner of the overall NAA Company of the Year Award was TISS Ltd, known for its TankSafe Fuel Security Device range which consists of the TankSafe ‘Impregnable’ Fuel Security and Safety Device, the world’s only device to completely stop any siphoning, skimming and diesel spills. TISS also won the International Trade Award for significant growth in international sales, due to a thorough, methodical and effective approach, which will have contributed to TISS achieving a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
Commenting on receiving the award, Matthew Rose, Director of TISS, said “We’re absolutely delighted to have received both the International Trade and the Company of the Year Award from the Northwest Automotive Alliance, particularly as we were up against such high profile North West automotive companies. We are delighted that our strategy for global growth is paying dividends and this award reflects the hard work of all our staff, as well as the support we have received from organisations such as the Northwest Automotive Alliance.”
Northwest Automotive Alliance helps to support and nurture supply chain companies in the region to grow into larger businesses, in order to strengthen the upstream supply chain in the UK – the subject of a report ‘Growing the Automotive Supply Chain’ launched by the Automotive Council only two days prior to the NAA Awards Dinner. The report shows that there is a £2 billion opportunity each year for products that could be supplied by smaller UK suppliers into the country’s automotive industry. The NAA is working with the Automotive Investment Organisation (AIO) to help supply chain companies to increase sales to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, to access finance and to promote trade opportunities.
The other award winners at the event were:
Innovation Award
ACAL Energy Ltd
Business Excellence Project Of The Year Award
Performance Springs Ltd
Supplier Excellence Award
Electron Technical Solutions Ltd
Logistics Excellence Award
Auto Marine Cables
Community Outreach Award, SME
Sigmatex (UK) Limited
Community Outreach Award, Large Enterprise
Vauxhall Motors Ltd
The overall event sponsor was Bentley Motors, with individual Northwest Automotive Alliance Awards being sponsored by DHL Supply Chain, Electron Technical Solutions, Festo, Industry Forum, Jaguar Land Rover, Morson Group and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI). The awards were presented in front of an audience of over 300 members of the North West, and national, automotive community.
Carol Holden, NAA Chief Executive, says “This year’s Awards Dinner shows that the Northwest Automotive Alliance is supporting supply chain companies to grow, it is helping to make buyers aware of them, and many of the companies are already successfully exporting. We have a range of SMEs that are now ready for significant growth.”
Paul Darwent, Chairman, Mini Gears, said about the event: “It was a great evening, we had a minibus booked for our company staff at midnight, however such was the huge buzz at the event that myself and Nigel Walker stayed on until 2am! The more central location for this year’s Awards Dinner was excellent, and I fully expect the event to grow in size yet again in 2015.
Read more about all the shortlisted and the winning companies at:
http://northernautoalliance.com/about/naa-awards/
The North West automotive cluster directly generates some £9bn of the total UK automotive manufacturing economy, which relates to approximately 12% of the UK total, placing it as the second most significant region for automotive manufacture in the UK. Employment in the North West automotive cluster is currently estimated to be approximately 16,200.
The Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) is an independent, not-for-profit company which provides a membership service to the automotive community, supporting micro-companies through to the locally-based global vehicle manufacturers. The NAA’s Business Excellence programme works with member companies to help them improve their performance.
The North West economy is currently faced with a significant opportunity due to the unprecedented investment in the UK’s automotive industry. However, for North West companies to remain competitive and win a share of the opportunities, the region’s automotive sector needs to be supported. The Northwest Automotive Alliance is working with automotive suppliers to help them gain maximum benefit from the growth of the UK’s automotive industry, so helping to improve the North West region’s economy.
Find out more at northernautoalliance.com
Photo caption
From left to right: Rick Forster, Technical Director, TISS; Barbara Singleton, International Trade Adviser – Advanced Engineering Sector Lead for the North West, UKTI NW; Matthew Rose, Director, TISS
