A flourishing UK manufacturing business exporting to the world has been given a royal seal of approval as the very best of British.
Birmingham-based metal maker Brandauer, which exports 75% of the components and tools it makes to 26 different countries, has won a King’s Award for Innovation.
The honour comes after it previously bagged a Queen’s Award for International Trade.
Boss Rowan Crozier said: “For a West Midlands SME to win a Queen’s Award was special, to follow it up with a King’s Award for Innovation is an unbelievable achievement from the team.
“The process is so rigorous, but an ideal opportunity to take the pulse of your business and recharge your future strategy for the next five to ten years and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
The gongs have helped the business win new contracts, especially in America, where the Royal Family is highly revered.
And it is further proof the buoyant “made in the UK” sector – now worth £518 billion and supporting 7.3 million jobs – is on the up and thriving outside the closed-shop EU.
Brandauer was honoured for manufacturing innovative and globally competitive precision tools that can produce micron accuracy components four years after it was presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
It is one of a select group of companies to be recognised by King Charles for pushing the boundaries of innovation and reestablishing the UK as a major international manufacturing force.
Since Brexit Brandauer, a 164-year-old family-run business, has secured more than £2 million of new business with clients in France, Holland and Slovakia.
Every week it produces millions of precision components at a factory in the heart of Birmingham which are shipped out to customers in China, across the EU, the Middle East, and the US.
The specialist parts are used in kettles, to find missing people through reconnaissance drones and wafer-thin laminations used in the next generation of electric vehicles.
Brandauer is now training a new generation of highly-skilled apprentices on-the-job and is on course to register its best performing year in history and notch up £11m in annual sales.
Mr Crozier said: “The best decision we ever made was reintroducing apprenticeships to the business – it has been game changing on every level.
“Some 15% of our workforce are now apprentices and many of our young male and female engineers have gone on to be quality specialists, new product introduction engineers and even as high as manufacturing director. They’re now mentoring the next generation to come through and it’s great to see.”
“We need the outside world to be proud of what we make in this country and recognise the ingenuity that drives so many things we take for granted in our everyday lives.
Made in Britain is great, let’s shout it loud and proud.”