A further hat-trick of accolades for the UK’s leading small manufacturer

Cranfield School of Management has awarded Gripple with three 2009 Best Factory Awards (BFA), including the coveted Best Engineering Plant Award. Gripple also scooped the School of Management's Best Small Company Award, sponsored by Barclays, and the Innovation Award, in addition to being highly commended in the Health and Safety category, sponsored by Unite the Union.

The Cranfield award programme has been running for 18 years and is organised by Cranfield School of Management in partnership with the magazine Works Management. It is designed to recognise and reward manufacturing excellence in the UK.

Dr Marek Szwejczewski, director of the BFA awards, said: "In a year when manufacturing has borne the brunt of the global recession, Britain's best factories have remained competitive by keeping quality a strategic priority. All of this year's winners have been impacted by the recession, in one way or another, but none of them has let it distract from their goal to achieve operational excellence. In a challenging economy, all of the Best Factory winners have demonstrated that to continuously improve, it is critical to remain focused on the customer."

Gripple’s Special Projects Manager Gordon McCrae further highlights the importance of this achievement. “The fact that we’ve won these awards on top of being granted Best SME at the MX Awards earlier this year really indicates how much we’re doing right. We’re being recognised for the kinds of things that big companies constantly strive to achieve. It’s a fantastic foundation from which to build future successes.”