Lord-Lieutenant of Devon presents Aero Stanrew Limited with Queen's Award for International Trade and opens new manufacturing facility.
On Tuesday 7 October the Lord-Lieutenant of Devon, Sir Eric Dancer KCVO CBE JP, visited Barnstaple based Aero Stanrew Limited to formally present the Queen's Award for Enterprise – International Trade and to officially open an additional manufacturing facility.
The award was announced in April in recognition of the company's success in growing export sales, especially in India, China and North America.
The ceremony was also attended by the High Sheriff of Devon, The Hon. John Rous DL, Chairman of Devon County Council, Cllr George and Mrs Faye Gribble, Chairman of North Devon District Council, Cllr Malcolm and Mrs Sue Wilkinson, Mayor of Barnstaple, Cllr Mrs Val Elkins and Consort Mr Roy Elkins.
After a brief presentation and facility tour, the Lord Lieutenant presented a crystal bowl and Royal Warrant to Clive Scott, Chief Executive of Aero Stanrew. He also unveiled a plaque in to formally open an additional electronics manufacturing facility which has been established to accommodate ongoing growth and new programme introductions.
After doing so, The Lord-Lieutenant told the gathering of dignitaries and employees that the award should be seen as a great achievement, with only just over 100 awards given each year. The award should also be seen as personal recognition of the efforts of the entire workforce.
In accepting the award, Clive Scott said that he was incredibly proud to accept the award on behalf of the company, and paid tribute to the skilled workforce who had worked so diligently to help in the ongoing success of the business.
Aero Stanrew Limited designs and manufactures electronic components for harsh environments such as aerospace, space and other high reliability industries. The company employs just over 240 people and has grown annual sales to £18million.
"Lord Lieutenant, distinguished guests, colleagues,
This award is a massive honour for Aero Stanrew. The Queen's Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious accolades for businesses and individuals in the United Kingdom. The winners are announced each year on 21st April, Her Majesty The Queen's birthday. Typically only around 100 Companies are honoured each year.
We have been awarded the Queen's Award for International Trade as a result of the success we have achieved in expanding our exports, especially to India, China and North America,
As many of you know, Aero Stanrew has developed and grown significantly in the last few years. In the last three years alone we have grown our sales by 60%, and our workforce by 50%. We now have over 240 staff, 200 of whom are based in Barnstaple, quite a journey from when I first set foot in the company in 2001 when we had just over 100 staff and sales of under £5m. This success has been especially satisfying when you consider the generally difficult economic environment in which we operate.
We have achieved this by concentrating on increasing our skills and by getting product specified onto programmes, especially in civil aerospace and more recently oil and gas. To do this, we rely heavily on the skill and dedication of the workforce. We are very fortunate to have a highly skilled, loyal and committed team of people here – as we have grown, many people have extended their skills and capabilities and grown into new roles as the business has expanded – THANK YOU.
Looking ahead, we see a very bright future with several significant new contract wins just coming into production – with this in mind, we have expanded our facilities and are very pleased to occupy these two additional buildings for Electronics manufacturing.
Lord Lieutenant, could I ask you to formally open this facility by unveiling the plaque.
Thanks very much!"