With a turnover of £20m and 180 employees, Power Panels operates across sectors as diverse as printing, CNC machining, processing and packaging, industrial weighing and semi conductors.

And despite the worsening economic environment, the companys ongoing commitment to excellence and skills development have helped sales grow by 20 percent over the past 12 months, with the creation of 20 new jobs.

Managing director Tony Hague said: "The real judge of our success is the bottom line, but awards can be a fantastic benchmarking tool, as well as a real boost to everyone involved with the company."

"The Best Factory Awards are an outstanding example. They are judged by manufacturing experts from the internationally-respected Cranfield School of Management, and for us to receive the four awards we did shows continued progress in all our target areas."

"To win the overall Factory of the Year award, beating off competition from some of the very largest and best-known manufacturers in the UK, is an outstanding achievement. But perhaps the one we are proudest of is the Skills Development Award, recognising an area which is hugely important to us."

Training and skills development has been a principal catalyst for change at Power Panels since the company opened its own Excellence School of Training seven years ago.

Initially intended for internal training, the centre has proved a massive success and now sells training solutions to customers and suppliers.

Every employee at Power Panels receives at least 22 days training a year in operational, technical and continuous improvement manufacturing skills like lean, 5S, six sigma and practical problem solving. All classroom work is linked to real shopfloor work, and every employee can access technical documentation and training material through the company intranet.

www.powerpanels.uk.com