Weighing and packaging equipment specialist Ishida Europe has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the UK’s highest accolade for business success. The company has received its award for International Trade.
Ishida Europe has been recognised for increasing exports as a percentage of total turnover from 65% to 76%. To deliver this growth, Ishida has implemented a strategy that has both facilitated increased market penetration in established markets, and also enabled entrance into new geographic regions.
"This is an outstanding achievement and is the result of the hard work and dedication of all our employees," comments Ishida Europe managing director Graham Clements.
"From our establishment in 1984, we have always recognised that we operate in a global market and established a business model that ensures our customers receive the same high standards of service and support wherever they are in the world. Coupled with our market-leading equipment and pro-active new product development programme, these have helped to drive our success even in the recent troubled economic times."
Ishida Europe is the European subsidiary of Ishida Co Ltd of Japan, the inventor and world market leader of the multihead weigher that revolutionised the accurate weighing and packing of a huge variety of products. Today, in addition to multihead weighers, Ishida designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of complementary packing equipment that can be used as part of a line, or configured to provide complete ‘Ishida’ turnkey packaging line solutions in certain sectors.
To meet growing demand for its products throughout the world, Ishida Europe has now opened a new administrative centre next door to its headquarters in Woodgate, Birmingham, which will house its sales and support functions. This will enable the company to further expand its manufacturing operations at its existing premises. In addition, over the past two years, the company has increased its number of employees at Woodgate from 267 to 335.
At Interpack in Düsseldorf next month, Ishida Europe will unveil a number of its latest models across its product ranges, including new multihead weighers for sectors such as confectionery, snacks, granular products and fruit and vegetables; an X-ray system capable of detecting small bones in meat and poultry; advanced weigher/bagmaker combinations for snacks; and the most recent advances in complete packing lines for fresh meat and poultry.
"We have ambitious plans to continue to develop our global business," concludes Graham Clements. "The Queen’s Award provides the ideal foundation for the next phase of our growth."
