Blyth-based Outsourced Technology Design and Manufacturing specialist, Tharsus Group, has triumphed at the prestigious Cranfield Best Factory Awards, beating companies from across the country to win the Best Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Award.
This achievement comes after judges at the Best Factory Awards narrowed an initial field of hundreds down to only 14 stand-out candidates, commonly recognised as trailblazers in their respected fields.
Described by the judges as ‘a fascinating business,’ Tharsus has a strong track-record at the Best Factory Awards, having previously won the Best SME Award in 2013. The awards programme celebrated manufacturing excellence in the UK and others among the 14 finalists included; Siemens, Leyland Trucks, Vaillant Group and Fujifilm.
A member of the judging panel said: “Tharsus has worked hard on improving the training of its production teams and upping skill levels; its people are flexible, knowledgeable and always willing to improve. For a small business, it takes a very sophisticated strategic approach to supplier relationships, which is not something you see every day in an SME.”
Tharsus Group is a leading advanced technology specialist, developing and manufacturing game changing products in collaboration with its customers. It utilises original equipment design and manufacture (OEDM), which is an emerging form of outsourcing partnership and brings together supply chain management, Intellectual Property generation, product development and manufacture into one process.
Among the commercially optimised, complex electro-mechanical products made for market leaders and emerging businesses, Tharsus has developed and manufactured jet parts washers, airport luggage scanners, vehicle arrest systems for the military and Robotic and Autonomous Systems including AGVs.
The Cranfield School of Management has put its name behind the Best Factory Awards for over 20 years and has seen over 1600 UK companies take part. The purpose of the awards is to ‘promote and reward’ manufacturing excellence and to provide a platform for continuous improvement by benchmarking entrants against similar plants.
After receiving the award Brian Palmer, CEO of Tharsus Group, said: “At Tharsus we have created an exceptional ethos, centred on continuous development. Everyone in the team, regardless of seniority, is given the opportunity to suggest ways to improve; this has contributed greatly to the company’s success.
“Winning the coveted Best SME Award has reinforced our belief that we are on the right track to becoming a truly world-class business. Since our original success in 2013 we have worked tirelessly to ensure we continue to develop our collaborative approach and raise awareness of the methods we use.”
The judges added: “This is a fascinating business – a combination of an engineering design house/consultancy and a manufacturing operation. It is very good at developing long-term relationships with customers and one of the things it is particularly concerned about is working with the right customers.”