Hurst Green Plastics, the Whalley-based manufacturer of inventory management systems, has been recognised in the Queen’s Awards, having been awarded the Enterprise: Innovation honour for its revolutionary TwinBin, FlagBin, BinFlag and TripFlag systems.
Hurst Green’s products have already created opportunities for many world-class aerospace companies, achieving impressive cost reductions, whilst significantly improving stock control using their kanban systems.
The Ribble Valley business’s innovative approach has been rewarded with them being only one of two companies in Lancashire to receive the award this year.
On behalf of the Queen, Lord Shuttleworth, the Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, officially presented the Whalley-based company with a cut glass rosebowl and commemorative scroll, signed by Her Majesty, at a ceremony held at BAE Systems Samlesbury site – the first location of Hurst Green Plastic’s unique inventory control management system.
Since that break-through deal in 1999, the company’s innovative dispensing system is now in operation in over 100 businesses across the globe, including the likes of Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lufthansa, Alstom Transport and the NHS.
The award, which is held for 5 years, is the highest award a company can receive in the UK and the company was only one of 50 across the whole of the UK to receive the award.
On receiving the award, Managing Director, Stephen Clarke, commented: “We are all absolutely delighted to have received this honour; it is an award that will lift the profile of our Company, not only in the UK but especially within the many countries we already supply around the world, and can only be viewed as a major commendation for our systems.”
“It was a pleasure to be involved in the Hurst Green Plastics presentation, especially as it was an order from BAE Systems that launched the TwinBin system” commented Michael Wright, Head of Typhoon Manufacturing at Samlesbury. “Since then the system has been an integral part of our approach to managing component supply on the Typhoon programme at Samlesbury and is now successfully deployed across many other manufacturing facilities within our organisation”, he added.