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Operating back in Yorkshire, the medical innovators
Excellence in Business Awards 2009
WINNER
Surgical Innovations
SME Manufacturer of the year
STUART Rose is renowned for telling his customers and interviewers that he buys his suits from Marks & Spencer. Even he hasn't gone as far as Paul Birtles, however, in his quest use his own firm's products.
Mr Birtles sampled Surgical Innovations' instruments when he was rushed to hospital with appendicitis in the summer.
The manufacturing director of the Leeds-based firm had his appendix removed using laparoscopic surgery – an area which Surgical Innovations specialises in – and to carry out the procedure used the company's "reposable" instruments.
It's not the first brush the group has had with the sharp end of the NHS. On another occasion, an ambulance was dispatched to Surgical Innovations when a hospital ran out of the instruments it needed for keyhole surgery.
Everyday life at the firm is not normally so high-octane. Instead, Surgical Innovations has seen steady growth since it was founded 17 years ago, which culminated in its success at the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards where it was named SME Manufacturer of the Year, sponsored by the Yorkshire & Humber Manufacturing Advisory Service, a Government-funded service to help companies improve the way they do business.
Mr Birtles said: "We are absolutely delighted, it is a great honour. We know we are doing a great job and we are proud of what we do."
This year, Surgical Innovations decided to bring its manufacturing back from overseas to Yorkshire, a process which is likely to finish next year, and has relocated to a new head office and manufacturing facility in Leeds.
"It has been a huge programme of change. Bringing manufacturing back to the UK is a key part of what we do – we are able to have the control of quality."
It also saves the firm considerable amounts of money, with Mr Birtles estimating that outsourcing was costing two or three times as much.
Despite British hospitals facing tight budgets, Surgical Innovations remains confident about the future. It has high hopes for its new LogiFlex device, which uses pioneering technology to help surgeons fit gastric bands for obese patients and will be launched in the US at the end of the year. About 225,000 obesity operations take place in the US each year.
The firm has emerged from a demanding 2008, in which it moved its headquarters to a 32,000 sq ft building, tripling the size of its base. To that end, it has given the green light to a new class 100,000 cleanroom, which will be used to assemble products free from contaminants, at a cost of about 300,000.
The move hit sales but Surgical Innovations today looks stronger and has increased its capacity. Last month it posted a strong rise in half year profits after bringing manufacturing in-house. In the six months to June 30, revenues increased by 14 per cent to 1.99m, while pre-tax profit increased by 95 per cent to 215,000.
n Doug Liversidge, the chairman of Surgical Innovations, has called his firm the "Gillette of the medical business" after it developed a new product line known as reposable instruments earlier this year.
Reposables are somewhere between disposable and re-usable tools and Mr Liversidge has likened them to a razor – "You keep the razor handle, but replace the blade part after several uses".
"In the US everyone throws instruments away after one use, whereas in Germany all the instruments are re-used, " said Mr Liversidge earlier this year. "This is a halfway house that is very cost-effective."
Training and personal development earns firm accolade as best company to work for
WINNER
World Events
Best company to work for
Lizzie Murphy
MANY companies have scaled back investment in their employees during the recession, but global event management firm World Events realises the importance of staff motivation.
The Cleckheaton-based firm, which employs 116 staff, was named Best Company to Work for in the category sponsored by Bradford University School of Management for its focus on training and incentives.
The company manages events including conferences, product launches and roadshows for large blue chip companies including the NHS, Procter and Gamble and Chanel.
Managing director Martin Parry said: "We are absolutely elated really. We are delighted to have won, particularly against the quality of the shortlisted candidates."
In the last three years the company has doubled its headcount and last year achieved a turnover of 30.3m and profits of 1.3m - a growth of 30 per cent compared to the previous year. Seventy five per cent of its profits are retained in the business to invest in the future.
In the last year the company has achieved over 10 new business wins for clients such as Allergan, BP, Colt Telecommunications and The Design Council, and expanded into Europe with its Amsterdam office.
The firm emphasises training and development and has used the recession as an opportunity to develop staff. It gained an Investors in People award in May 2008 and also received a First Class star status award for employee engagement in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For survey 2009.
Each employee has their own personal development plan which is reviewed at bi-annual appraisals. The firm also runs over 50 training workshops annually using a combination of industry experts and senior staff.Quarterly business briefings and an annual conference keep staff informed of all developments.
It encourages secondments between its offices in Cleckheaton, Amsterdam and the US and there is an employee profit share scheme.
Mr Parry said the secret to being the best company to work for was retaining its family values. "As we get bigger and bigger we keep the same values for all our staff," he said.
"We're in a good business sector and we provide fantastic service to our clients. They in turn want to keep using our expertise as support to their demands for delivering high quality events."
The company now hopes to move into the Far East, and is negotiating expansion into Asia.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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