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JUST two years after a management buy-out, advanced electronic components manufacturer Aero Stanrew has won a Queen’s Award for International Trade.
The honour, which recognises the spirit of enterprise vital to the UK’s economy, has been awarded to the Devon-based company after it delivered 194 per cent growth in export earnings.
Since the MBO, the four-strong management team has grown the workforce by 35 per cent to 230; developed new products; entered new markets; won contracts with blue chip customers including Rolls Royce, GE, UTC and Eaton; and grown turnover from £10.6 to £18.5 million.
Chief Executive Clive Scott who led the management buyout in 2012 said:
“This award caps an amazing couple of years for Aero Stanrew and validates that we’re doing lots of things right. It’s the highest accolade a UK business can get – we’re thrilled.
“Our mission is to be a British company that’s recognised as a world leader in our field. We’ve shown that the skills do exist in this country to put the UK back on the map and become a leading nation of manufacturers again.”
Set up in 1949, the company is recognised as an ‘Advanced Manufacturer’ and designs and manufactures high integrity electromagnetic and electronic components and systems for the aerospace industry. It provides components to a variety of programmes including the A350 and A380 Airbus, Boeing 777 and Dreamliner.
The company is now replicating its success in aerospace in other ‘high reliability’ markets such as oil and gas, and has already seen a 30 per cent growth in this sector over the past 12 months.
The citation for the Queen’s Award for International Trade credits Aero Stanrew for ‘building upon its long standing success in the domestic market to develop international markets’ and growing ‘exports to India from zero to 48 per cent, to the USA from zero to 15 per cent and to China from zero to 10 per cent’.
Scott believes his highly skilled workforce is key to success and is a big supporter of the government’s Apprentice Scheme:
“We currently employ nine apprentices who go through a structured training programme. This provides them with opportunities for real career progression and stable long term employment.
“We’ll be increasing this number so that Apprentices eventually account for 10% of our total workforce. This is another great thing about the Queen’s Award – it puts us in a position to continue offering quality jobs to a growing workforce.”
Scott believes that emerging markets, particularly in the Far East, will continue to drive growth at Aero Stanrew:
“Conservative estimates predict that 26,000 new passenger aircraft will be manufactured over the next 15 years. We fully intend to exploit all the opportunities this presents.”