IN a ceremony last night at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel, major industry association Scottish Engineering awarded nine companies and two young engineers for outstanding performance within industry. The Scottish Engineering awards were launched nearly 30 years ago to recognise both inspiring individuals and exceptional Scottish organisations who have displayed the highest level of excellence within the engineering and manufacturing sectors. This year’s awards commemorate companies who in 2020/2021 have stood out in their performance, growth, innovation, and resilience, as well as young engineers who are at the cutting edge of projects which are crucial to their company’s growth, innovation and wider support to society. With the coronavirus pandemic significantly disrupting the usual celebrations, the return to a physical awards dinner this year was most welcome.
The Scottish Engineering Company of the Year Award 2021 was awarded to Intelligent Growth Solutions Ltd. Based in Edinburgh, IGS design and manufacture award winning agriculture technology that is at the heart of addressing the balanced challenges of feeding the planet, whilst avoiding further damage to it. David Farquhar, chief executive officer stated, “IGS is thrilled and humbled to have been awarded the Scottish Engineering Company of the Year Award 2021. We are grateful to Paul Sheerin and the team for organising this event and to the judges for voting for IGS and our Vertical Farm system. The competition was of the highest quality, making this even more of an honour: congratulations to all the winners. Peer group recognition is always a powerful and rewarding accolade – our R&D and various engineering, supply chain and deployment teams pour their hearts and souls into the innovation, design, and implementation of these systems every day, so an award like this means a huge amount to them. It also sends a strong message to our investors, partners, and customers around the world about the quality of Scottish engineering and IGS’ leading place in the sector.”
Scottish Engineering’s chief executive Paul Sheerin added: “IGS are an inspiring story of excellence in innovation meeting with genuine societal need to deliver an environmentally sustainable agriculture system. For the equipment they design and manufacture, the range and scale of technology employed will never cease to impress, and they have applied the same sustainable principles to an astonishing growth curve for both staff and business development throughout. As a more than ninety percent export business, they are the latest in a long line that ensures that engineering in Scotland remains a byword for quality and innovation around the world.”
The 2021 President’s Award was presented to RUA Medical Devices Ltd. Caroline Stretton, chief executive officer said, “We are delighted that the extraordinary team at RUA has been recognised by Scottish Engineering. During a challenging year for all businesses, we delivered outstanding achievements to secure our future growth. Our Investment in Growth programme led to successful partnerships with world-leading Med-Tech companies to provide technologically innovative products. And we have embraced the employee experience through our Employee Engagement programme – by directly investing in the skills, development, health and wellbeing of our employees, we have a more productive and innovative business since we have a happier, motivated and loyal workforce.”
The 2021 Engineering Excellence Award was awarded to Gray Fabrication Ltd. Matt Shaw, managing director quoted, “Gray Fabrication is both thrilled and humbled to have won the Scottish Engineering Excellence Award. It means so much to be recognized for our contribution to Scotland’s Engineering pedigree, especially at such a crucial and exciting time for our company as the Energy Transition starts to gather momentum. This award is testament to the skill and experience of our workforce and their close attention to detail and I would like to personally thank them all for their pivotal role in receiving this accolade.”
The 2021 Skills, Diversity & Inclusion Award was presented to Diodes Semiconductors GB Ltd. Gerry McCarthy, managing director stated, “We are honoured to be receiving this award and truly proud for our work in this area to have been recognised by Scottish Engineering. It exemplifies both our goal of ensuring we are building a highly skilled, diverse, and inclusive workforce of engineers, operators, and support staff, and our continued commitment to invest in talent development: from training programmes to graduate and apprentice schemes.”
The 2021 Innovation Award was awarded to Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd. Scott McLarty, senior vice president Airbus Programs quoted, “Spirit is honoured to receive the award for innovation. This is reflective of our ambition to lead in research and technology, through developing innovative technologies to support the development of next generation aircraft programmes. We’re committed to investing in our people and processes to develop the skills required to deliver a more sustainable aerospace industry and help meet the UK’s net zero goals”.
The 2021 Sustainable Development Award was presented to BayWa r.e. UK Ltd. Gordon MacDougall, managing director said, “All of us at BayWa r.e. are honoured to receive the award for Sustainable Development in what has been an extraordinary few years. We’ve been fortunate to be able to work remotely throughout and are grateful for the support of Scottish Engineering in providing help and guidance to ourselves and the industry during this time. BayWa r.e.’s commitment to sustainable development runs through our entire company and reflects how we act and operate as a business, and how we work with our customers and partners. If ever there was a time to recognise that we are stronger together and can achieve incredible things when we support each other, then these past years have demonstrated that in spades! We are also very proud to be receiving this award in Glasgow, in the year the city plays host to the world with COP26. At BayWa r.e., we are on a journey to r.e. think energy for the future of our planet. This decade will prove crucial to that future, and we are more determined than ever to play our part in driving forward the renewable transition, creating long-term investment and job opportunities, and ensuring a sustainable future for us all.”
The 2021 Manufacturing Excellence Award was awarded to Carron Bathrooms Ltd. James McMorrine, managing director quoted, “Carron Bathrooms are honoured to receive a Scottish Engineering Manufacturing Excellence Award. Given the remarkable social and economic conditions surrounding the last year, it is testament to our workforce that we have been able to continuously make progress in our strategic objectives for the future against unprecedented challenges. That performance has allowed Carron to commit to record investment in automation within our plant over the next 12 months.”
The 2021 Business Transformation Award was presented to MacIntyre Chocolate Systems Ltd.
Günter Simon, chief executive officer of the HDM Group within the Probat Group of Companies stated, “We are very proud and deeply honoured by Scottish Engineering awarding our Scottish Group Member, the MacIntyre Chocolate Systems Ltd with this prestigious award. MacIntyre has been a part of the Probat Group of companies since 2013 and since then the company followed a course of continuous improvement and success. We highly appreciate not only the strong commitment and leadership of our management team under our Managing Director Joseph Gorman but also the skills, the reliability, and the enthusiasm of the whole Arbroath based work crew. With that, Macintyre has reached a very strong market position with its unique technology to produce world class chocolate, so we are, every day, making the world a little sweeter Scotland technology. Our heartfelt thanks go to Scottish Engineering, the award committee, and last but not least to all our colleagues in Scotland for their outstanding achievement.”
The 2021 Business & Community Engagement Award was awarded to Lowland Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association. Colin Vooght, head of engagement quoted, “Scottish Engineering and many of its members have been alongside Defence since the publication of the White paper, Future Reserves 2020. It is a partnership that we are honoured to be a part of and thoroughly enjoy. We are delighted to have been given this award and thank Scottish Engineering for making it. “
Our 2021 Young Engineer of the Year Award (YEYA21) in partnership with The Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow was presented to Alana Harrison of BAE Systems for her leadership in T26 Global Combat Ship powertrain alignment modelling. The YEYA21 runner up trophy was awarded to Edward Massey of Volvo CE Haulers Ltd, for his project which designed and developed a digitally enabled on-board weighing system for their articulated hauler vehicles. Andrew Young, Deacon of The Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow quoted, “In a year featuring many excellent engineering submissions, the presentation from Alana Harrison stood out as being the one which not only met and surmounted all engineering challenges encountered but also for what Alana has achieved within BAE Systems. An expert in her field at such a young age is a story which should be truly inspiring to all young engineers.”
