North West cleans up at excellence awards

EIGHT North West organisations from both the public and private sectors were named as winners in the North of England Business Excellence Awards 2008 last night.

In the private sector, recruitment specialist Kinetic, which is based in Stretford, Manchester, won the award for companies with under 250 employees while Manchester-based Siemens Automation & Drives were selected from companies employing 250 or more. 

In the public sector, Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust Greenspaces Service took the award for companies with fewer than 250 employees while Greater Merseyside Connexions Partnership and South Ribble Borough Council were joint winners amongst organisations with 250 or more.

Special awards went to Kinetic, for customer results, the Valley Community Primary School in Bolton for leadership, and cabling specialist Brand Rex of Leigh for social responsibility.

Meanwhile the Salford depot of 3663 First for Foodservice won the special award for people for the second year in a row.

The winners were announced at the annual awards ceremony at the Queens Hotel in Leeds where speakers included Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association and Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors.

The awards were established in the North West in 1994 and extended to cover the North of England three years ago. 

All entrants had their practices and their performance thoroughly assessed by a team of trained, independent assessors. Awards were only given in those categories in which entrants were judged to have achieved sufficiently high standards.

David Teale, chief executive of award organisers North of England Excellence, said: “The winners show that any organisation, regardless of size or sector, can improve its performance and its results by following well-established business principles. We hope to inspire others in the region to aim for world-class standards.”