City Technology crowned Britain’s Best Factory26 September 2014

Gas sensor manufacturer City Technology has been crowned Britain's top factory after being recognised for its cutting edge products backed by a razor sharp focus on quality and a powerful commitment to its people.

The Portsmouth site won the Toyota Material Handling Factory of the Year crown at a finals ceremony in London attended by around 250 manufacturing leaders.

A winning combination of world-class quality, faultless new product introductions and a compelling product range marked City, Portsmouth out as the stand-out site and a worthy winner of this year's top award.

City Technology, which was acquired by global industrial giant Honeywell in 2006, produces 1.6 million sensors annually. Central to its success is the Honeywell Operating System, a production control system geared precisely to customer requirements which boosts productivity and minimises stock.

City has invested around £1 million a year over the last three years on plant, equipment and infrastructure.

Among City's achievements are faster delivery (which has improved from 87% on time to promise in 2010 to 98% on time to request at the end of last year) and higher productivity (turnover has grown by 7% year-on-year for the last two years without increasing headcount).

Professor Marek Szwejczewski, BFA judge and director of the awards, said: "City Technology is symbolic of the high value-add manufacturing, which is key to the future of UK manufacturing."

He added: "The site has a crystal clear strategy around producing premium products at low volumes with maximum manufacturing flexibility. The strategy is filtered down to individual goals through comprehensive hoshin planning."

City Technology beat off competition from 12 other factory finalists at the UK's premier manufacturing awards.

Ian Vallely

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