NI aerospace firms praised for excellence
Bradfor Ltd of Rostrevor and IPC Mouldings of Carrickfergus, who both manufacture equipment used in the aerospace industry, are amongst a group of local organisations that have been highlighted for organisational excellence.
The two companies were presented with awards at the prestigious Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) run Ireland Excellence Awards at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel, Bangor.
Bradfor manufactures aircraft seat covers at its base in Rostrevor, while IPC Mouldings provides precision engineering and injection moulding services.
At the event, a North Belfast community organisation and one of the island’s largest life assurance businesses collected the EFQM Ireland Excellence Award.
Friends First, which has 276,000 customers and manages assets worth €4.7billion, received the accolade alongside the Ashton Community Trust, which works to improve quality of life of the community in North Belfast.
The Excellence Award is the top level of recognition available in the highly-regarded scheme, which is supported by the Department of Finance and Personnel, Capita, and NIE Networks.
In total this year, 20 organisations received awards of various levels of recognition. Other winners included Balloo Inns and fonaCAB.
Winners undergo rigorous examination and must illustrate their employees’ dedication, low absenteeism, high productivity, customer satisfaction and superior financial performance.
CforC Chairman, Stephen Kingon, said: “This year’s award recipients represent a range of industries and sectors, but they all have a commitment to ensure excellence is an integral part of what they do, so I warmly congratulate them on their achievements.”
“There are many advantages for organisations in taking part in the Ireland Excellence Awards process, and by passionately pursuing quality excellence they become leaner, more profitable, more sustainable and therefore more competitive,” he adds.
Ashton Community Trust (ACT) is a provider of education, training and employment. It supports the development of social enterprises, provides childcare, and promotes and provides health and wellbeing, culture and arts, and youth provision. ACT is a community-owned social enterprise and development trust which seeks to make North Belfast a better place for residents to live.
Friends First is on the island’s oldest and most-established life assurance companies, meeting the financial needs of customers since 1834. It has over 276,000 customers and employs 300 people. Friends First manages total assets of €4.7billion and generated total premiums of €458million in 2014.
Established by the private sector, the Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation, dedicated to actively supporting the development of an internationally competitive economy through innovation, productivity improvement and quality excellence in the private, public and voluntary sectors and to build best in class performance through International Leadership across all sectors.
The Ireland Excellence Awards process is based on the world class EFQM Excellence Model, incorporating different levels of recognition.
Since 1991, over 30,000 European organisations, large and small, from the private, public and voluntary sectors have used the EFQM Model as their blueprint and driver of competitiveness.
Levels of recognition include: Ireland Excellence Award, Recognized for Excellence EFQM 5 Star, 4 Star and 3 Star Awards, Committed to Excellence, and the EFQM Gold Star Service Excellence.
The Awards are not an end in themselves but a means of assessing and recognising role model organisations against the most rigorous international quality standards while encouraging management and staff to continue their excellence journey to the next level.
www.cforc.org
