Liveryman Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE Chairman of Coltraco Ultrasonics is honoured that his company has won The Queens Award for Enterprise 2022. High-exporting, advanced manufacturer Coltraco Ultrasonics won the Queens Award for International Trade in 2019 and are honoured to win it again in 2022 for Outstanding Growth in international trade over the last three years.
The Queens Award for Enterprise is the UK’s most prestigious business award and is a globally-recognised royal seal of approval for UK companies. In its 56th year, the 2022 Queen’s Awards for Enterprise comes in this special year of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and whose dedicated public service inspires us.
Coltraco Ultrasonics win their second award as a demonstration of outstanding success and resilience during the unprecedented times of COVID19,. The company exports over:
- 90% of its output
- to 120 countries
- with 150+ distributors in 80 countries.
Coltraco have enabled their three years of increased international trade by opening new sectors in markets where they already have a presence. By focusing upon science, exporting and diversification, including the development in 28 weeks of an instrument for NHS Hospitals to monitor infection contagion from negatively-pressurised ICU Wards to the rest of the hospital and an instrument to ensure that buildings are airtight so that they can properly ventilate to ensure “safe working” in them, Coltraco Ultrasonics are fortunate to have experienced international growth in the past three years.
3 Years of Growth in International Trade During COVID-19
During the challenging 24 months of the pandemic Coltraco Ultrasonics developed their high-exporting advanced manufacturing tradition and created a new science-led organisation that comprises the Company, their new Research Institute (DIRDI) and its Centre (CUAA) at Durham University. Coltraco have continued in 3 years of outstanding growth despite COVID19 because of their Resilience-Diversification-Growth Strategy created during it. The company never went into furlough despite losing 50% of its global markets during COVID19 and have built new company export and scientific success since.
Their changed strategy made them less dependent on a few “primary” market sectors and brought them together into a “Multi-Sectoral” whole with a Global Distribution Network to fulfil them. With the change of the company since COVID19, they have now become a “multi-sectoral” company which their Research & Development Plan and Global Distribution Strategy are designed for, increasing exports and international trade. Since 11 March 2020, as a business Coltraco can state that they:
- Never entered furlough;
- Increased sales
- Increased salaries
- Employed more people
- Restructured organisation at home and overseas, creating new departments in distribution, strategic engagement and after sales;
- Cut non-core expenditure
- Created new processes in R&D, sales, distribution, strategic engagement, production, inventory control which has seen Coltraco:
- Designed and manufactured in 28 weeks the world’s first hospital intensive care ward technology to contain COVID19 contagion
- Developed new technologies in 1/5th of the time they ever had before,
- Rapidly moved new technologies to production in 6-9 months
- Increased stock 200%,
- Moved from 2-3 market sectors to 25,
- Established a new global distribution network,
- Tripled after sales revenue
- Won British Government emergency COVID19 technology awards
- Opened a new laboratory, the new Durham Institute of Research, Development & Invention (DIRDI) and its Centre for Underwater Acoustic Analysis (CUAA) at Durham University during COVID19.
Coltraco Ultrasonics would like to thank all those who judged them worthy of such an award, the company team, their suppliers and of course distributors and customers who have helped them achieve this over the last 3 years.
As a high-exporting advanced manufacturer we give thanks to our new and valued Global Distributor Network, to our multi-sectoral export Customers and for the exceptional members of our team engaged in the Invention, Innovation, Science, Research, Development and Production that we undertake.