Made in the Midlands member Fortress Interlocks has been presented with its latest Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, John Crabtree visited the Wolverhampton company to present the award, which was in the International Trade category, on behalf of the monarch.
Fortress Interlocks designs and manufactures safety systems to protect people and equipment in the industrial workplace, including car production lines.
One of its major successes in recent years was winning a £1.5 million order for locking systems on BMW factory production lines in Germany.
The company is part of the FTSE-100 Halma group and employs 100 people at its Wolverhampton base – around 70 of them on the shop floor. It employs a further 70 people at sites in the United States, Europe and in the Asian Pacific region.
The latest award is the company’s third Queen’s award, having received ones for Innovation in 2007 and International Trade in 2008.
The company has enjoyed outstanding short term growth in overseas sales over the last three years. It exports to markets in Europe, the Americas and the Asia/Pacific region.
In all, it has seen a 55% increase in overseas sales, from £11.7 million to £18.2 million. Its export business now accounts for than 80% of its entire sales.
The company said it took pride in its products and the award was testament to the hard work of the entire workforce.
Rob Johnson, the company's technical director, said the company’s products made sure that people got home from work in the same state as they arrived - something for which everyone could feel really proud.
The company was one of 230 recognised in this year’s awards.