InspecVision and Environmental Street Furniture (ESF) are among five Northern Ireland firms and 205 organisations nationally recognised with this prestigious award announced today (Thursday).
Based at Mallusk, InspecVision develops and manufactures 2D and 3D measurement systems for inspection of manufactured components. Its core market is the sheet metal industry with customers producing components for a wide range of applications including the automotive and aerospace sectors.
The company, which began in Larne and was based there for a number of years, has been recognised for its excellence in international trade with overseas sales growth of 129% over the last three years - its main export markets are the United States, China and Europe.
The business, which employs 16 people, was established in 2005 by Dr Jan Antonis and his father Mike. Jan had completed a PhD in computer vision at Queen’s University Belfast and Mike had recently retired as managing director of FG Wilson Engineering. They identified a gap in the market for high speed, easy-to-use, lower cost inspection machines. They developed and launched the Planar, the world’s fastest measurement system for 2D parts. Today the product range is sold in over 30 countries and has expanded to include 3D inspection.
Dr Jan Antonis, managing director said: “I am very proud that InspecVision has achieved the prestigious Queens Awards for Enterprise. This celebrates the dedication and commitment of our team and the immense contribution and support of our distribution partners which has enabled us to deliver world-class quality control solutions to manufacturers across the globe.”
The company will now be able to use the esteemed Queen’s Awards emblem for the next five years.
Doing likewise will be Environmental Street Furniture (ESF) which specialises in the provision of innovative outdoor street furniture and site furnishing products.
ESF has experienced a total growth of 415% in international trade over the last three years - with growth increasing year-on-year - whilst the percentage exported has risen from 40.5% to 78%. The company currently sells into 26 markets worldwide with United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, United States of America and Spain being the top five.
It has established itself globally as a high-quality and experienced provider of street, themed, solar, smart and more recently, security products. The company has worked on projects including The Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai; Disneyland, Hong Kong; Ta Qali Craft Village, Malta; Gilbert Recreational Parks, Arizona and Global Village, UAE.
As a result of the global pandemic, ESF’s order book was significantly reduced, however the company pivoted its offering, utilising its capabilities to provide solutions to help prevent the spread of diseases. It launched a range of products including the HydroPod, a portable touch-free, eco-friendly hand washing station, as well as the Stand Up sanitiser dispenser, which has been exported to countries including Canada, Poland and Dubai.
Alan Lowry, managing director of ESF, said: “We are overjoyed to receive the Queen’s Award for international trade. It is a fantastic achievement to see our international success and consistent growth recognised with this honour.
“Like many businesses, it has been a challenging year, but through resilience and recognising the needs of our customers, offering solutions where we can, we have come out the other side. I’m looking forward to continuing our growth, both here in Northern Ireland, as well as internationally.”
Applications for Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2022 open on May 1, 2021. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/queens-awards-for-enterprise.
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Dr Jan Antonis, managing director, InspecVision.