Brainboxes, the serial card and Bluetooth products specialist, has been named Manufacturer of the Year at the recent Elektra European Electronics Industry Awards. Brainboxes has recently celebrated its 21st anniversary and the award is testament to the efforts Brainboxes has taken to remain competitive in an industry where outsourcing production to the Far East is increasingly commonplace.

Eamonn Walsh, managing director of Brainboxes commented, “We are seeing huge changes in UK manufacturing and we need to encourage more companies to retain their manufacturing in Europe – therefore we have to express our appreciation to Elektra for having an award category to shine light on this sector which in spite of contributing 20% of the UK’s GDP, is increasingly considered unfashionable.” Walsh continued, “In this industry the strong not only survive but continue to thrive by being first implement the necessary changes to stay ahead.”

This was reflected by the Elektra judges who commented: “the winning manufacturer [Brainboxes] demonstrated how it is possible to succeed in a very competitive industry where most other suppliers enjoy low manufacturing costs in south east Asian countries”

Brainboxes has been a long time advocate of why companies should retain manufacturing in the UK. To stop the migration of UK manufacturing overseas Walsh has suggested companies try to be more intelligent with their manufacturing. Lowering wage bills by re-establishing manufacturing overseas is the easy way out rather than dealing systematically with the root causes of high cost manufacturing.

Walsh continued, “the only way forward for all UK businesses is by implementing the correct lean manufacturing, removing the waste in current systems, streamlining processes and concentrating on creating value that customers will pay for”

“Manufacturing contributes 20 percent of the UK’s GDP, so we must not downplay the effect of a declining manufacturing sector on the country’s overall employment rate and economy. We can’t afford to let all of our manufacturing migrate overseas.”

“Toyota, Honda and Nissan continue to manufacture in the UK to great effect – they clearly see the benefits of being based here. They know that manufacturing adds value to raw materials and that creates profit.”