Festo has announced that fluid power specialist Norton Hydraulics has won its 'Premier Stockist of the Year' award for outstanding performance in 2006. The award is presented to the company within the Festo Premier Stockist network that shows the best sales growth of Festo products for the year, combined with demonstrable gains in operational efficiency - evidenced by over 80 per cent usage of the Festo on-line shop - and the highest level of commitment to strategic campaigns.
The award was presented to Mark Brooks, Norton Hydraulics' Sales Manager, by Eliza Rawlings, Festo's National Sales Manager. Also present were Norton Hydraulics' MD, Peter Andrews, the company's Technical Director, Wayne Hubball, and Festo's automation consultant, Pat Kenny.
Eliza Rawlings comments: "Norton Hydraulics has achieved exceptional year-on-year sales growth, principally by providing an exceptional level of service to its local customer base in Birmingham. The company also operates an extremely professional trade counter, which is open for business six days a week."
In addition to the award, Norton Hydraulics' prize includes a trip to Germany in September; selected personnel are invited to a celebratory meal and a tour of Festo's main manufacturing facility in Esslingen, followed by a visit to the Motek 2007 international trade fair for assembly and storage technology, in Stuttgart.
All Festo Premier Stockists strive to provide an exemplary level of service; only companies that meet specific Festo-defined standards are granted the title. In particular, each stockist must operate in accordance with the ISO 9002 standard, carry guaranteed stock levels, and offer fully-trained technical support personnel and competent trade counter services. Each stockist has direct access to the Festo European warehousing facilities, enabling them to offer customers next-day delivery of virtually any pneumatic component, from a range of over 23,000 products.