PPMA Group Industry Awards 2016 revealed at Gala night

This year's awards ceremony featured 14 categories, covering every facet of the industry from processing and packaging to the environment, vision and automation. Competition was fierce, with a record number of entries in some areas, and the judges faced a difficult decision picking just one winner in each category. However, there were some standout entries across the board, and all the winners - and those who received highly commended status - feel justifiably proud of their achievements.

DC Norris (pictured top) was the first called on stage as winner for Processing & Packaging Machinery Manufacturer of the Year. Their innovative approach to new product development helped DC Norris to triumph in this category. The judges also noted the company's "excellent policy for staff recruitment and training'.

A double win for Festo & Siemens (pictured right) who bagged two awards on the night; Most Innovative Automation System and Partnership of the Year. The innovative and flexible system devised by these two industry giants offers flexible automation while offering Industry 4.0 opportunities.

Most Innovative Process and Packaging Machinery went to Domino UK for their SerialTrac system, a game changer for any SME trying to meet the serialisation demands of the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD).

Feltham-based Russell Finex scored a double success by winning the Most Innovative Ancillary Equipment and Exporter of the Year awards on the back of a remarkable increase in export sales in the past 3 years.

The Exceptional Sales or Company Growth award went to Riggs Autopack, whose accolade was also in recognition of their apprenticeship strategy to support sustainable growth.

HepcoMotion was the winner of the PPMA BEST (business, education, skills and training) award. The judges felt that HepcoMotion's efforts to create the next generation of engineers just edged it ahead of the competition.

Stemmer won the Most Innovative Vision Project demonstrating ground-breaking innovation with its winning project involving several aspects of machine vision technology from optics through to data handling.

The PPMA Sustainability Award went to Jenton (pictured right) with the judges praising the company for setting the standard in environmental awareness. Integrated packaging technology Bradman Lake Group won the Customer Service award. The judges praised the company for "going beyond the call of duty to get the customer's facility up and running ahead of an ambitious schedul".

Individual awards included Apprentice of the Year and Outstanding Achievement and went to Chris Eckert of Packaging Automation and to Richard Bull the founder of Enercon and now in the hall of fame of the packaging industry.

The PPMA Group of Associations (PPMA, BARA and UKIVA) congratulates all the winning companies, the highly commended and all the finalists for their drive and enthusiasm throughout the process. Go to www.ppma.co.uk for further details.