A SPECTACULAR year of growth for Tyneside manufacturer SMD has been capped by it winning a prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise.
The Wallsend firm’s success in creating new types of work class remotely operated vehicles for use in hazardous environments saw it recognised in the innovation category of the awards.
Chief executive Andrew Hodgson said: “We have led the subsea ROV market for a number of years in terms of design and innovation and the Queen’s Award is a marvellous acknowledgement of our achievements.
“Through the creation of the five business streams and the emergence of new energy markets such as renewables and nuclear, we have further developed our product range to meet the challenges of these sectors and increase our presence in global markets.
“This award is testament to the creative skills and technical expertise of our engineers in our Research & Development and Production units supported by an outstanding team of people who continue to excel in their work for the company.”
SMD is now one of the leaders in its field worldwide and that has already been marked this year when it was named Subsea UK Company of the Year 2011 by industry organisation Subsea UK.
Following the restructuring of its operations into five business streams – ROVs, Trenching, Renewables, Nuclear and Mining – the company has experienced strong growth.
Turnover for 2009-10 increased by almost 50% to £61m and the company is targeting another considerable rise in turnover by the end of this year to as much as £100m.
In 2010 SMD won the industry’s largest-ever single work class ROV order for 20 vehicles from Subsea 7, as well as the manufacture of the world’s largest free stream tidal turbine for Atlantis Resources Corporation.
Engineering design work also ramped up on the development of world-first deepwater mining equipment for Nautilus Minerals Inc.
SMD’s most recent trenching ROV model, the Q-Trencher, has been used by companies in China and Japan, where it has been involved in subsea communications cable repair following the recent earthquake and tsunami.
And the firm’s success in selling its innovative products worldwide has led to a global customer base. As well as its Wallsend headquarters SMD has a nuclear industry-focused office in Malton, North Yorkshire, and offices in Singapore, Houston, and Macae in Brazil.
In addition, SMD has expanded its presence in the North East in the past 12 months with a dedicated design office at the Cobalt Business Park and an additional production facility at the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate, which will become an ROV Centre of Excellence.
This expansion, to meet the growing contract wins secured by SMD, has enabled the business to more than double its workforce from 120 to almost 300. Further recruitment is under way for an additional 30 positions for its North East and Yorkshire operations.