We are delighted to announce that Hosokawa Micron Ltd has won ‘Engineering Firm of the Year 2020’ in the 10th Chemicals Northwest Awards 2020, as part of a joint bid with our friends and collaborators, Peak Technology Solutions.
The award recognises the achievements of both companies by successfully creating digital strategies surrounding powder processing technology, utilising the principles of Industry 4.0 and IIoT technologies. The work combines Hosokawa’s decades of experience as a leading powder processing equipment manufacturer, with the technical expertise provided by a range of technology partners, including Peak Technology Solutions, one of the UK’s leading industrial control and automation technology companies.
The judging panel was impressed by how both companies collaborated on the project and had proved that harnessing data and applying advanced analytics delivered improved productivity, quality assurance, supply chain efficiency and people development.
Hosokawa Micron’s Digital Strategy Journey
As a result of twenty years of research and development, we have been able to create our own intelligent software, Hosokawa Gen4, which can now be integrated into the processing and containment equipment we design and manufacture at assembly stage, or retrofitted to existing Hosokawa machinery that is currently used in our customers’ manufacturing processes.
The software was first rolled out to our Technical Services department to support and optimise our in-house Contract Manufacturing service. From hazardous chemicals to food-grade ingredients, the contract manufacturing team successfully supports an impressively diverse range of customers from many industry sectors, who all have very specific requirements.
This success is possible because of our rigorous control policies, the experience and expertise of our team, dedicated individual production suites, a long list of industry qualifications and accreditations, plus the additional optimisation of our processes, which has allowed us to operate as a smart factory.
Hosokawa Micron customers are now reaping the rewards of our continued digital transformation and a £1 million+ investment in the contract manufacturing operation, including connected machinery, continual monitoring (in situ and remotely), robust data analysis, an ‘in-spec’ rate of 98% in the material produced, 100% traceability capability and consistent batch quality.
Powder processing is of particular relevance in the chemical industry, with masses of potential for optimisation opportunities – opportunities that we can furnish our chemical and pharmaceutical customers with through our Digital Solutions service, Hosokawa Gen4 digital toolkit and its integration into our industry-leading containment and processing equipment, which we design and manufacture from our headquarters in the northwest of England.
Two More Reasons Why We’re Celebrating!…
We’d also like to recognise two of the brightest young stars in the Hosokawa Micron team, who have individually been ‘Highly Commended’ in the category of ‘Young Talent in the Chemical Industry 2020’.
Erin Holman is a vital part of our Technical Services team, leading and managing processes and business development at our Sci-Tech Daresbury laboratory, in addition to her role as Quality Assurance Officer and member of the Hazards Analysis team.
Jack Edwards is our Project Engineer apprentice, currently working towards a Mechanical Engineering degree at UCLan. Jack has been instrumental in implementing innovative manufacturing technologies at Hosokawa Micron and helping to develop new equipment products.
The judges were impressed with Erin’s evolving role at the company and her positive impact on the wider business. They felt that Jack is proving to be a wonderfully effective end-to-end business project manager while blazing a trail for the adoption of innovative technologies at Hosokawa Micron, such as 3D design and printing.
Huge congratulations – we’re very proud of both of you!
