ICS Electronics named best of the best at BEEAs

The company was selected by the Judges from all winning entries in the Awards programme. The marine radio market is competitive and features such well known companies as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrupp Grumman. Yet ICS Electronics – a company with only 10 full time employees – has installed more Digital Selective Calling (DSC) systems – one of the most important parts of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System – worldwide than any other company. Systems have been installed in 55 countries with more than 1000 operators. Bearing in mind the nature of the company's competition, the Judges saw this as an impressive achievement. However, competing in this market is not without its challenges. While the market appears to be attractive, with contracts often in excess of £1million, projects often have long lead times and duration, while customers in some countries, including governments, can be unreliable. ICS says it has addressed these issues successfully by managing risk. ICS has three main strands to its business: coast stations; commercial; and leisure. The coast station market provides 90% of the company's revenues and 85% of its turnover comes from exports. Nevertheless, it regards the commercial and leisure sectors as having great potential and will be introducing products for these markets in the near future. Apart from developing specialist hardware and software, ICS also helps set industry best practise by participating in international committees, maritime organisations and technical forums. As a result, it is regularly consulted by international agencies for guidance on marine communications issues. The Judges found ICS' entry 'deeply impressive'. One said: "I couldn't believe that such an influential company has only 10 employees." And all Judges agreed that, while influencing legislation is tough for a small company, ICS has developed a product with global reach. The British Engineering Excellence Awards programme drew entries from all corners of the UK's engineering community – ranging from single employee design houses to multinational organisations. Ed Tranter, executive director of Awards organiser Findlay Media, said: "The UK still leads the world in engineering design and innovation. It is a great testament to British engineering that the number of companies submitting high quality entries for this year's British Engineering Design Awards has doubled from 2010 in spite of the current economic climate. Indeed, engineering and manufacturing has been the only sector to show consistent economic improvement in the last 12 months. If we are truly going to see improvement and rebalancing of the economy, as all the political parties have emphasised, this is the area we need to look to and where investment and support needs to be given" Chairman of the Judges, Eric Wilkinson, said: "Being a judge for the British Engineering Excellence Awards is both difficult and rewarding. Where else can you be assessing the merits of a 1000 tonne capacity pipe laying machine one minute and a miniature rf golf ball tracking system, capable of withstanding repeated impacts of 80,000g, the next? "Whilst this wide variety of entrants makes life difficult for the judges, it showcases perfectly the breadth of engineering capability and excellence present in the UK today. Perhaps even more impressive is the high proportion of entrants that were enjoying notable commercial success: not just in the UK, but also on a global scale. From this impressive pool of entries, the judges were able to select strong winners in every category and the hours of consideration, discussion and debate that went into each category was testament to the overall high quality of the entrants this year. "Congratulations to all those that were short listed and to the eventual winners." BRITISH ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2011 WINNERS Consultancy Of The Year Vocis Driveline Controls Sponsor: Prototype Projects Formed in 2006, Vocis' customers range from global car manufacturers to specialist suppliers in the UK. These customers access Vocis' high level of expertise in the integration, control and calibration of automotive transmission systems. Its technology enables customers to improve the competitiveness of its products by refining performance, boosting controllability and reducing fuel consumption. Working with such well known names as Aston Martin. Lamborghini and McLaren, Vocis is now working with Zytek on what is believed to be the most advanced electric vehicle yet launched. Design Engineer Of The Year Shaun Addy Sponsor: Mouser Electronics Working 'crazy hours' in a small garage with minimal machining capabilities, Addy has created a novel rotary engine which can run on kerosene. As a result, his employer Cubewano has recently won a $9million order for the engine. Alongside his engineering responsibilities, Addy heads the development department, mentoring and managing all development staff. Design Team Of The Year IHC Engineering Business, Saipem J-Lay Tower Team Sponsor: element 14 Said to be one of the most versatile pipelaying systems yet developed, the J-Lay Tower raises a pipe section from the vessel deck to near vertical, aligns it to within a millimetre, then welds it into position. The system can work with pipes of up to 36in in diameter and with pipe lengths of up to 48m. This was a 'first time build'; the company had no 'prior art' to refer to and had to work to a fixed deadline. Highly Commended Pelamis Wave Power's P2 Wave Energy Converter design team, whose entry was highly commended by the Judges. Highly Commended Ashwoods Automotive, whose entry was highly commended by the Judges. New Product Of The Year (Electronic) Oxford Digital Sponsor: Digi-Key Simulink-2-Tiny allows engineers who design algorithms using Simulink to eliminate the coding stage for TinyCore, a low power, low gate count DSP core suitable for use in audio, closed loop control systems and in sensor applications. The innovative part of the design is the way in which software and hardware work together as an integrated package. And code can be produced in a matter of seconds; far more quickly than the months it can take an experienced programmer. Green Product Of The Year e2v technologies Sponsor: National Instruments In traditional systems, processing 1tonne of vermiculite requires a power input of 1MW in an oil or gas fired furnace. e2v technologies' ProWave system reduces this by up to 90% through the use of microwaves. While it has been known for some time that microwaves could do the job, no commercial process existed until e2v developed the ProWave system. New Product Of The Year (Mechanical) Fireco Sponsor: igus (UK) Everybody has seen fire doors illegally wedged open, but solutions to this problem are costly, requiring hard wiring into a fire alarm panel and a constant power supply. Fireco's Freedor is a battery powered device which works by 'listening' for a fire alarm that exceeds 65dBa and which sounds for more than 14 seconds. When it does, electro-permanent magnets release and the door closes. Mechatronic Design Of The Year RF Golf Sponsor: Eureka and New Electronics Some 1 billion golf balls are sold annually, many of which are lost. RF Golf says golfers can spend more time enjoying the game by using its golf ball locator. RFID electronics, embedded in the ball, are activated upon contact with the club . A hand held locator unit guides the user to within 50cm of the lost ball from a distance of 50m. Small Company Of The Year ICS Electronics Sponsor: D Young and Company LLP Established in 1982, ICS Electronics has grown to become a leader in the supply of communications systems to its three chosen markets: coast stations; commercial; and leisure. The coast station market provides 90% of the company's revenues and 85% of its turnover comes from exports. Start Up Of The Year Neul Sponsor: Cambridge Consultants Neul has been set up to exploit the white space spectrum; communications bands vacated by television's move from analogue to digital broadcasting. The company believes white space radio will deliver wide area communications in an unregulated part of the spectrum. In less than a year, the company has delivered a production ready radio and shipped devices. It has also raised $12million in Series A funding, the largest such investment in a European wireless start up for 10 years. Highly Commended Cambridge CMOS Sensors, whose entry was highly commended by the Judges. Young Design Engineer Of The Year Darren Jones Sponsor: RS Components Project manager for Freedor – winner of the 2011 New Mechanical Product of the Year – Darren Jones is also recognised as the sole inventor of the patented rocker assembly that allows the product to operate as a door closer. Alongside managing the project, Darren organised focus groups, research into competitive products, virtual prototyping, finite element analysis testing, field tests, sourcing suppliers and developing the documentation. Highly Commended Adam James, who was highly commended by the Judges. Judges' Special Award Peratech Sponsor: Totally Engineering Each year, the judges of the British Engineering Excellence Awards can make, at their discretion, a Special Award to an entrant in any category. When Peratech entered the BEEAs in 2010, the Judges were hugely impressed by its Quantum Tunnelling Composite technology. But questions were raised about its commercial viability. Those queries have been answered emphatically by this year's entry, which demonstrated impressive commercial success and promised great things for the future. Peratech has already licensed QTC Clear to a leading touchscreen manufacturer, one agreement amongst seven 'significant' agreements. And there are two more in the pipeline.