SPTS Technologies Ltd of Newport, Wales, UK – an Orbotech Ltd company that manufactures etch, physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and thermal wafer processing solutions for the MEMS, advanced packaging, LED, high-speed RF on GaAs, and power management device markets – has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade 2017, in recognition of its substantial year-on-year growth in overseas earnings and commercial successes in its global business. In addition to judging outstanding achievement in international trade, the judging panel also assessed SPTS on its corporate responsibility, which included employee affairs, customers and suppliers relationships, and its impact on the environment and society.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise were introduced in 1966 to acknowledge businesses with outstanding performance in three categories: International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development. The annual awards are open to any company operating in the UK and are announced annually on Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday (21 April). This is SPTS Technologies’ second Queen’s Award, after receiving its first in 2013.
“This award belongs to the entire organization – from those involved in the development and manufacture of our industry leading wafer processing solutions to our team outside the UK who sell, install and support our products and customers,” comments Kevin Crofton, president of SPTS Technologies and corporate VP at Orbotech. “Our customers are many of the leading device manufacturers in the microelectronics industry… Our growth is a testament to the quality and competitiveness of UK developed technologies and products in the global markets,” he adds.
“They [SPTS] are a prominent global business that makes an important contribution to our economy, which is why we have awarded them Anchor status,” commented Economy Secretary Ken Skates. “A focus on exporting is more important now than ever before as we transition out of the EU, and success stories such as this show that companies in Wales can more than step up to the challenge.”
SPTS exports more than 95% of its products manufactured in the UK and has surpassed the milestone of £1bn in export sales. The firm has manufacturing facilities in Newport (UK), Allentown (USA, Pennsylvania), San Jose (USA, California), and operates across 19 countries in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
