Insights
Hanningfield was founded as ‘Hanningfield Design’ in 1987 by Colin Ellis, who is still Managing Director today.
Hanningfield is an independent family-owned business focusing on the design, manufacture, supply, and installation of machinery for the handling, processing, and containment of powder in oral solid dosage (OSD) manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.
The company was initially focussed on developing and drawing custom solutions for niche industry problems.
As customers loved the designs, they soon grew to add welding, fabrication, and machining to bring the solutions to life.
This enabled them to add full in-house manufacturing capabilities.
Over time, one-off designs morphed into standard products; many of these original designs have stood the test of time and are still part of the product range today.
Hanningfield remains a family-owned business, with Colin still involved and running the company alongside his two sons – ushering in a new era and providing a stable, yet exciting future direction.
Industry expansion and international growth
Hanningfield’s expertise has led them into related industries such as food, chemical, nuclear, cosmetic, and nutraceuticals, where the challenges surrounding the control and manipulation of powder are similar.
Such experience has ensured they can meet the highest standards of quality across various industries while retaining proficiency for flexibility and custom requirements.
Not only have they expanded into different industries, but the company has also experienced rapid international growth over recent years.
Alongside its UK headquarters, Hanningfield now has offices in the USA, Australia, and India as well as a strong network of distributors and partners around the world.
The journey has been one of gradually and organically professionalising a small family business while trying to retain a close-knit environment.
Queen’s Awards for Enterprise
In recognition of this exceptional growth, the company was awarded the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2018 in the category of International Trade.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise recognise a company’s contribution to UK exports but also look at its role within the local community, environmental impact, and the quality of its relationships with suppliers, partners, employees, and customers.
British-made products are recognised around the globe for quality and innovation and the Award reinforces the extremely high standards of compliance and quality they deliver to their customers.
“It is a privilege to have the endorsement of the Queen’s Awards to further strengthen our international trade potential” comments Josie.
Customised solutions
Customers value Hanningfield’s commitment to designing and manufacturing customised solutions that fulfil their needs.
Competitors often supply standard, off-the-shelf solutions with no option to modify the design and properly satisfy the customer requirement.
Their ability to customise solutions offered by experienced and knowledgeable engineers is of huge value to their customers when faced with a powder handling or processing problem.
With design and production undertaken at a UK site, they retain significant control over the engineering and manufacturing functions, with an ability to respond and adapt much quicker than competitor companies.
Commitment to excellence and quality
Hanningfield is proud to hold a growing number of accreditations and memberships as part of the company’s commitment towards excellence and delivering quality.
These include ISO 9001, ISO 14001, SafeContractor, SafePQQ, and Fit For Nuclear (F4N).
Accreditations such as SafeContractor provide a strong foundation for organisational transformation, as they provide frameworks and benchmarks for best practice.
On gaining SafeContractor accreditation, Josie explains “every organisation which encourages good health and safety practices amongst its employees and is continuing to reach a higher standard year on year can achieve the SafeContractor badge.
“The practice of a strong Quality Management system and robust communication routes between management and employees on all levels are key factors in obtaining a SafeContractor certification.”
Looking forward
In the future, Hanningfield is seeing increasing adoption of new technologies, in both products and the way they manufacture.
Advances in areas such as 3D printing, robotics, and the Internet of Things are already shaping an exciting new industrial revolution.
Meanwhile, the company will continue extending its international reach.
This, in turn, requires a strong emphasis on quality as rectifying issues overseas can be costly and cause customers downtime.
