International Sales Success For Biomedical Test Equipment Earns Queen’s Award for Seaward

International sales success for its Rigel Medical biomedical test equipment has secured the prestigious Queen’s Award for the Seaward Group.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed on a UK-based company and is awarded each year to those demonstrating outstanding achievement.

Growth in export sales of the Rigel Medical range of performance and electrical safety analysers and vital signs simulators has seen the Peterlee-based electronics manufacturer Seaward recognised in the international trade category.

Rigel Medical equipment is used by biomedical engineering staff and medical equipment service teams in hospitals and healthcare facilities in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East to check the safety and functionality of specialist equipment including defibrillators, ECG monitors and ventilators.

The Queen’s Award reflects this growth and the company’s investment in overseas sales and marketing strategies that have successfully boosted the international profile of its brands.

As well as its manufacturing centre in Peterlee, Seaward also has a US subsidiary in Tampa, Florida, technical support offices in Europe and an international distribution network.

John Backes, associate director – Rigel Medical, said: “The Queen’s Award is one of the highest accolades a company can win and reward for the efforts we have made to innovate and enhance biomedical test equipment technology over several years.

“Export sales are increasingly important to our business and the constant challenge is to maintain a competitive edge against much larger multi-skilled groups and the lower production costs of overseas-based manufacturing operations.

“We believe in putting the international customer at the centre of everything we do. This has involved investing in multi-lingual customer support services, overseas technical support centres and working very closely with our global distribution network.

“The Queen’s Award continues to be a high profile and highly respected achievement in many countries and I’m sure it will become a major marketing asset as part of our continued export drive in the years to come.”