Birmingham-based C Brandauer & Co Ltd (www.brandauer.co.uk) — a contract presswork and stampings company — proved that SME manufacturers can compete with ‘the big boys’ on technology at an awards ceremony held last month.

It was named joint winner of the Innovation in Manufacturing award at the West Midlands Tech Awards, sharing it with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The judges praised the company’s investment in bringing its own product to market — for the first time in over 100 years.

EloPin is a ground-breaking press-fit product that allows the solderless connection of terminal pins to a PCB; it promises to revolutionise the world of automotive electronics, and the first contract — worth nearly £1 million, has already been secured.

Brandauer has invested in Visi Vero CAD/CAM software and Microsoft Dynamics Navision, a ‘state of the art’ enterprise resource planning system that helps to optimise processes.

Rowan Crozier, Brandauer CEO, said: “We are delighted to have won the Innovation in Manufacturing award.

“This shows what SMEs can achieve when they combine industry understanding with an ability to deliver solutions to a common issue.

“Sharing the award with a company the size of JLR is a major boost for our employees and a clear reinforcement that we are doing things right.

“EloPin is proving a global phenomenon, and we expect it to generate over £2 million of revenue in 2019.”