Excellence in Business Awards 2011: A passion for innovation drives global ambitions

Surgical, which makes products for operations on obese people, has invested heavily in staff, research and development and manufacturing facilities.

The judges said they were impressed by Surgical’s passion and determination to make a success of manufacturing in Yorkshire and to export its goods to the world.

They added that the company is successfully flying the flag for UK plc.

After receiving the award Surgical’s chairman Doug Liversidge said: “The best thing about winning this award is I can go back and tell management and staff how good they are. The heart of the company is in the quality of our employees and all our success is down to them.”

He added that the company continues to grow and unlike many other manufacturers, it hasn’t made any cutbacks.

“The reason we won is we live up to our name, it’s all about innovation,” said Mr Liversidge. “We’re completely confident our design staff can come up with the most innovative new ideas.”

Analysts believe the future outlook for Surgical is robust and the main drivers, including product pipeline and the shift from 5mm instrumentation to 3mm, are as strong as ever.

Surgical’s chief executive Graham Bowland said: “This has been an encouraging start to the year with good progress across the business, and with significant growth in SI branded products.”

The group has signed an exclusive five-year agreement with medical device company CareFusion to distribute Surgical’s new keyhole device, Pretzel-Flex.

The Pretzel-Flex is an innovative new instrument that can reposition large organs, such as the liver, during keyhole surgery.

A common use of the device is to safely shift the liver out of the way during a gastric bypass. For this type of operation, the liver must be moved in order to obtain access to the upper stomach.

Surgical said the Pretzel-Flex makes it much easier for doctors to shift large or swollen livers that are common in obese individuals.

Under the distribution agreement, CareFusion has acquired exclusive US rights to Pretzel-Flex for five years. Surgical will manufacture the device for CareFusion and it will be marketed in the US under the CareFusion brand.

Surgical retains the right to manufacture and distribute the device under its brand name in all other markets.

The Pretzel-Flex can be inserted into the abdomen through a tiny hole, measuring no more than 5mm. The surgeon can then activate it so it assumes a pretzel shape.

Surgical’s chief executive Graham Bowland said: “This latest agreement with CareFusion affirms a long-standing and successful partnership and gives Pretzel-Flex access to an established US sales force that is already well versed with our flex technology.”

CareFusion’s senior vice-president, Jim Leitl, said: “The new Pretzel-Flex laparoscopic retractor is a strong, complementary fit with our current portfolio of minimally-invasive surgical products.”

Surgical recently signed a £5m five-year deal with its distributor in the US. Its US partner will distribute the group’s Logi and LogiCut product ranges, together with its reusable line.