Electrolube Parent HK Wentworth Receives Queen's Award

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

HK Wentworth Group, the parent company of Electrolube—the global manufacturers of specialist electro-chemicals for the global electronics, automotive, LEDs, aerospace and industrial manufacturing industries—has been announced winner of the Queen's Award for Enterprise – the UK's highest accolade for business success. The company received the Award for Enterprise in International Trade in recognition of its outstanding global exporting success.

Founded in 1941, Leicestershire, UK-based HK Wentworth is still privately owned by the Kingsbury family and has consistently achieved steep year-on-year growth in overseas sales. Overall growth has risen by as much as 50% during the three-year period of the Award and a vast 66% of sales have been achieved from export activity.

The company moved into their state-of-the-art, 62,000 sq. ft. premises in Ashby de la Zouch six years ago. It was the third move the group had made since the company's formation and growth has been significant. The relocation allowed the company to retain its highly experienced and professional staff, and maintain an excellent location close to 2 regional airports and transport links to main UK motorways. HK Wentworth fully owns their impressive facilities, which house the company’s manufacturing, research and development department, laboratories, warehousing and administrative teams. The company employs a total of 212 staff; 133 staff locally and 79 worldwide.

With fierce local competition in most markets, HK Wentworth focuses on solving problems and developing innovative chemical products for industry, individual customers and bespoke applications. Forthcoming regulations and the challenges that they present means that product development is also an opportunity to assert the company as a market leader with technically superior products in all two divisions.

HK Wentworth has distinguished itself as a responsible, manufacturing leader, both overseas and at home in the UK. The company is an important local employer and is also systematically engaged with the UK’s foremost charity for vulnerable children, Barnados, celebrating a 10 year anniversary of working with the charity in 2016, and is strongly committed to taking care of the environment by supporting the National Forest community project, which strives towards reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by planting and protecting trees and shrubs.

Ron Jakeman, Managing Director of HK Wentworth, comments, "It is an absolute honour to be recognised by Her Majesty the Queen for all the hard work and expansion success we have achieved over the past few years. As a UK manufacturer, committed to providing industry around the world with smarter, greener chemical solutions, we pride ourselves on our long-standing heritage and our customer-focused ethos. The company has grown considerably in over 55 countries around the world by focusing on new markets particularly in the Far East. We have a rapidly growing presence in China, Europe, the Far East, India and USA, and in line with our global presence and spirit of enterprise, we are in the process of commissioning a new factory in India to complement our current warehousing facilities; this will represent a great new market for us. We also have an established manufacturing base in China and have secured strong domestic sales to manufacturers located in this territory. I would like to take the opportunity on receiving this most prestigious business award, to personally thank all of our dedicated employees for their hard work, enthusiasm and commitment in driving our business forward."

HK Wentworth has a core strength that has been built upon the combination of the technical skills of its people and their ability to work closely with customers. The company has a strong network of subsidiaries and works closely with a lot of key distribution partners, which enables HK Wentworth to offer customers genuine security of scale and a reliable supply chain. A culture of collaboration, innovation, thought-leadership and customer service amalgamate to reinforce the company mission statement, "To strive to exceed our customers' expectations with innovative new products and the highest possible levels of customer service". The company is continually developing new and environmentally friendly products for customers around the world and their commitment to developing ‘greener’ products has been endorsed by the ISO 14001 standard for the highly efficient Environmental Management System in place at the company. This award is in addition to the OHAS 18001 standard also held by HK Wentworth. 

HK Wentworth executives are invited to attend a reception at Buckingham palace later in the year. The Grant of Appointment and crystal bowl will be presented by the Lord-Lieutenant of the County, the Queen’s local representative at a special awards ceremony.

Approximately 249 Queen’s Awards have been announced this year for outstanding business achievement in the fields of International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development. The awards are made annually by HM The Queen, and are only given for the highest levels of excellence demonstrated in each category.

For further information about HK Wentworth’s Award success, please contact HKW Group Marketing Manager, Julia Vorley, on 01530 419600 or visit the Queen's Awards website.