WORKERS at a high-tech business making superconducting magnets for hospital scanners were overjoyed to be awarded the ‘Oscar’ of manufacturing awards.

But the team at Siemens MR Magnet Technology (SMT), near Eynsham, insist it will not stop them striving for the top.

They won three awards at the UK Best Factory Awards at the end of last month.

The accolades were for best engineering plant, people and skill development and factory of the year 2015.

Thrilled to receive the trio of accolades, staff at the factory were most pleased their company was chosen as factory of the year.

Value stream manager Les Day said: “The Factory of the Year award is like the Holy Grail. It’s the Oscar of factory awards. So being awarded this is really good.

“We are so pleased. We plan a celebration soon for staff.”

Planning and materials manager Susan Peers, who went to the awards ceremony in London on September 25, said it was a real achievement for the factory.

She said: “We are all so pleased.

“It’s wonderful to be recognised out of so many other factories in the UK.”

Mr Day said: “One reason why we are a successful business is we are striving for continuous improvement all the time.

“Having that culture, we look for opportunities to be recognised in the UK.

“So we entered and a panel came to look around the factory, talk to workers and talk to people on the shop floor.

“We first entered the awards in 2010 and it’s great to win in so many different categories. But we will not stop now we have won Factory of the Year.

“It’s important to motivate everybody and maintain improvement.”

More than 30 per cent of the MRI scanners in hospitals worldwide contain a superconducting magnet made at the Siemens MR Magnet Technology plant near the Swinford Toll Bridge.

The factory is part of Siemens Healthcare.

Now in its 24th year, the Best Factory Awards (BFA) are run in partnership between Works Management magazine and Cranfield School of Management.

Managing director of Siemens, Craig Marshall, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for all of our employees, an external recognition of what we do and how we do which is massively motivational.

“The BFA judging criteria are particularly focused on being able to demonstrate that the culture within the factory reflects our values and that the overall strategy is understood and indeed embraced by everyone on the payroll.”

The team at Siemens are no strangers to the Best Factory Awards, winning three prizes when they entered in 2012.