Norbar Wins Family Business Award

Norbar Torque Tools Limited from Banbury, has been named ‘Best UK Family Business, Southern England and Wales Region’, in the £5-25m turnover category of the Coutts Prize for Family Business 2008/9. The company will now go on to compete in the same category at the national finals to be held in central London on 23rd June 2009.

Established in 1942, Norbar as a third generation family business became the first company in Britain to commercially manufacture a torque wrench. The initial demand was driven by the need for the gasket-less cylinder head of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine to be accurately tightened. Since then, Norbar has continued to invest in the latest design, manufacturing and quality control technology to achieve the highest level of innovation and precision in the field of torque control and equipment. The company now employs 200 people in Banbury, with a further 90 staff within its sales companies in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China. The Company’s philosophy is about providing customers with high quality value for money products and services whilst being committed to the principals of environmental sustainability.

Craig Brodey, Chairman of Norbar, commented: “When our solicitor’s Brethertons nominated us for the award we were delighted to learn that the criteria for judging were not just based on a winning performance in the market place, but also included some of the other core values that the Brodey family believes are key to a successful business. These include striving for the best practice in family & business governance, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. While we may be a modern company in terms of outlook we have never abandoned some of the key fundamentals that the founder Bill Brodey exemplified such as integrity, respect and a desire to do the right thing by people. We are very pleased to have won this award reflecting as it does both the pride and the hard work of everyone involved in Norbar.”