Austrade media release 20 November 2009
Levett Engineering, a component manufacturer for the Joint Striker Fighter aircraft, has won the prestigious Emerging Exporter Award at the Australian Export Awards this evening, hosted by the Minister for Trade, the Hon Simon Crean MP. The Emerging Exporter Award is sponsored by Enterprise Connect.
Started 20 years ago by Paul Levett in his shed, Levett Engineering is now one of Australia’s most technologically advanced machining companies and employs 26 people in Elizabeth South.
Since entering the export market two years ago, Levett has doubled its staff with export earnings accounting for more than 30 per cent of turnover. That figure is expected to more than double over the next two years.
A first-time finalist in the Australian Export Awards, Levett was up against strong competition, with seven other companies competing in the category. The Australian Export Award judges were extremely impressed with Levett’s commitment to export and advanced technological capabilities.
Levett has established an Advanced Aerospace Manufacturing Centre of Excellence to commercialise its research and development investment and maintains a competitive advantage by regularly upgrading its equipment to the latest European technology available. This allows it to manufacture components more quickly and to an extremely high standard.
Congratulating the 12 National Winners, Minister Crean said that collectively, these companies have generated more than $1.5 billion in export earnings and employed more than 2,400 people.
The Australian Export Awards are co-presented by Austrade and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Now in its 47th year of recognising export excellence, the Awards are one of the longest running and most prestigious business awards.
The Awards are run in collaboration with the States and Territories, who each conduct their own Export Awards program. State and Territory winners progress to the Australian Export Awards as finalists.
For more information, visit www.exportawards.gov.au
ENDS Media contact Levett Engineering: Mal Lowen, 0408 801 672 or 08 8287 2144
Australian Export Awards: Emma Bailey, 0414 969 348 or 02 9390 2077
For further news and information from the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) visit www.austrade.gov.au//mediacentre.
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