The Northern Ireland factory where Hyster and Yale forklift trucks are produced achieved the prestigious Northern Ireland Quality Award 2011 (EFQM).

Alan Little, plant manager at the NACCO Materials Handling Ltd factory in Craigavon, accepted the award on behalf of the company and the employees at a ceremony in Belfast City Hall on 26th January.

The Northern Ireland Quality Award is described as "the highest form of recognition an organisation can achieve, discerned from among its own peers." Organised by the Centre for Competitiveness, The Northern Ireland Quality Awards, is the premier business event in Northern Ireland aimed at recognising organisations that have demonstrated excellence in their overall business processes and performance.

As part of the judging process, the plant was compared against other leading world-class manufacturers by a team of external experts and is based on 500 hours of assessment.

Established in 1994, the Northern Ireland Quality Awards are based on the internationally recognised European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, which provides one of the most robust methods of assessing how well an organisation is performing in the areas of Leadership, People, Strategy, Partnerships and Resources, Processes, Products and Services, Customers, Key results and Social Welfare.

Accepting the award Alan said: "This is a fantastic achievement - everyone in NMHG is proud of the quality of the equipment we manufacture. We are therefore delighted to see the hard work and contribution made by everyone in our organisation officially recognised through this award."

The NACCO Materials Handling Ltd factory in Craigavon employs over 600 people and produces approximately 14,000 forklift trucks annually.