18th September 2019
DR MAURIZIO BRAGAGNI – WELCOME ADDRESS
Lord-Lieutenant, High Sheriff, Your Worship , Representatives of Knowsley Borough Council, Members of Parliament, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I would like to offer thanks as well as a warm welcome to Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant Mr Mark Blundell. Lord-Lieutenant we are honoured to receive the Award from you on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen today.
Today’s event celebrates our company’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Tratos won this important award for innovation; something that we have built our culture around. We are all incredibly proud of this recognition and are delighted you could be here today to share it.
This award is really special for us.
Our business is built on innovation. We build cables that solve problems and keep the world moving. To do that we have to plan for the challenges to come, and, of course, we have to invest.
We invest in our people, in our manufacturing facilities and in our research and development. We work with our customers and we make sure we stay close to the industries they work within. What we do here helps secure advantages for our customers’ businesses worldwide.
Ours is a global business and we are one of a very small number of independent cable manufacturers. What that means is that we can act quickly.
When you are working across fast-moving industries such as Oil and Gas, Marine, Defence, Mass Transit, Highways and Construction – and their most advanced projects – innovation is the key to success.
When you are part of an international team built to explore nuclear fusion as an alternative power source on a world-scale, as we are, then the quality of your innovation must perform at the highest level.
So we are invested in innovation.
Here in the UK we chose to invest in Knowsley. Why? Because this town has a strong history of cable manufacturing and it had talented and experienced people who had worked in the cable industry.
The town offered what we needed for our UK manufacturing base and, in turn, we created jobs and help the UK prosperity.
Today’s award was won with just one product, JBA. This advanced cable technology was designed, built and tested by Tratos to deliver enhanced performance, durability, flexibility and resistance to corrosion, abrasion and the most difficult environmental conditions. I am delighted to tell you, there is more innovation out there from Tratos, and even more to come.
Now it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you all Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside, Mr Mark Blundell.
DR MAURIZIO BRAGAGNI THANK YOU & FORMAL RESPONSE
Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside, we know how privileged we are to receive this award. We are aware of the quality of the Queen’s Award-winning companies – and the people behind them.
It is an Alumni we are proud to join. In the 52 years between the first Awards in 1966 and this year only 1,641 awards for innovation have been granted.
Tratos JBA compound, which can be adjusted to vary cable properties to meet the requirements of a number of industry sectors, is just one of our innovations, and it won.
Tratos colleagues, you should be proud of your achievement. It is not only an extraordinary piece of intelligent innovation, it brought us here today.
I would like to formally thank everyone who took the time to join today’s celebration.
In particular I would like to thank our honoured guests:
The High Sheriff, Mr David Steer QC and his wife Elizabeth;
The Mayor of Knowsley, Councillor Jackie Harris and The Mayoress Ms Marie Roughley (Ruffley);
Deputy Leader of Knowsley Borough Council, Councillor Sean Donnelly:
Chief Executive Knowsley Borough Council, Mr Mike Harden;
the Member of Parliament for Knowsley, The Right Honourable Sir George Howarth;
Paul Maynard MP, Department for Transport Minister
Deputy Lieutenant Ms Lesley Martin-Wright and Clerk to the Lieutenancy, Lieutenant Colonel Sean McEvoy
Consulate General of Italy, Cancelliere Francesco De Angelis
And, of course, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant Mr Mark Blundell
for contributing to this very special occasion for Tratos.
Also our thanks go to
Professor George E Holmes, President & Vice Chancellor University of Bolton
Mr Simon Blagden, Member of DIT Advisory Board
Mr Alessandro Belluzzo, President Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK.
Mr Iain Ballinghall, BASEC Chairman.
A special thanks to our Tratos customers, without them we wouldn’t exist. I thank you for your support and challenging Tratos to be an innovative company. Thank you all in particular from Western Power Sue Walden and Louise Cartledge and from Peel Ports David Wkyes.
Also thank you to the Banks, for your support and financial strength. In particular I would like to thank Mark Rowan from HSBC and Ben Clarke from Lloyds Bank who are both here to represent today.
Thanks for our collaboration with Bolton and Manchester University. It is a pleasure to have Dr Konstantinos and Professor George Holmes both here.
And finally Tratos would be nothing without the people, the thinking and the expertise that we are fortunate to have within the company. Our senior team is here today and without them we would not be having this event.
What they do, every day, is, quite simply, remarkable.
Tratos is one family: Please let me offer my thanks to:
Tratos President, Comm Dr Albano Bragagni OMRI, a special thanks to my auntie Marta Capaccini, daughter of our founder Egidio Capaccini. We are very honoured she is here today.
To Vice President Dr Ennio Bragagni-Capaccini and Ds Elisabetta Bragagni-Capaccini.
My beloved father Germano Bragagni.
Tratos Director Mr Oriano Gregori, Mr Mirko Gori.
A special thanks to Mr Massimo Seri for his support and effort for his incredible job in this huge project.
UK Directors Mr Enrico Scambia, Mr John Light, Mr Neil Ancell and Mr Kevin Martin
UK SHEQ Manager, Mr Gianfranco Lutri, Alan Harrison and General Manager, Ms Zilah Skerritt
And UK Account Director Mr James Card and Product Development Manager, Mr Massimo Seri.
Rainer Pollmann, Jon Sojo, Andrew Spyra, Chris Harris, Peter Waterworth, Billy Rylance and Paolo Bragagni.
Let me pay a special tribute to my mentor Dott Silvano Notti and his wife Anna.
Sorry Lord Lieutenant but I must also thank my wife and children otherwise I’m not going to eat tonight!
This has been a great day for Tratos and a great achievement for the Tratos team.
Thank you.