Prima Dental crowned with a King’s Award

Recognition from royalty for region’s key exporter.

The trading prowess of one of Gloucestershire’s biggest exporters – Prima Dental Group – has been honoured with an esteemed King’s Award for Enterprise 2024 for International Trade.

The world-leading designer and manufacturer of precision dental and medical instruments, Prima Dental, is just one of 252 organisations nationally to be recognised this year with this prestigious award, which celebrates business excellence across the UK.

The company’s win also marks a hat trick of royal accolades for the organisation, as it was a previous recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade in 2014 and 2018.

PURSUIT OF BETTER

The award comes on the back of what’s been a challenging time for many manufacturing businesses and highlights the resilience and adaptability of Prima Dental. A strength that the company’s managing director, Alun Jones, believes should be attributed to the organisation’s brilliant team.

“The King’s Award serves as a testament to the hard work, skill and dedication of every member of our team and their continued commitment to our purpose – the constant pursuit of better. It’s this philosophy that filters through all that we do, and aspire to do. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of better for our employees, partners and customers – leading to a positive contribution to oral healthcare worldwide,” he comments.

“It's an immense honour and we are thrilled by our company's achievement in winning the King's Award for Enterprise for International Trade. The award serves not only as validation of our past efforts but also as a catalyst for further growth and we’re excited about what lies ahead.”

INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEY

Prima Dental has had a meteoric rise to success over the last 10 years to see it become the largest dental bur (drill) manufacturer in the world – fuelled by its remarkable international trade performance. In that time, it has expanded its reach to supply more than 90 countries, supported by two joint ventures in Brazil and Hong Kong and two subsidiaries in China and India.

The company’s trade strategy has focussed on growing its market share in mature markets, including the USA, Europe and Middle East as well as developing countries like India, Brazil and China. Critical to this approach has been the depth of market understanding, commitment to long-term relationships, investment in machinery and talent, alongside a constant focus on innovation to spearhead exciting new technologies.

Today, more than 90% of Prima Dental’s £37.6m turnover is generated from international trade and this is expected to increase to more than £50m by the end of 2025.

FUTURE FOCUS

These impressive turnover targets are set to be met by developing its business in Brazil, India and China to service demand at a regional level with business structures and strategies that align with the markets they serve.

These developing markets are seeing an increase in the number of dental professionals and cosmetic practitioners – a growth area that Prima Dental is uniquely positioned to capitalise on. This is thanks to the company’s market knowledge and ability to adapt its product ranges to reflect the specific and particular preferences of each territory. And, it’s this approach that enables Prima Dental to not only manufacture and supply high-quality products at a price point that would have historically only given clinicians access to low-quality products, but also avoids onerous import tariffs and minimises environmental impacts.

Longer term, the company aims to diversify and enhance its product portfolio to include medical instrumentation, boosting its offering to international markets even further.

And, given its past success, continual commitment to improvement and trio of royal awards, you can feel confident that these aims will be met. The future is certainly bright for this booming business.

THE KING'S AWARDS

The King’s Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, were renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The Award programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.

To find out more, visit the website www.primadental.com