GP Acoustics has been named best manufacturer

A Kent-based loudspeaker manufacturer is sounding great after scooping two national awards.

Maidstone-based GP Acoustics UK, renowned for its KEF products, has been named best manufacturing business in the country.

The company not only won the Innovative Operating Practices Award at the national final of the EEF Future Manufacturing Awards 2011, but was also named "winner of winners".

KEF - Kent Engineering and Foundry - has been based in the County Town since 1961 and celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

GP Acoustics UK won the accolades for pioneering technology and manufacturing processes that enabled it to break into a high-end market sector with its widely acclaimed Blade loudspeaker.

Judges hailed the business as an inspiring example of a company empowering the next generation of UK engineers.

Barry Dock, head of project/mechanical engineering, said: "Following our success, KEF is committed to the further application of advanced materials and techniques - a key differentiator in the high-end loudspeaker market."

Jim Davison, south east region director for EEF, said: "It's a real feather in the cap of the South East manufacturing sector and it clearly illustrates the value of supporting a sector made up of 45,000 businesses contributing £45 billion to the UK economy."