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In a move to further reinforce its reputation for new product development, SMC Corporation – the worldwide leading experts in pneumatics – has been ranked in the top 50 of the "World’s most innovative companies" according to US publishing giant, Forbes. SMC was recognised for building a culture of innovation to help its customers become more successful, which has been a major influence in their overall success.
The listing, which includes other globally successful brands such as Apple, Google and Amazon, is compiled based on expected future innovation results – for example, progress in new products, services and markets. At position 49 from a total 100, not only is SMC listed in the absence of its competitors – but it is ranked higher than numerous other global industrial giants, many of which are household names.
A heavy emphasis on innovation is key to SMC’s activities, investing 10 per cent of turnover into research and development initiatives. The company launches around 50 new products every year, in addition to its standard product offering of 11,000 products and 600,000 variant options.
Head of Sales for SMC’s UK subsidiary, Nick Pittwood, said it was an honour that the company’s ongoing work to develop new solutions for their customers had been acknowledged on a global scale. "We are delighted that our constant focus on new product development, including many non-pneumatic related components, has been recognised at this level", he said.
"Our business strategy has always maintained a strong focus on developing products to meet the needs of our customers; this philosophy, combined with substantial investment in R&D has made us the global market leaders in pneumatics and taken us into many new, peripheral markets" he concluded.
