INNOVATION
Sponsored by Gestamp
THE FINALISTS
Gestamp plant press and site services manager Graham Moore presents the Innovation award to Carl and Kat Howe from Valhalla North .
‘ BLOOD , SWEAT AND TEARS ’ MADE AWARD WIN POSSIBLE , SAY AXE- THROWING VENTURE FOUNDERS
An award win for innovation to an axe throwing venture was the result of 16 months of blood , sweat and tears , say its founders . Valhalla North is the UK ’ s number one independent axe throwing venue , owned and run by husband-and-wife Carl and Kat Howe , the IATF highest ranked male and female in Europe .
The young venture won the Innovation category at the 2022 Make Your Mark Awards , held in association with Husqvarna .
“ There ’ s literally blood , sweat and tears gone into the last 16 months , so it ’ s nice to see it pay off ,” said Carl .
“ We ’ re absolutely blown away to win this . We came into it thinking ‘ it ’ s fantastic to be nominated but even if we don ’ t win anything , we ’ ll still have a great night ’.
“ It ’ s amazing to be even mentioned in the same breath as some of the other companies who have been nominated so to win one is breath-taking .”
Valhalla North offers expert tuition in axe throwing for all aged 8 +, competitive leagues , junior leagues , ladies only leagues , mobile axe throwing and archery .
It is currently in its third year of business after opening in November 2019 . It now has four full-time and two part-time employees .
Valhalla North has remained a profitable business throughout the pandemic and after months of lockdowns and reduced numbers .
They were shortlisted in the Company of the Year , Newcomer and the Environment categories in the Make Your Mark Awards , as well as winning the Innovation award .
Kat said : “ We know we do have an innovative product and we ’ ve really tried to be the first for lots of things within our industry , so to win it has shown we are doing the right thing and doing our best .
“ Axe throwing as a sport is a very new thing in the UK , but we ’ re really trying to push it because it is massive everywhere else in the world .
“ But we also try to further that with the digital stuff and being the first to do everything within the UK – all of our leagues , members are doing everything for the people in the community as well .
“ We also put a lot of research into what it would mean for us to be able to teach it ourselves . We got sick of travelling and thought ‘ let ’ s have go – there ’ s nothing in the North-East ’ – and two-and-a-half years later , we ’ re winning awards , which is great .”
The Innovation category was sponsored by Gestamp , with the firm ’ s plant press and site services manager Graham Moore presenting the award on the night .
Gestamp ’ s plant manager Jonathan Phillips said : “ We were delighted to get involved with the Make Your Mark Awards .
“ As a company , we ’ re keen to support local initiatives where we can and to get to know our neighbours more , so these awards were an excellent opportunity for us to do both .”
Excelpoint Based at The Work Place on Aycliffe Business Park , Excelpoint operates in the global no-code business-process automation sector .
The firm has built its success and reputation working in partnership with customers to identify business-critical challenges and address them with its nocode software .
Excelpoint ’ s platform eradicates the short failings of off-the-shelf products and overcomes the costs , risks and slow delivery time of bespoke development .
Its no-code platform has been developed over 18 years , and as a mature product , it offers one of the highest levels of functionality on the market .
Its scalability enables thousands of users to access the platform simultaneously while enabling them to self-build complex enterprise-wide systems without writing a single line of code .
Cobots Online Cobots Online – part of Aycliffe-based ALM Products – develops industrial cobots that can automate and streamline repetitive industrial processes , enabling production departments to assign staff members to more critical or enjoyable tasks .
This process creates jobs that provide new challenges and adds value to companies .
Many manufacturers are turning to industrial cobots ( collaborative robots ) to help solve labour shortages , increase productivity and improve product quality . Cobot-based automation provides a cost-effective , flexible and safe solution for a wide range of production tasks .
Industrial cobots effectively handle repetitive , dull or dangerous jobs , allowing operators to work on higher value tasks .
ALM has successfully continued to innovate and develop automation products for manufacturing environments , developing new markets despite the setbacks of Covid .
28 | Aycliffe Business