UK: Britain's Best Factories - Best Small Factory - Winner - HD Plastics.

The Best Small Factory Award went to HD Plastics, chosen from a survey of factories with no more than 500 employees all industries were eligible any industry Electronics Industry Award - electronics and electrical engineering.

HD Plastics was set up in 1977 in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire to make black refuse sacks for the growing local authority market. Tendering for council contracts is a notoriously cut-throat business - this year's surprise gain might be next year's equally abrupt loss when a competitor shaves a fraction off his price. Quality and innovation play second fiddle to price. In 1982, when the major supermarkets started selling refuse sacks, HD decided to reduce its exposure to the contract roller coaster, and at the same time branch out into the production of kitchen binliners.