ABBOTT Laboratories, the Queenborough, Sheppey, subsidiary of the American-owned broad-based global healthcare company, has received the Numero Uno award for outstanding performance and excellence in the area of manufacturing.

It was presented to the workforce at a ceremony attended by several prominent members of the parent company who flew in from Chicago for the sole purpose of bestowing the award and paying tribute to an excellent business.

Steve Lichter, Abbott's vice president of international manufacturing, said: "Queenborough have done an outstanding job around the Abbott world. We wanted to recognise the best. The firm's safety record, its financial results and its quality have made it the rightful winner of the largest plant award."

The awards are the company's internal worldwide scheme for the recognition and promotion of excellence. The awards are entered voluntarily and are hotly contested throughout the group's 30 plants across the world.