MOTOR engineering group TWR has won a national award for its use of technology, writes David Duffy.

The group, based at Leafield, near Witney, beat more than 300 entries including firms like Alstom, ICL, Westland, BP Amoco, Marks & Spencer, Dell and BT to win the Digital Britain award for best use of information technology for enhanced innovation.

The firm operates a 2.3m virtual reality design studio at its Oxfordshire base and is one of the top five users of computer aided design in the UK.

The award recognises the best use of IT to improve:

* Product quality

* Time to market

* Customer feedback.

TWR Engineering is a major organisation providing engineering services and road and racecar design and development services worldwide.

The company is best known for its motorsport activity with the Orange Arrows team in Formula One, 85 per cent of its business is actually road car engineering, where the company works globally with leading automotive manufacturers to provide a full range of engineering services, from styling and design, to full-scale engineering and manufacturing.

TWR is currently working on a major project for Renault, developing the new Renault Clio Sport V6 model. The company is an increasingly global organisation, with operations in the UK, Sweden, Australia and the US.

Continued expansion with manufacturing operations in Australia and Sweden has caused increased pressure to integrate its own operations and strengthen supply chain links with external partners.