The awards honour SEA’s Optimus transformation project with a Gold Team Business Excellence Award, alongside a Bronze Individual Business Excellence Award for Brittany Pollock, Quality Assurance Manager at SEA Canada. These awards reflect SEA’s continued commitment to operational excellence, sustainable growth, and values-driven leadership across its international operations.
SEA’s award-winning Optimus project set out to fundamentally transform its Barnstaple manufacturing site to support long-term strategic growth. Delivered across three carefully planned phases, the programme optimised building layouts, improved workflows, expanded product production capacity, and created space for scaled production in future years, most notably supporting the Ancilia product line and the major EWCM1A contract for the UK Royal Navy.
Every improvement was designed with purpose, optimising layouts for efficiency, creating functional spaces for collaboration and training, and ensuring investments delivered measurable benefits such as increased capacity and revenue growth. The team embraced change with agility, overcoming challenges and inspiring others across the organisation to adopt continuous improvement practices.
The impact of the Optimus project has been transformative. The SEA Barnstaple site now boasts modern and efficient workspaces, and a manufacturing floorplate capable of large-scale, high-efficiency production. Capacity increases have supported new product introductions and contributed to a doubling of annual revenue during the project, alongside significant local job creation.
Beyond physical improvements, the Optimus team and overall project has influenced a positive culture. By showing how investment, planning, and teamwork can deliver results, the project has encouraged colleagues throughout SEA to think bigger and embrace change as a driver of long-term success.
SEA’s Individual Business Excellence Award was presented to Brittany Pollock, recognising her exceptional contribution to the growth and organisational maturity of SEA Canada.
As SEA Canada has rapidly expanded; doubling in size, opening a second facility in a new city, and extending its scope to include project delivery and manufacturing, Brittany’s role has grown to encompass Risk Management and Production Management. She has been instrumental in developing the systems, processes, and tools needed to support this expansion, while continuing to provide consistent support to colleagues across both Canada and the UK.
What sets Brittany apart is her leadership style. She steps in where support is needed, fosters collaborative problem-solving, and drives rapid but inclusive delivery. By setting up effective processes, demonstrating their value, and then empowering others to take ownership, she has helped build a culture of continuous improvement that is fully aligned with the SEA Group and Cohort values.
Commenting on the awards, Richard Flitton, Managing Director at SEA said: “Winning both a Team and an Individual Cohort Business Excellence Award is something we are incredibly proud of, because together they represent the very best of SEA. The Optimus project shows what we can achieve when we combine clear strategy, investment, and collaboration to transform our capabilities for the future. Brittany’s award recognises the kind of leadership that underpins sustainable growth; values-driven, and focused on doing things the right way to achieve the right outcome. Both achievements reflect the culture we are building across SEA and SEA Canada, and the people who make that possible.”
The Cohort Business Excellence Awards highlight the strength of SEA’s teams, the impact of its strategic investments, and the leadership of individuals who live the company’s values. They reflect a business that is growing with purpose, and delivering excellence for our people, customers, and partners.
Join us at our Apprentice Open Evening
SEA Ltd, Barnstaple
9 February
