Hygeia Named Manufacturer Of The Year - Small Business in the Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2025

We are proud to share that Hygeia has been awarded Manufacturer of the Year – Small Business at the 2025 Manufacturing Excellence Awards, held on May 6th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, Dublin.

This national recognition is a deeply meaningful moment for our team. It reflects not just the strength of our operations and product innovation, but the enduring values of a business that has been around since 1939. The manufacturing sector plays a vital role in Ireland’s economy employing over 250,000 people directly, driving exports, and fostering innovation in both traditional and high-tech industries.

Hygeia proudly represents the garden care, agricultural, and veterinary sectors within Ireland’s dynamic manufacturing landscape. Based in Oranmore, Co. Galway, we have operated as a family business for over 86 years. What began as a company rooted in agricultural and chemical based gardening products has evolved to deliver sustainable solutions for both professional and home use.

Our transformation over the last few years mirrors the shift in customer values, expectations and environmental priorities. Hygeia has steadily evolved its product lines to meet the demands of a more sustainability-conscious market. Today, our Nature Safe range is just one example of our commitment to creating high-performance products that are safer for people, pets, and the planet leveraging natural ingredients such as seaweed hand harvested off the Connemara coast. This award is not just a celebration of what we’ve achieved it’s a recognition of how far we’ve come and how committed we are to continuous improvement.

The Manufacturing Excellence Awards were established to recognise outstanding achievement across Ireland’s diverse and vital manufacturing sector. Judged by an independent panel of experts from academia, government, and industry, the awards evaluate businesses on innovation operational performances and many more aspects setting a high standard across the board.

Winning in the Small Business category, especially in such a competitive field, is a meaningful milestone for us. It reflects the progress we’ve made in modernising our operations, prioritising sustainability, and delivering quality through every stage of our processes. For a family business from Oranmore, this recognition underscores that dedication and innovation can make a big impact regardless of size.

This award follows a string of meaningful accolades for Hygeia over the past year. In late 2024, we were awarded Gold in Manufacturing & Engineering Family Business of the Year and Bronze in Sustainability at the Family Business Awards acknowledging both our technical performance and environmental responsibility.

Earlier this year, we were Highly Commended in Manufacturing at the Small Firms Association (SFA) Awards, reinforcing our reputation for consistency, resilience, and quality in the sector.

Awards like this are a powerful reminder that behind every product and every innovation is a team of passionate, skilled people. This win is a tribute to our entire workforce in Oranmore and beyond, whose dedication, curiosity, and drive fuel everything we do. Whether it’s refining a formulation, testing a new packaging solution, or finding more efficient ways to manufacture, it’s their daily effort that allows us to deliver excellence to customers across Ireland and beyond.

We will continue to invest in our people, processes, and products, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for a small business in a big industry.

To the Manufacturing Excellence Awards team and judging panel: thank you for this honour. To our customers, partners, and the wider Hygeia community: thank you for being part of our journey. We are excited for what comes next.