THE Queen’s representative in Dorset has presented a royal award to a business that is transforming the way companies remove harmful dust and fumes from the workplace.

BOFA International was handed the Queen’s Award for Innovation by the Lord Lieutenant for Dorset, Angus Campbell.

The business, which was started in its founder’s garage, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

The award is for its patented Intelligent Operating (iQ) platform, which enhances the performance of filtration systems in industrial processes, while also improving productivity.

Tony Lockwood, managing director of BOFA, which is based at Creekmoor Industrial Estate, said: “BOFA started as a small family business in a garage and has thrived over the last 30 years through a spirit of innovation.

“Today, we fly the flag for British manufacturing in over 100 countries around the world and we are very proud to add the Queen’s Award for Innovation to the Queen’s Award for Export we received in 2012. The award is testament to the vision and hard work of an incredibly talented group of people.”

BOFA was launched in 1987 and has grown into a global technology leader, employing more than 200 people in Poole, with offices in the USA and Germany.

Its systems remove harmful airborne contaminants created by production processes in sectors including laser, electronics, mechanical engineering, printing, 3D printing, medical, pharmaceutical, dental and beauty.

The iQ platform has introduced enhancements, including independent filter status monitoring and remote data analysis, to improve dust and fume extraction efficiency. This reduces the risk of production downtime and lowers the lifetime cost of owning technology

Mr Lockwood said: “Our continuous investment in research and development has enabled us to grow a worldwide customer base, but we still retain the family values that were so important to the founders of the company.

“These pillars have enabled us to grow strongly, particularly in recent years. As a new management team in 2015, we set an objective to double our revenues within a five year period and for our US operation to treble in size. We are one year ahead of that plan, having grown by 30 per cent in the last trading year alone.”

The company is planning to bring iQ2 to market, providing cloud-based system diagnostics and more extensive remote operational control.