A Sutton Coldfied company added a second trophy to its cabinet within a month when it was named this month's winner of The Birmingham Post Business Award yesterday.

Advanced Crusher Spares was also recently presented with a Queen's Award for Industry in recognition of its achievement in exporting its products throughout the world.

The fact that the company had won a Queen's Award within five years of being founded made it stand out from rival contenders for the Birmingham Post prize, chairman of the judges David Smith, managing director of sponsor Churchill Vintners, said yesterday.

"The decision was an easy one to make this month. Never before in the 20 year-history of The Birmingham Post Business Award have we awarded the monthly prize to a company that has won a Queen's Award so soon," said Mr Smith.

ACS was founded by managing director Richard Shaw and finance director Fred Woodley in 2000 and since then it has grown into a #4.5 million-a-year business, employing more than 20 people and exporting to some 50 countries.

Exports have grown by 160 per cent and now account for about half of turnover.

Mr Shaw an opportunity when Brown Lenox, a Welsh manufacturer of crushing and demolition machines to which he supplied steel, was closed after being acquired by an American company.

He saw that the move had left hundreds of owners of Brown Lenox machines throughout the world without a supply of spare parts and decided to set up his own company to plug the gap.

ACS found demand for spares to be so strong that it later branched out in supporting machines from other manufacturers. "These crushing machines are used in places like quarries and they last a long time - some of the ones we are now supporting are 60 years old," Mr Shaw said.

"They are usually crucial to the operators' businesses and so they need a reliable supply of spare parts."

ACS imports the bulk of the castings from which its products are derived from China, which competes well on price and quality.

But it now also makes about 30 per cent of its own castings and has begun re-engineering some of its Chinese imports to higher specifications.

The company now also plans diversifying into manufacturing waste recycling equipment and is also looking to make an acquisition, according to business development director Peter Youlton.

"Our plan is to increase turnover to #7 million a year within two years and we are well on track to achieving that," Mr Youlton said.

"We have no statistics on the total size of the market we are in but we have taken a #4.5 million share of whatever is there and we must be taking business away from our competitors."

Mr Shaw and Mr Youlton praised the support given to ACS's export drive by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"They have helped us to identify potential markets and potential customers within those markets," said Mr Youlton.

"We now export to more than 30 countries every month and have sold parts to more than 50 in total

The sponsors

The main sponsors of the Birmingham Post Business Awards are Intercity Mobile Communications and Churchill Vintners in association with Champagne Taittinger. British Airways and Aston Business School provide further support, along with Biz-tv, part of Aston Media at Aston University, which produces a business video of each monthly winner worth #2,500