The Manufacturer MX Awards 2026: Smart Factory Finalist
On 18 August 2026, The Manufacturer announced the finalists of the TMMX Awards 2026 — and among the five companies shortlisted in the Smart Factory category is Prime Sash Windows powered by Joinery Core.
That's our workshop. And that's this software.
What are The Manufacturer MX Awards?
The TMMX Awards are run by The Manufacturer magazine in partnership with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), and are widely described as UK manufacturing's most rigorous awards programme. Entries go through independent, peer-reviewed judging — first on written submissions, then through an in-depth Q&A presentation in front of the judging panel. In 2026, 57 finalists were selected across 15 categories, from ambitious SMEs to global brands.
The Smart Factory category
The Smart Factory finalists for 2026 are:
- Amtico
- Bacardi
- LISI Aerospace (Blanc Aero Industries UK)
- Prime Sash Windows powered by Joinery Core
- Pukka Pies
A London timber window workshop standing next to a global flooring manufacturer, a drinks giant and an aerospace supplier. We're proud of that line-up — and honest about it too: this is a finalist place, not a win. The judges' presentations happen in the autumn, and winners are announced at the ceremony on 11 November 2026. You can see the full finalist list in The Manufacturer's official announcement.
Who is Prime Sash Windows?
Prime Sash Windows is the timber window and door brand of Skylon Joinery — the London workshop where Joinery Core was built. It's the same workshop we write about across this site: the founder runs it, his team clocks in there every morning, and every feature in Joinery Core was shaped by what that workshop needed to run properly.
What "powered by Joinery Core" means in practice
The "smart factory" part isn't robots — it's information moving without friction. In the workshop that reached the finals, Joinery Core handles:
- Production planning — every project as one row on a Gantt timeline, phases from timber to dispatch, the whole team seeing the same screen
- Stock that books itself — purchase order deliveries go IN automatically, project material usage goes OUT automatically; manual adjustments are the exception, not the routine
- Purchasing — low-stock alerts collected into supplier-ready order emails in two clicks
- Machine knowledge on tap — an AI assistant that has read the workshop's machine manuals and answers setup, maintenance and troubleshooting questions on the shop floor
- Timesheets, holidays and job costing — hours, absence and money in the same system as production
It's the exact same product any workshop can sign up for below — not an internal version, not a demo build.
What happens next
The finalists now go through the second judging round — a detailed Q&A presentation in front of the independent panel — with winners announced on 11 November 2026 in London. Whatever happens on the night, having the way our workshop runs benchmarked against the best in UK manufacturing is exactly why we entered.
Run your workshop on the same system
Joinery Core is the exact software behind this Smart Factory finalist — estimating, production, stock, purchasing, team and finances in one place.