Three organisations - two Singapore food companies and a provider of utility services - won their first prizes at this year's Business Excellence Awards.

The first-time winners were caterer Neo Group, food service firm Select Group and SP Services.

The other three winners included two government agencies - the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM) - as well as Greenpac, an industrial packaging solutions provider.

Neo Group introduced several automation initiatives over the past five years that have allowed it to mitigate manpower challenges faced in the food service industry and improve productivity while ensuring consistent food quality.

Select Group has been an appointed Workforce Skills Qualifications Approved Training Organisation since 2006. It also constantly identifies gaps to address and improve operational efficiency through investments in state-of-the-art automation equipment.

DSTA provides leading-edge technological solutions to the Singapore Armed Forces by fostering an environment of creativity and innovation for defence applications. It has built up strong competencies in diverse engineering and technical disciplines over the years.

MOM said it is a pioneer in adopting behavioural insights, design thinking and business analytics to improve service design and delivery, and is one of the top public agencies in employee engagement, according to the Public Service Division's employee engagement survey last year.

The winners received their awards, which were organised by Spring Singapore, from Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and National Development, at a gala dinner in Resorts World Sentosa last night.