Q Why are you backing the Best Factory Awards 2014?
As a global manufacturing organisation employing over 79,000 people, Schaeffler always welcomes the opportunity to promote best practice and continuous improvement and to share its achievements throughout the Group.
Sponsorship of the Best Factory Awards is therefore the perfect fit, as they provide UK manufacturers with an excellent platform to share their best practice achievements for the benefit of all manufacturing companies, and to benchmark themselves against the best in the business.
It is always incredibly exciting to hear about the journey that the shortlisted candidates have undertaken and to learn from them about some of the pitfalls along the way that they've turned into learning opportunities in order to improve productivity or achieve their growth targets. The awards scheme always reaches a diverse range of organisations, but the common denominator is that they are all willing to improve in order to compete on the national and, in many cases, international stage.
The enthusiasm and dedication of all employees belonging to the organisations that have entered is extremely infectious and I challenge all attendees of the awards ceremony and the Best Factory Conference not to go away feeling extremely uplifted, enlightened and proud to be part of UK manufacturing.
Q What is the biggest challenge for UK manufacturers in the next year?
The exodus of skills and craftsmen following several years of gradual decline has to be the biggest challenge faced by the UK's manufacturing base over the next 12 months. Skills such as tool making are extremely hard to redevelop once the knowledge and experience of highly trained craftsmen are lost, either through retirement, restructuring or transfer overseas.
With the rise of manufacturing in Asia, many of the skills were transferred and businesses closed in the UK as a result. Now that the UK is experiencing a revival as a manufacturing location of choice for many businesses, we need to be consciously retaining our 'old guard' and the skills that once made manufacturing in the UK great. These individuals can then be used to train and educate the various apprentice schemes that are being reintroduced.
Q What should manufacturers know about Schaeffler?
Schaeffler has always been associated with its ability to produce quality engineering products, but what most people do not know is the intense focus on its people development. A workforce that is proud of its brand and has a 'willingness to be the best' is a recipe for success. This is the model that is being rolled out, not just in the UK, but across the global Schaeffler manufacturing network.
Schaeffler has a culture of shopfloor empowerment and encouragement of its employees to take a more active role in its continuous improvement and day-to-day improvement activities. This promotes employee engagement and a much better alignment of all its staff with the needs of the business and the business KPIs.
Q What do you wish was made in GB?
More automobiles as we certainly have the market in the UK. These companies drive the supply chain to invest and the manufacturing business prospers as a result. The ever-increasing price of fuel is forcing manufacturers to invest more and more in local manufacture, which will have a positive impact on the local supply chain.
This has been demonstrated by the fact that many businesses have already made movements to reduce supply chain cost and pull work back from Asia to re-invest closer to the market. I would expect other industries to follow the same pattern over the next two to three years.
Q If you could bestow one gift on UK manufacturing, what would it be?
The gift would have to be a government that provides consistent and sustainable support and policies for UK manufacturing. This would need to go hand-in-hand with a more supportive banking system, particularly for UK SMEs.
We need to rebalance the economy post recession and to reverse the hollowing out of the industry that has taken place in the past decade. This means persuading the banks to look more favourably on manufacturing firms who urgently need funds to be made available so that they can grow and prosper. Many have very healthy export orders, for example, but don't have the financial support they require.
Q What makes British manufacturing great?
Without a doubt, the people. They are flexible, proud and determined. If Schaeffler UK had the opportunity to choose a country to manufacture a product anywhere in the world with everything being equal, I personally believe we would struggle to find a better team than the one we already have.
