Manufacturer brands skills slippage ‘a national scandal’

David Fox, chairman and chief executive at the multi award-winning PP Electrical Systems said he believed that UK manufacturers would be instrumental in hauling the UK out of the current recession, but they could no longer rely on help from the Government when it came to training employees. "As business leaders, we have to stop relying on financial help from the Government and start to recognise that investment in training should be an everyday part of running a successful business," he went on. "Contrary to what many firms may believe, improving the skills of employees does more than pay for itself and will actually have a positive impact on the company's bottom line. "If UK manufacturing firms want to improve their business performance, they need to start viewing training as an investment rather than a cost to the business. We have to halt the UK's slide down the international training and skills leagues. It's a national scandal that the UK is the sixth largest manufacturing nation in the world in terms of output but has now fallen to 17th in the world in terms of workshop skills. And the situation will deteriorate unless we all do something about it now." Fox's own company has been through more than a decade-long struggle to improve its own performance. The business, which started as an assembler of electrical control panels, has seen its revenues (and profits) more than treble since 2000, with revenues set to increase again this year despite the recession. The foundation for this success, says Fox, came from investing in training the workforce, as well as going through the pains of a comprehensive, but ultimately rewarding culture change programme. PP success in training and developing the skills of its own workforce, led it to offer training to external customers, some from completely different industries. "There is no easy shortcut to success. It is essential to train every person in the company, not just isolated groups. And training must be a continuous process," advises Fox. "That means training admin and office-based staff, as well as production. If you don't get buy in from all areas of the business, any performance initiative such as a lean or 5S project, is likely to fail. Everyone has to be pulling in the same direction." In 2000, PP set up its own training school, which is now called PP Business Improvement. "The primary objectives of this new school were to provide structured learning facilities to all employees, as well as act as a catalyst in changing peoples' attitude towards change throughout the business," states Fox. Every member of the workforce now spends an average of 200 hours per year on training and project exercises. The structured learning includes kaizen, Health & Safety, 5S, advanced lean, Seven Wastes and Six Sigma. "The training here is closely geared to our business objectives. 40% of the training is theoretical or classroom-based, with the other 60% being practical exercises that are carried out in that person's own work area," explains Fox. "The problems solved in the training exercises are not generic business problems, but real issues that will affect the company's bottom line. This is very different to what most companies receive from a training course provider." Although there is clearly a cost associated with training, Fox believes the economics are very simple. The more you train people, the better they will perform in their daily jobs and so the better the business will perform as a result. The more you train your employees, the more you start to uncover the 'hidden factory' and the costs associated with this. Scrap, re-work, manual errors and other quality issues are revealed and eliminated through training and focused projects. "Once you've eliminated these hidden costs, you will have more than paid for the costs of the training," he argues. www.ppbusinessimprovement.co.uk.