Rockford Components’ business success secures best practice award

The Sharing in Growth (SiG) Inspire trophy was handed over at the end of September in front of the plant’s 100-strong Worshop workforce who were praised for their skills and commitment by Bassetlaw MP John Mann and aerospace and defence industry experts. A trophy and certificate were also presented to Rockford managing director Peter Lion by SiG chief Andy Page.

Rockford, which has plants in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Rendlesham, Suffolk and Salisbury, Wiltshire, was selected for the SiG transformation programme in 2014. Since then, Rockford has developed its business significantly, changed its culture, created a farsighted strategy and delivered operational performance in line with world-class practices.

Presenting the award, Page said: “As a country we have surprisingly low productivity compared with competitors in the USA, Germany and France. SiG was created to help companies compete globally in high value manufacturing, making jobs more fulfilling, rewarding and secure. Ambitious companies deserve support so SiG is proud to have played a part in Rockford’s fabulous success.”

Accepting the award, Lion said: “We have grown from being a small family firm in 1978 to becoming the UK’s largest independent provider of wiring, interconnect and system solutions for the defence, aerospace, marine and nuclear industries. The traditional UK family-run business can only go so far and we had started to hit the glass ceiling. We recognised that we needed to change and improve. Fortunately, SiG gave us the path to deliver and we now have the structure and capability to deliver and sustain growth.”

The SiG programme is endorsed by Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bombardier, GE, GKN, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales. It is supported by the Regional Growth Fund and more than £150 million in private investment.