This week we welcomed three industry leaders at the Backing Britain Breakfast Morning to discuss their best practices or a success story that has helped their business in some way. Ken Cleal from Stauff UK, Adrian Painter from Tri-Tech 3D and Phil Stanley from Threeway Pressings discussed keeping up employee morale during the pandemic and success in diversifying.
The Backing Britain Breakfast Mornings from the Made in Group, is a unique virtual networking event exclusively for members hosted every fortnight on zoom. Attendees have the opportunity to hear from up to three industry leaders from various industries across the Midlands and Yorkshire manufacturing community, sharing their best practices and company successes. What makes Backing Britain breakfast mornings unique, is the opportunity to network in breakout rooms with 4-5 other industry professionals, to discuss chosen topics and build all important industry relationships.
Kicking off this week’s breakfast morning with hosts Stauff, Tri-Tech 3D and Threewaypressings, members heard from Charles Addison, Managing Director of the Made in Group. Charles discussed why members should get involved with the Backing Britain 3.0 expo and the reasons why it is a virtual exhibition, rather than an in person affair. As with every other event from the Made in Group, members were then given the chance to introduce themselves and their businesses.
The last 18 months have been difficult for everyone, especially in our working lives where uncertainty crept in, not knowing if our employment was secure. Ken Cleal, Operations Manager at Stauff UK, highlighted that their business wanted to ensure that furloughed staff were still engaged through regular communication.
Stauff UK, based in South Yorkshire, has a 200+ strong employee work force of which 75% were furloughed during the height of the pandemic. Ken said:
“During the pandemic mental health for everyone seemed to be a struggle, and especially for those who were furloughed and uncertain of what the future may hold. However our mission was to set out a road map to keep employees engaged and confident in the business, this saw us send monthly newsletters and bi-weekly phone calls to keep everyone in the loop”
Staff are at the heart of every business. That’s why going forward Stauff UK wanted to ensure employees have a say in the day to day operations, utilising their creativity to enhance their current processes. This is facilitated by a notice board where staff can leave comments after a morning briefing.
Recruitment in manufacturing is an ongoing issue due to the well known skills shortage. Whilst not encouraged by the pandemic, Adrian Painter, Managing Director of Tri-Tech 3D, said that their business wanted to eliminate taking on staff quickly as a “quick fix” to a challenge within the business. Therefore they began prioritising only recruiting people with the same mindset and culture.
This seems to be a success so far and the business is also encouraging new starters to ask questions about processes so they can collate ideas and improve their day to day operations.
Finally, the 30 + members who joined the breakfast morning heard from Phil Stanley, Managing Director of Threeway Pressings. Phil’s story was slightly different to the others, promoting positivity now that we are beginning to see the other side of the pandemic.
Threeway Pressings have had a successful 2 years, despite the challenges they faced. So much so that the company started with 3 CNC machines at the start of the pandemic and have managed to invest in another 8. Not including the plans to purchase another sliding head lathe this year. In addition, the business also managed to reshore work back from China for their Paterson Photographic range. Phil said:
“Whilst the last couple of years have been challenging and interesting, it's important for us to keep positive and moving forward. Manufacturing is strong and I would encourage everyone to diversify their business to open themselves up to more opportunities. I would like to thank the Made in Group for supporting the sector and bringing like minded business leaders together.”