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Power Panels excels at 2008 Best Factory Awards
10
October
2008
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Power Panels excels at 2008 Best Factory Awards Power Panels Electrical Systems has put itself at the forefront of UK manufacturing by scooping an incredible four awards at the 2008 Best Factory Awards.
The Walsall-based company was awarded Best Small Company, Best Electronics and Electrical Plant, the Skills Development Award, and the overall title of Barclays Factory of the Year.
The awards are the latest accolade for a business which has grown over the last decade from being a local supplier of control panels to building complete machines for some of the world's leading equipment manufacturers.
With a turnover of £20m and 180 employees, Power Panels operates across sectors as diverse as printing, CNC machining, processing and packaging, industrial weighing and semi conductors.
And despite the worsening economic environment, the company's ongoing commitment to excellence and skills development have helped sales grow by 20 percent over the past 12 months, with the creation of 20 new jobs.
Managing director Tony Hague said: "The real judge of our success is the bottom line, but awards can be a fantastic benchmarking tool, as well as a real boost to everyone involved with the company.
"The Best Factory Awards are an outstanding example. They are judged by manufacturing experts from the internationally-respected Cranfield School of Management, and for us to receive the four awards we did shows continued progress in all our target areas.
"To win the overall Factory of the Year award, beating off competition from some of the very largest and best-known manufacturers in the UK, is an outstanding achievement. But perhaps the one we are proudest of is the Skills Development Award, recognising an area which is hugely important to us."
Training and skills development has been a principal catalyst for change at Power Panels since the company opened its own Excellence School of Training seven years ago.
Initially intended for internal training, the centre has proved a massive success and now sells training solutions to customers and suppliers.
Every employee at Power Panels receives at least 22 days training a year in operational, technical and continuous improvement manufacturing skills like lean, 5S, six sigma and practical problem solving. All classroom work is linked to real shopfloor work, and every employee can access technical documentation and training material through the company intranet.
The Six Sigma quality improvement model has been at the centre of everything. Two blackbelts started the process, and now Power Panels has 15 greenbelts, including all management and team leaders, with another seven in training. Out of 150 shopfloor employees, over 100 have trained as yellowbelts.
Mr Hague added: "The introduction of Six Sigma, the emphasis on skills development, and the approach of recruiting for attitude and then training for skill, have been the catalyst for real culture change.
"Before people wanted to be told what to do. Now it's a learning culture - people look and question and make decisions."
And it is this focus on skills, along with outstanding performances in quality, automation, customer-focus and achieving customer value that has seen Power Panels establish itself as one of the UK's leading manufacturers - and shown that manufacturing based on low-cost labour is no match for supreme skills and genuine dominance of the value-chain.
For more information about Power Panels, please visit: www.power-panels.co.uk |
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