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Regional award, Example of Excellence

Brother Industries (UK) Ltd - Wales People Development Award - Winner

Investing in our employees created a pool of resources to respond to fast changing business needs.

Craig McCubbinManaging Director, Brother Industries (UK) Ltd

Brother Industries (UK) Ltd. (BIUK), believe in making people their business. They believe that a business cannot achieve optimum success if it does not have the workforce, with the correct skills, to support or manage it. With 220 employees on their books, BIUK continuously strives to maintain a well balanced and motivated workforce.

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Introduction

A manufacturing plant based in Ruabon, Wrexham, Brother Industries Ltd. (or BIUK) is the recycling technology factory for the Brother Group. The business includes manufacturing typewriters, the re-manufacture of printers and faxes, as well as the maintenance of Pitney Bowes Franking Machines.    However their core business is the manufacture and recycling of toner cartridges and they are responsible for the Brother collection schemes that run throughout Europe.

Through the 26 years that BIUK has been in Business, staff have seen the production lines change to accommodate market trends and as a result have picked up a variety of skills.  The factory’s and the employees’ flexibility to change is what makes the business a sustainable one.

Process

Brother has achieved this by training and up-skilling staff, offering flexibility for employees to change roles in the workplace, instilling pride through recognition and community involvement, listening to employees via employee satisfaction meetings and an annual Employee Survey. In addition they recruit locally and support diversity (20% of employees are of European/International origin at BIUK).

They encourage innovation from staff through Continuous Improvement Teams (CITs) and a suggestion scheme (The Kaizen Suggestion Scheme). Communication is very strong and delivered via meetings, briefings, notice boards and the intranet. Brother provides a safe work environment by adhering to Health & Safety law with the assistance of an H&S Committee and first aiders. The company provides good benefits i.e. flexible working hours, good rates of pay and a pension scheme which in turn results in a very low percentage turnover of staff.

Business sustainability depends largely on having the right people, with the right skills, who can help to develop the business, which is why training and development plays such an essential role.  In 2008, BIUK implemented the following process to launch their training programme:

  • Future Leaders Programme established in 2009 to identify, assess and develop future leadership roles i.e. managers, project managers.
  • Steering Groups/Working Groups made up of managerial and supervisory staff that formulate strategy and then implement the actions with their team or line staff. 
  • Continuous Improvement Teams (CITs) made up of production staff that generate ideas and decide on projects that will have a cost, environmental or efficiency saving for the factory. 
  • Volunteer/community projects where employees can learn a new skill, demonstrate leadership ability; showcase their talents thereby building confidence, team and community spirit.
  • Kaizen suggestion scheme, open to all employees, no matter what grade. If a suggestion is used a reward is given.

Impact

  • 16 staff members passed Brother's Future Leaders programme
  • Employee driven Continuous Improvement Teams (CITs) has led to £15k worth of savings covering energy consumption, re-use of pallets and reductions in the amount of stretch wrap used
  • Brother received over 100 suggestions as a result of Kaizen suggestion scheme in 2010
  • Overall employee turnover rate for the UK is reported to be 13.5%. Currently Brother Industries has achieved 0.9% employee turnover (63% employees have 5 years service and above)
  • 95% of the Management Team advanced through promotions and recognition of skills including those who originally started out on the production floor
  • 2412 total training hours invested to date
  • Total production efficiency improvement of 94.7% against a target of 84.8%
  • Provision on average of 4 two week placements annually to school children for work experience

See also

Download the Wales Awards for Excellence case study book

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