INDUSTRYNEWS
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
DELIVERS G13 WIN FOR SGGUK
Dara O’Brian and Chris Powell, Business
Development Director of Epwin Group Window
Systems Division (far right) presents Andy Hyde
of Saint-Gobain Glass with their G13 Award.
Continuing the company’s winning streak
– it picked up the 2011 Retail Promotional
Campaign of the year award – SaintGobain Glass UK has been presented with
the Training & Development Initiative
of the Year trophy at the recent G13
ceremony.
The G-Awards judges decided that
SGGUK’s ‘MKT2’ (Manufacturing
Knowhow through Transfer & Training)
online training system, designed specifically
for the company, was a worthy winner.
Although it is used throughout Saint-Gobain
Glass’ 36 glass plants across the world, the
UK plant in Eggborough is the leader of the
project with its modules used as templates
worldwide.
The MKT2 program allows flexibility for
the company’s operators and its continuous
improvement philosophy is what sets it apart
from other training programs. The company’s
people train monthly enabling operational
insight to be quickly shared across all shifts.
Evaluations and feedback are a key part of the
learning cycle as they can check knowledge
retention and identify training gaps.
GGF SCEPTICAL ABOUT
GOVERNMENT’S GREEN
DEAL OPTIMISM
The Green Deal has failed to enthuse homeowners and
has had no signify impact on the industry, says the GGF.
The response came after GGF
representatives attended the UK GBC
(Green Building Council) conference
“Towards Green Deal 2.0” on 21st January,
at which Greg Barker MP, Minister of State
for Energy and Climate Change announced
the latest government figures on Green Deal
and ECO.
He said: “As I look back on the Green Deal’s
first year, despite the critics, the programme
has seen an encouraging start. The Green
Deal is a world-first and long-term initiative
designed to upgrade the energy efficiency
of Britain’s homes. The most ambitious
home improvement programme since the
Second World War. But it is exactly that, a
home improvement programme, not just a
programme to shift finance plans.”
‘not just a programme
to shift finance plans’
But the GGF’s figures showed that:
Only one window installation had taken
place using Green Deal finance up to
December 2013; just 24 double glazing
measures were installed with Cashback, up to
end of December 2013, in England and Wales
only; the number of window installations
using ECO funding included:
1. 4 via the Carbon Saving Community
element of ECO
2. These represent 0.1% of the measures
installed via ECO funding
14
MAR 2014
Giles Willson, GGF Deputy Chief Executive
and Director of Technical Affairs commented
on the latest figures, “Green Deal has failed
to enthuse homeowners and has had no
significant impact on the industry. The latest
Government statistics clearly show a very poor
uptake and this is mainly because the scheme
is overly complicated, unattractive and has
not been promoted to homeowners effectively.
To have such a low quantity of window
installations under both Green Deal and ECO
sharply underlines why the scheme is simply
not working for the replacement window
industry and changes have to be made.”
The GGF asked the Minister, “With up
to 20% of heat potentially escaping from
inefficient windows, aren’t you concerned that
only one window installation has happened
under Green Deal?”
Mr Barker said he is keen to listen to
suggestions to do more for windows, “which
are an important part of Green Deal and
energy efficiency”.
To read more, visit www.clearview-uk.com