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PRO INSTALLER SEPTEMBER 2015
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
BECOMING INVINCIBLE
It is no big secret that the construction industry is currently undergoing a major skills shortage
and both the Government and related associations and organisations are encouraging
companies within the industry to engage in training and apprenticeship schemes.
One company which has
embraced these recommendations is one of the UK’s
largest PVCu sliding sash
window manufacturers,
Quickslide.
With over 90% of Quickslide’s
120 employees either currently
in or scheduled for some form of
training, Michael Connor, Managing Director, tells Pro Installer
about the importance the company places on training and developing its staff and how this has
helped the business grow and
move forward.
Quickslide has forty-two staff
currently participating in the
widely recognised, NVQ level 2
training scheme for ‘Performing
Manufacturing Operations (PMO)’
and eleven staff studying towards
a ‘Lean Manufacturing’ apprenticeship in ‘Business Improvement
Techniques (BIT)’. An outstanding
record by any stretch, but couple this with a further sixty of its
workforce due to conduct health
and safety refresher courses, the
overall enthusiasm and passion
of this business to instil an ethos
of development and motivation to
encourage staff to learn, is exceptional.
All courses are
delivered by external
accredited companies
and look at enhancing
staff skills in:
• Overall business performance –
ensuring employees understand
the business
• Reducing costs and reduction
in process variation and waste
within the business – securing
its long-term future
• Boost employee morale and
motivation – people then look
forward to coming to work and
being listened to
• Improve the overall quality of
the workforce – raise skill sets
and produce more problem
solvers
• Reduce workplace accidents and
incidents – raise awareness and
levels of responsibility
Michael comments: “Having a
strong focus on training is good
for business; an engaged workforce will deliver up to 20% more.
We don’t just talk about our
people being our biggest asset;
we actually back it up with decent
training and employee engagement.”
Michael believes in putting profits back in to the business and, in
particular, through its staff, noting
that training is a more than worthy investment:
“If we have a turnover of staff
that is almost zero, and we do,
we have a team that can deliver
consistent quality and profit. Constantly having to bring new people
into a business is very costly and
usually means quality standards
drop for a time and the resulting
costs have a major impact on profits. We therefore want to invest in
the good people we have working
for us and put the money back in
to the business through our staff
training and development.
“There will never be a good time
to train staff, we do it because we
have a vision to be the Toyota of
the window industry and we get
on with it. If we can solve the
problems that occur when we
have a dozen people off the shop
floor for a training session this
makes us stronger. When we have
a hundred trained problem solvers, this makes us invincible.”
Michael adds:
“Quickslide is becoming more
and more independent, we do our
own foiling, we do our own painting, we make our own glass units
and we are more in control of our
costs and our lead-times than ever
before. Our mission is to deliver
value for our customers, value that
they dictate, not us. If they want
a decent price and a quick lead
time along with a quality product,
every time, then we must make
sure our business can deliver that.
We are now at the point of sharing
our profits with our staff, that is a
big commitment but we trust our
staff to deliver what the customer
needs and that ensures our customers share in our success.”
To find out more visit
www.quickslide.co.uk