Serving the Teesside Business Community | 33
Investment in people at
heart of Nifco’s success
W
ith a growing team and a
significant training programme
underway, Tees Business
speaks to Sarah Turnbull, an
account manager at Nifco, to find out more
about her own progression through the
business.
“I started my career with Nifco in May
2001, so more than 14 years ago,” says
Sarah.
“I’ve seen a great deal of change during
my time with the company. It’s all very
positive now and an exciting time to be part
of the company.”
Sarah started with Nifco in an
administrator role, working mainly to support
the then-engineering manager.
After going through some difficulties,
which Nifco’s MD Mike Matthews has
said threatened to close down the
business, Sarah was around during a wave
of redundancies, which saw the firm’s
650-strong team significantly cut back.
“That was a tough time,” adds Sarah. “But
we bounced back. And when Mike took over
in 2008, there was a change in the business.
The culture is completely different now, and
it feels like we’re going places – Nifco is
doing really well.”
Nifco is a £60m business that has plans to
increase its turnover to £75m by 2016.
It makes plastic components that are used
in the engines, interiors, and exteriors of cars
made by Ford, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover,
Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall Opel.
The company’s progress has been most
visible over the last few years, after the
business moved from its sixties factory on
Stockton’s Yarm Road, to a state-of-the-art
facility in Eaglescliffe.
The company began by moving to Nifco
House, and expanded its footprint with the
addition of a second facility for Powertrain
and R&D last year. It has significantly
invested in new machinery that has helped
propel its technical capabilities to new
heights. The next step was to invest in
training.
Nifco UK has invested in a programme of
training for its team for a number of years,
and will be supported with this in the future,
having received a grant from BIS’s Employer
Ownership Fund (EOF), which will see the
company commission a further £300,000
worth of productivity training for its growing
team over a three year period; this is in
addition to the £300,000 already committed
to training each year.
Sarah is herself evidence of the company’s
investment in people. Having been
promoted to a senior administrator in 2004,
Sarah moved to a role within the company’s
Car parts manufacturer Nifco UK has become one of
the region’s most vocal advocates of apprenticeships
and training.
Sarah Turnbull, an account manager at Nifco
who started with the company in 2001.
“Nifco is a really supportive employer, and with
their help I have not only been able to gain a
degree, but to progress my career. “
IT team, before finally applying for a role
in sales. Sarah was appointed as a sales
controller in 2007.
“It was a really positive move for me, and
it was a more senior role, so I had already
progressed well,” she says.
“The company worked with SEMTA to
organise a Women At Work Programme,
which was about promoting a sense of )