UK rubber manufacturing firm Ramsay Rubber has saved thousands of pounds in production costs thanks to enhancing the skills of its workforce.
The company is based at Bilston, near Wolverhampton, and has reduced waste and increased productivity through training employees in Business Improvement Techniques (BIT).
The firm reported that one change alone, where two jobs were moved into a continuous process on a single machine, resulted in 108 hours of production time being saved, which were valued at over £3,000.
Ramsay Rubberâs Managing Director, Paul Killeen, commented: The BIT training has made the already experienced team more open to new ways of thinking about how to improve their efficiency and contribution.
Independent apprenticeship provides Skills Training UK will deliver the 12 month bespoke training programme which enabled employees to develop their knowledge in areas such as continuous improvement techniques, visual management systems, effective team work and health and safety.
The approach is designed to create a more structured and formal working environment involving all employees – from the CEO to assembly line workers â and will aim to encourage âleanâ manufacturing and eliminate waste, which is said to result in cost savings and improvements in quality and production.
The companyâs operations manager, Ian Maydew, commented: Since starting the training, our employees have been much more interactive â they arenât afraid to ask questions and instead of them being individuals at their stations itâs much more of a team feel now and things run a lot smoother. I feel this process has been invaluable to the company and for the employees who took part.
Ramsay Rubber currently employs 40 staff and specialises in making die cut parts, supplying high performance, lightweight materials for sealing, thermal and acoustic applications to OEMs throughout the world.
Operator, David Haynes, said that he has refreshed the skills he thought that he has lost and the organisation has benefitted from this.
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