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Derby’s Bombardier Transportation wins top business award
November 24, 2011
Bombardier Transportation wins the Power Panels Award for People Effectiveness
24 November 2011
Derby-based Bombardier Transportation, was rewarded for its efforts to maintain staff morale during a difficult period for the business at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Excellence Awards, held in London last night (Wednesday 23 November).
The award ceremony was compered by Alistair Campbell, and attended by Mark Prisk MP, Margaret Beckett MP as well as a host of other top business names.
Andy Derbyshire, Site Operations Director for Bombardier Transportation, said: “I am delighted that we were successful in winning the People Effectiveness Manufacturing Excellence Award. It is a tribute to our people rising to the challenge of continuing to produce high quality, on-time products during what has been a difficult period in the UK. My thanks go to all of our people at our Derby site, without their continued dedication and hard work, this would not have been possible.”
Stephen Tetlow, Chief Executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said:
“Bombardier’s win is encouraging for manufacturing in Derby and UK manufacturing more generally.
“The Manufacturing Excellence programme is not just about celebrating manufacturing success around the country, but about providing practical advice for businesses to support them on their journey during these difficult economic times.”
Bombardier Transportation won the Power Panels Award for People Effectiveness at the Manufacturing Excellence Awards.
Bombardier Transportation Derby plant has faced a difficult year - announcing 1,400 redundancies in July due to it missing out on the Government’s Thameslink contract.
Despite this, the train manufacturer has worked hard to maintain staff morale by focusing on training and developing skills.
Bombardier has excellent communication with its staff through all employee events, team briefs and newsletters and there is a strong focus on personal development with opportunities to take part in training schemes and worldwide opportunities. The company is also keen to encourage staff to help with the development of products through its continuous improvement ideas.
The plant’s excellent apprenticeship scheme has proved hugely successful with many local engineers using it as a route to a career in the company.
In order to meet existing contract earlier in 2011, the company had to increase production from 6 cars a week to 25 cars a week. Although Bombardier increased the workforce by about 30% to meet this demand, the ability to increase production by such a huge margin was testament to the commitment of staff.
To date the plant has had a total of 201 days without record of any lost time accident, which is particularly impressive given that it’s a heavy machinery site.
The site has over 150 years of rail industry manufacturing history – with the first workshops at the site opening in 1839. At the peak of production in March of this year, the site was manufacturing 25 rail cars a week, the highest ever level of production from the Derby facility.
Bombardier Transportation’s Derby facility is the only new build rolling stock manufacturing site in the UK.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Excellence programme is the most successful and long established manufacturing support programme in the UK, and the only one that provides a detailed benchmarking and assessment process to help improve manufacturing businesses.
As part of the Manufacturing Excellence programme, companies can get a free consultancy package worth £20,000. Companies that enter are asked to conduct an in-depth self assessment and those who complete one or more of the eight parts receive a free, bespoke and confidential benchmark report. The best companies in each module receive a free visit from a team of expert assessors who verify the audit responses and offer practical advice and suggestions for the business. The winning companies in each category then receive an award at the Manufacturing Excellence Awards.
Manufacturing Excellence is supported by PwC, Autodesk, PP Business Improvement, The ERA Foundation, Lombard, WMG, Arup, and Barclays Corporate.