Sharing in Growth’s 2017 All STAR best practice sharing event demonstrated the value of the aerospace competitiveness programme through a series of top industry insights, and ten best practice case studies.
A capacity audience of almost 200 attendees from sector supply chain companies, prime customers including Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, MBDA, Meggitt, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales, government, banks and industry bodies, such as ADS, CBI, EEF and Semta, enjoyed an event crammed with value added presentations which culminated in the first Sharing in Growth Awards evening.
Sharing n Growth chairman Dr Bryan Jackson CBE opened the All STAR by explaining the advantages and challenges of implanting continuous improvement from his personal experience with Toyota, Ford and other world-class companies.
Quoting economist Duncan Wheldon Bryan said: ”A 1% productivity gain across the UK economy would add almost £20 billion to our national output. Such an increase could reduce the annual government deficit by around £8 billion, add £250 a year to the average wage packet and increase annual profits across the country by almost £3.5 billion. Small rises in productivity are far from trivial.
Colin Smith CBE, Group President for Rolls-Royce and chairman of the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP), took up the improvement theme, explaining how industry and government were working together through the AGP to sustain the prominence of UK aerospace in the world market. At a time when the sector is expected to grow at 4.5% p.a. until 2036, Sharing in Growth forms a key part of the activity alongside The National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP) and The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI).
Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page then covered the successes and challenges faced by business leaders in their pursuit of productivity, competitiveness, innovation and growth. He encouraged companies to export and to develop their skills. He said: “Sharing in Growth is clearly effective. The prime customers are starting to see the impact and, with our support, companies on the programme have secured around £2 billion in contracts which equates to 20,000 man years of work secured and we are seeing increased ambition and significant return on investment.”
Malcolm James, operations executive of Sharing in Growth, followed with a progress report on the government-backed programme. He highlighted how some of the companies were now in their third or fourth year on the programme and were seeing greater than 20% year on year improvements in sales, employee engagement and productivity.
The afternoon session saw two of Sharing in Growth’s specialist partners share their expertise. The first was leadership coach Simon Forster of Inspire who exploded the myth of the ‘complete leader’ in favour of a human leader who was better for the health of the organisation.
The second was Dr Jamie Hamilton, Director in Monitor Deloitte’s London Office, who helps manufacturing clients address strategic and organisational issues so they can fulfil their growth potential. His view was that firms needed to evolve to cope with growing demand and the impact of profound changes in manufacturing through technology and digitisation.
The final plenary presentation was from Steve Vandersteen, BAE System’s Miltary Air and Information Airframe Supply Chain Director. Steve provided valuable perceptions on the built-in constraints for suppliers, the opportunities for growth, and how suppliers could best develop to win business. He pointed out that the Supply Chain was struggling to achieve the ‘rate of climb’, and still needed to focus on delivery, quality and early investment in capital, skills, innovation and technology as well as sales, operations planning and new product introduction. However he was seeing direct evidence of the Sharing in Growth programme providing the vital ingredients for success.
Ten case studies from the programme’s participant companies were selected to share best practice during the event. The case studies will feature in the Sharing in Growth newsletter:
• Aeromet International Limited
• Castle Precision Engineering
• Gooch & Housego Torquay Ltd
• Hyde Aero Products Ltd
• Icon Aerospace Technology
• JJ Churchill Ltd
• Nasmyth Metallics Bulwell
• Produmax Limited
• Rockford Components Ltd
• TMD Technologies Ltd
In particular, three companies were recognised for their achievements, with the first awards based on Sharing in Growth’s values
• Inspire award: Rockford Components
• Integrity award: Gooch & Housego
• Ikigai award: Produmax.