Manufacturing leaders share how staff training, employee ownership and a focus on continuous improvement are helping drive better outcomes for their businesses, workers and wider ecosystems. Jonny Williamson reports.
FROM GARAGE START-UP TO INDUSTRY LEADER
Direct Air & Pipework was established almost 30 years ago in a garage by two men named Allan Dolby.
From those humble beginnings, the father and son team has seen their business grow to become a highly regarded provider of bespoke compressed air solutions and maintenance services.
The business currently employs almost 50 people, has two sites in Coventry, a branch in Cheltenham and a customer base including such household names as Royal Mail, Thatchers Cider and Longleat Safari Park.
Marketing Manager, Emma Dolby, attributes Direct Air’s ever-growing success to three things – its knowledgeable staff, quality products and dedication to customer service.
“We are a family business and really value the personal touch we put into everything we do. Our staff are the heart and soul of our business; we would be nothing without our people,” Emma commented.
Direct Air invests significant time and money in staff training and development, whether that is sponsoring team members through university degrees or apprenticeships, or even providing courses to create Mental Health First Aiders.
“Just because we're an SME doesn't mean that we can't push people as far as they would be if they were in a large corporation We look to upskill and develop our people as much as possible to help them and our business grow in unison,” Emma explained.
A strategic decision that continues to pay dividends is bringing skills in-house in order to diversify and deepen Direct Air’s capabilities. This has led to substantial investments in new services like air quality testing. CAD design, turnkey project management and oil-free technology.
These, alongside its in-house installation team, have enabled Direct Air to work on some of the largest scale projects in its history, even going so far as to recently become the principal contractors for the first time.
The company’s strong emphasis on staff progression is also helping to overcome an issue many manufacturers will be familiar with.
“Recruiting engineers, particularly field service engineers, is a challenge and it has become particularly acute since the pandemic. It’s a competitive marketplace and these skills are in very high demand. Retention is just as important as recruitment. As an SME, retaining skills within our business is paramount,” noted Emma.
To that aim, Direct Air now priorities succession planning supported by gap analysis. “We want to know the roles and skills we currently don’t have and need to invest in, or that we may be at risk of losing in the near future due to retirement and such like,” Emma said.
One element of that initiative is identifying potential candidates who could transition from one role to another either within the same or different department. “We pride ourselves on creating bespoke training plans to nurture the individual, rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach,” Emma concluded.
TAKING OWNERSHIP OF A CLEANER FUTURE
The 2020 merger of Gardner Denver and Ingersoll Rand’s Industrial Technologies and Services division created a global workforce of 16,000 with a presence on almost every continent.
Part of the merger included giving an ownership stake to nearly all employees totalling $150 million – one of the largest equity grants ever given to employees in an industrial company. It also followed the same approach Gardner Denver took in 2017 with a $100 million equity grant given to all employees.
The company has a large and varied manufacturing output, including more than 40 brands of air compressors and related equipment. Two of which, Hydrovane and Belliss & Morcom, are made in Redditch, Worcestershire.
Sales Director Keith Atkinson explained how having a stake in the company has helped to drive a change in culture at Redditch and across the wider organisation.
“Becoming owners has helped shift the company from being quite a traditional organisation to one with a very unique culture. That was cemented with our new strapline, lean on us to help you make life better, and our new core values around helping change the world for a more positive outcome.”
Being able to think and act like owners is empowering and creates a culture that has a bias towards action and bold decisions, Keith noted. Crucially, the shift hasn’t come at the expense of being commercially driven. Quite the opposite. Focusing on deeper, more meaningful relationships with customers has resulted in triple-digit revenue growth.
It has also helped ease the recruitment challenges many manufacturers face. “People want something different in a career these days and that’s become a key focus for us,” said Keith.
“We have just brought on 10 apprentices to work across our UK sites. Every month, these apprentices will come together to share their experiences and work as a team on a series of innovation projects.
“These and other activities across the organisation have a strong emphasis on reducing the environmental impact of our operations and our product, and in turn help our customers to reduce their impact,” he concluded.
AT THE CUTTING EDGE
Specialised Laser Products (SLP) was born from the realisation that steel was increasingly being laser cut rather than mechanically sheared. The business began in 1995 with a refurbished machine and a small unit in Rotherham.
The business has grown in the years since, acquiring new premises, taking on more staff and investing in a range of new laser cutting technologies. This adoption of new innovation has become ingrained in the business philosophy and SLP continues to look at innovative ways to improve performance, reduce lead times and boost efficiencies.
Investing in its first brand new machine represented a major milestone for the business. Indeed, the majority of its capital plant and equipment is less than three years old.
Its expertise has similarly expanded and now encompasses sheet aluminium, copper, brass, mild, spring and structural steel, and stainless steel. Several previously subcontracted complementary services have also been brought in-house, supported by investments in a new press brake folding machine, a CNC machining centre and a flame cutting machine.
The latest development in SLP’s mission to provide an all-round service saw the introduction of welding capabilities.
It seemed like the next logical step and meant the business could utilise some of its existing employees' skills, commented Managing Director, Duncan Proctor. “The addition of a welding facility to our current manufacturing processes delivers added value to both ourselves and our customer base.”
“We are firm believers in continuous improvement throughout our business, always looking for opportunities to innovate and improve our service. As part of that, our management team is currently embarking on advanced training courses,” Duncan added.
All these developments have seen turnover at this family-run business grow from £200,000 in its first year to almost £4 million today.
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