Helping Tyco make the right connections
PERA Cymru delivered a BIT programme at Tyco Electronics in Bodelwyddan, near Rhyl, that generated real benefits in workplace efficiency and teamwork. Tyco Electronics is a large US business with global sales of more than $14 billion, employing around 77,000 people (2009 figures). The Bodelwyddan site is one of several Tyco Electronics operations in the UK and focuses on fibre optic cable production, and electronics and software development for use in the Telecommunications industry.
Tyco Electronics is driving global company initiatives to increase efficiency and reduce waste processes, and managers saw that an NVQ Business Improvement Techniques (BIT) course would assist that important corporate objective while providing employees with the development opportunity of gaining an NVQ. Tyco Electronics selected PERA after a competitive process to provide the training, impressed by PERA’s long experience as a manufacturing Training provider, their presentation, and also the feedback from a Manager who visited one of PERA’s existing clients to see the outcome of one of the courses.
PERA’s trainer Stuart Mitchell undertook a scoping exercise to identify suitable project areas, based on the key improvement areas of Quality, Cost and Delivery. Based on the information gathered, the BIT course was delivered as a mixture of classroom and specific work area developments over nine days, this investment in time being more than repaid with efficiency gains, for example: process time in one area was reduced by 54%, generating potential efficiency savings of up to £8,000 per year.
Two groups of approximately 10 employees from the Tyco Electronics Bodelwyddan plant completed the course, resulting in potential efficiency savings of many thousands of pounds per year. However, just as importantly, each group included employees from different departments who wouldn't normally work together, promoting team work and giving employees a better overall knowledge of their business.
As Mark Scott, Human Resources Officer at the Bodelwyddan plant, put it: “Whereas with some short courses where people will listen, take part in the activities and then use very little they have learnt in their jobs, the feedback from employees after PERA’s NVQ BIT programme was very positive. Employees were very pleased with the structure and content and felt that they had helped to improve their business in a positive and enjoyable way; several asked whether any similar courses existed."
