How do you successfully bring manufacturing back to the UK when the sole source of sound equipment has been produced abroad for decades? How do you survive a lockdown when speakers are what you make for a living? These are just some of the many adversities Andrew Bishop has faced and conquered in his life. I’m excited to have had the opportunity to speak with Andrew, founder and CEO over at BishopSound – a proudly local-based manufacturer of reliable, affordable speakers for both public and private performance. According to Andrew, British sound is unique and can’t be found anywhere else in the world. He said NO to waiting for international shipments. Andrew is trailblazing the industry by getting everything done at home in the UK, reimagining the future of local manufacturing once and for all.

To say Andrew has some fascinating stories to share would be an understatement. From building his first speaker cabinet in 1972 at age 12 to receiving phone calls from clients in tears at the sound his speakers unleash – you don’t want to miss out on Andrew’s story of bringing his production back to the UK. Hit the button below to watch this awe-inspiring podcast right now.

How did you come about manufacturing speakers?

I made my first speaker when I was twelve. So I’ve been around sound for a long time. I had to go off and get a proper job for a few years to pay the mortgage. But I was brought back into sound when I purchased Carlsbro Sound for a pound. It was advertised in the Sunday Times, and I was the only one that answered the advert!

A good friend of mine said to me in 1999, Andrew, you need to be in British manufacturing. At that point in time, I said, you must be crazy! There was a mass migration to the Far East, and so for my friend to say to me, you should be in British manufacturing, everybody laughed and said no it’s finished, it’s the end. But I bit the bullet on New Year’s Eve in an office in Leeds I slid a pound coin across the table, and I was the proud owner of Carlsbro. It made the first PA system back in 1959 and did the sound for the Rolling Stones in 1963 with a 100 watt PA system.

Where there a lot of issues in the business that needed turning around?

It was losing 560,000 on a 960,000-pound annual turnover. So it was haemorrhaging cash like no tomorrow, which tested my skills in finance. But I really felt there was a passion from the workers. I remember going to the factory and saying, what do you do? And they said we make the best PA speakers and amplification in the world. They were on £3 an hour and it was fathers, sons, daughters, aunties, uncles, passionately making speakers and PA systems. So it’s got a tremendous heritage and a tremendous story.

So what is the British sound? What’s unique about it? And why is it highly sought after around the globe?

My feeling is this. The American sound is all top and bottom. There’s no mid-range. So, a lot of people with the American sound, like the thumping bass and the very high frequencies, but there’s not a lot going on in the middle. This makes some music sound a little strange. So if you play Hotel California, where there’s all those acoustic guitars on the front, you can’t pick them all out individually because the frequency at which an acoustic guitar works is in that mid-range frequency. Some people struggle to get a voice to sound, right because there’s no mid-range.

The German sound is exceptionally clinical. It’s very sharp, precise. There’s no warmth, it’s very edgy. And the Chinese sound, because I believe they’ve been brought up with the Pentatonic scale and Beijing opera, they love the high frequencies and base for them doesn’t seem to register.

The British sound is an exceptionally warm sound. I describe it as Grandma’s Gravy because it’s got richness. It’s got body, it’s got warmth, it’s got meaning, and it covers all the frequencies. So I think there’s no surprise that British Hi-Fi does very well globally as well. It’s because when our engineers do the sound, there’s nothing missing.

Tell us a bit about what BishopSound do now.

So I lost Carlsbro in 2008. when that credit crunch hit. We’d already moved everything out to the Far East, but when China got wind of the fact that there was a run on the banks in the UK, they basically said, that’s it we’re not dealing with you anymore. We’re not even giving you any facilities.

So, I then had to put Carlsbro into receivership, because I couldn’t find anybody to invest in the business. Then five or six years later a Nigerian customer rang me and said, Andrew, we want your sound back. We can’t get your sound. Make some speakers, put the name BishopSound on the front and we’ll give you an order for a 40-foot-high cube container. I said, no I’m not going to get back into all of that again. And he replied, you must because the sound that you create is the sound that we want for our churches in Africa.

So I started making speakers again, but this time differently. I stayed with China for the manufacture because the UK was in bits as far as manufacturing PA equipment and sound equipment. There were very few people left doing it. But I always wanted to come back and make speakers in the UK because I believe that’s the way to do it.

Bringing production back to the UK.

We got a small industrial unit in Ripon, next door to a mechanical engineer. His friend is a woodworking guy from the Southeast, who’d moved to Ripon. One of his passions was to make a CNC machine. So they knocked on my door and said, can we make some speakers for you, Mr Bishop? So they built a purpose-built CNC machine, which on the 25th September 2021 was commissioned by our local MP and we will be making purpose-made speakers in Ripon for the PA companies.

Now, as far as skills are concerned, electronics will be deployed in the programming of the CNC machine. We’ve been offered the use of an anechoic chamber in Derby University to test the speakers once they’re made. So we’ve been around the block a few times. We know what we’re aiming for and the sound we want. And we will be back making bespoke speakers in the United Kingdom for export globally

I recently had an enquiry for 206 speakers for Doah, and they needed them in four weeks’ time. We can do that. We can make pretty much any speaker, in any colour in the time that anybody wants. We’ve got control. We’re not waiting for shipments from the Far East, we’re not subject to minimum quantities. So for us, it’s the future and it restores our passion.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in running globally successful businesses?

The biggest challenge is getting paid, so we never give credit. There are all kinds of people that will offer you solutions. Credit insurance is a great thing. But those credit insurance companies don’t pay out very quickly, and if you’re in manufacturing, cash is king. We have no bad debt in this business.

The second challenge is reaching out to the world. The great thing about the English language is that a lot of people speak it. In business, it’s not about sitting in a chair and doing everything from the screen. It’s about getting out there and being in the room with people to get their confidence. We’re very privileged we deal with probably about 180 countries on and off. When we go, we take a little bit of Yorkshire tea or some honey, and we just say, this is a taste of the United Kingdom, here’s what we’re about.

Are there any tools or techniques specifically that you think have helped you get to the position where you are today?

To get us through the last 18 months, we worked very closely with Innovate UK and Harrogate Borough Council with their raft of advisors and specialists. We go to people and if they haven’t got the answer, we ask if they know anyone who can help us.

So our business model is quite simple. We don’t employ anybody, we use freelances for everything that we do. We need to be talking to our customers and focusing on our strengths, so we use outside advisers and get other people to make the things and do all the other bits behind the scenes.

What’s the best way for people to get in touch with you who want to find out more about what you doing?

I make my mobile number freely available everywhere and if I can’t help someone, I will give them a phone number for somebody that can. And I think that treating others as you expect to be treated yourself and getting directly to the owner of the company shouldn’t be difficult. If you want to be in business and you want to go global, make yourself accessible and make yourself available to everybody.

Contact Andrew here.

I spoke to Manoli Yannaghas, who is the CEO and co-founder of VoltVision, to find out more about what sustainability in manufacturing means, and how we can use data to reduce our corporate carbon footprints.

Manoli, who has more than two decades of industry-specific experience, shares some of his company’s goals for the future, his thoughts on reaching net-zero, and some actionable tips on how to cut costs you didn’t even know you were spending. He explains how to cut up to 20% of operations, how to overcome challenges as a start-up and more.

Check out the video to hear what he has to say!

How you got involved in electrical power systems?

I spent 20 years working in the mining industry, running small mining companies or operations around the world. And about five years ago, I decided the ongoing problem of mining is it’s either unstable power or very expensive power. So, my partner and I Malcolm Evans, who’s the co-founder with me on VoltVision decided that renewables were a very interesting way to help mines stabilise their power and reduce the power costs and their CO2. So, initially, our business was around how to transfer a traditional power system onto a renewable power system.

What are the goals of VoltVision and how do you see it growing?

Most of the businesses that we work with are high voltage which is a lot more complicated than low voltage. So we are interested in providing intelligence to asset owners. We started with the mining business and help our clients better understand how they’re using the machinery in their production plants. We do that by recording very high-resolution data from existing electrical equipment that would otherwise be lost. It’s all there, but it’s just not being extracted. I think a lot of people out there are running around installing lots of sensors here, there and everywhere. But if you look at it closely, you don’t have to do that. Plus, on high voltage, you can’t do that because people won’t let you into their substations to mess around with their equipment.

The big generators, the transportation network and the very large manufacturing companies cars would be high voltage. We’re interested in providing intelligence to these clients, explaining to them how they can reduce their power costs. Take motors for example. Electrical motor systems take up half of the electricity used globally and 70% of that is used in the manufacturing community. So it’s a big deal. We study motors to help them reduce their power, reduce their CO2 and increase sustainability. And that’s really around life, so we can better help them use those pieces of equipment in a way that that machine will last longer using, for instance, an advanced fault identification to spot when a machine is being overused. We’re about using data to provide intelligence to industrial, or in our case, mining clients.

Do you think there are opportunities within power usage that people aren’t aware of?

Yes, 100%. There are so many opportunities around motors and around power systems. The electrical equipment that is being produced now is more intelligent than has ever been. There are many computers, much of what’s sitting on the electrical networks, and they’re collecting lots and lots of data. So for the first time, you can actually see what’s going on, and why a system isn’t running very well.

I think with open-mindedness there’s the ability to cut 20% of most existing operations that are not being monitored. The people building a manufacturing plant will oversize because they don’t want anyone coming back at them. So quite often you’ve got a lot of oversized kit and you don’t know when a conveyor belt is running. Maybe it shouldn’t be running because there’s nothing on it. So there are multiple angles to easily reduce CO2 emissions by knowing what you’re doing and having someone shine the light into the dark room.

Do you have an example of how a customer has reduced their energy usage?

I’ll use the example of one mine who actually didn’t use our system because it wasn’t ready. But, they went to one of the largest mines in South Africa, and said, okay, let’s do an audit of exactly how much power we’re using here and where it’s all going. It took them a year and they changed out 40% of their motors and saved themselves over 20% in power. This is what we do on a continuous basis. Most big companies get an audit twice a year on the performance of their motors on retrospective data. But, you can do more than that now. You can see when you start overfeeding a motor and you can bring it back in line very easily. It doesn’t require any Capex to do that.

What are the key things that work when turning a failing business around?

Firstly you have to be willing to be present. If you’re away from something, and this is one of the tricky parts of small mines, you’ve got to be there on-site. It’s really about changing culture, changing people. One of the hardest things to do is to go into an existing business and effectively saying, I’m afraid it’s not working, you’re not working and you need something new here. Being really robust about that can create an awful lot of short term problems. It’s emotionally quite difficult.

Secondly, something we had to do was to take a very badly designed manufacturing plant over the line. In the end, the investment just wasn’t there to change what needed to be changed. A lot of smaller companies just try and stick it together with sellotape and rubber bands. This will work in the very short term but not in the long term, and they spend a fortune trying to plug the holes.

We’re doing some work with a client at the moment who are doing a ground-up, brand new plant. It’s a hydrogen electrolyser down in South Africa. They’re changing their entire truck fleet from diesel over to hydrogen battery hybrids. What’s nice about this project is that because it’s brand new, we get to have a say in some of the equipment needed in order to make it really good. It’s also really nice to see a big company design something from the bottom up, because they know what they’re doing and they do it really well. They’ve got the budget.

What’s the best way for people to get in touch with you?

My email address, which is manoli@voltvision.live. That’s probably the best way, or just go to our website, www.voltvision.live there’s a link through where you can get in touch with me there.

What would you give to be able to effortlessly gain the wisdom that others have spent decades learning? What would the guidance of an industry leader mean to you as a professional?

Jim Fairbairn is an experienced manufacturing and design expert with decades of experience, endless pearls of leadership wisdom, and a deep-seated passion for helping people and businesses grow.

Starting an apprenticeship at the young age of 16 meant that Jim was exposed to a variety of different disciplines, perspectives, and ideas. However, his strong will and unique approach to what he does are what gave him his edge and ability to reframe almost any situation or challenge into an opportunity.

According to Jim, being able to build a legacy as a leader means being able to retain the fundamentals of leadership while evolving with younger workforces who value proactiveness and innovation.

How did your journey in manufacturing start?

I left school at 16 and did a four-year wide-ranging apprenticeship. I learned how to weld, how to machine, and I did mechanical fitting and electrical installation. It was fantastic and gave me that great grounding before I went on to university and moved into design.

I’ve always been into British manufacturing and have been able to build and make things, throughout my childhood. My dad was in engineering, so it ran in the family. It’s just always been part of me, so to be able to have a career in manufacturing is fantastic.

Apart from a brief stint in oil and gas as a design engineer, my whole career and all my general management experience has been in manufacturing, working for world-class, unbelievable companies. Manufacturing has given me a gift because I’ve learned continuous improvements and gained all the tools, methodologies and mindset to take into my personal life.

How have mentors impacted your life and your career?

I am very lucky to have worked with, and under, some amazing people in the UK, Europe, and the US. I’ve taken something from all of them and also tried to develop some of my own styles to bring in different thinking. All of my mentors had attributes that impressed me. They were thoughtful, intelligent, and mostly interested in people. Long-term thinkers with tremendous problem-solving skills, who really thought around value. They were builders of companies and people, they all wanted to leave a legacy, and that really drove me.

I’ve had a number of pinnacle moments, one was about a decade ago when we bought a company in Prague that needed a lot of work. We spent the first three months putting in a system, daily management etc, trying to get the business back on track for growth. One of the top CEOs from the US came over to visit us, three or four months in. We did a business review and then went on a walk to look at all the daily management. I left it to the site managers to walk around with the CEO and halfway through I see him looking over his shoulder. He walks over to me, brings me over, grabs me in front of 30 people and says, you need to hear this, you need to be doing this every day.

That was a pinnacle moment in so far as he may be the CEO, but I’m here helping people. I’m making the company better and I’m trying to instil continuous improvement in them. I’ve had these pinnacle moments throughout my career, so being able to look at mentors and model them has just been fantastic for me.

Do you think there are key principles of good leadership and what are they?

I think for me, the key attributes would be humility, restlessness, and creativity. What you’re trying to do as a leader is to drive, and build trust and followership. I think those three attributes are what people respond to.

During my career, I’ve always looked at leadership and studied people and books and tried to offer a selection of principles. For example, giving different perspectives to people and trying to constantly develop them from a good experience to a great experience. Many people I’ve worked with have lived that experience and it’s been a big influence on me. To look at an individual’s journey, in and out of work, and to try to help them.

As a leader, you have to make sure you get the best out of your team and ensure they’re match-fit in their daily existence. A lot of the chairmen I’ve worked for are thinking in five-to-10-year visions. They think about relevance, they don’t think about what they’re going to have for dinner tomorrow. It’s a different kind of mindset.

Reframing

One of the other things I’ve learned to do is to reframe. I think that’s a key leadership trait. It’s about being able to see something different that moves a situation forward. All of us get stuck at times and being able to get past that is quite important.

An example of this and another pinnacle moment was in my first ever general management role. I was in my early 30s running a £5million company and one night there was a fire that devastated the facility. Probably about a third of the facility was ok, but the offices and some of the manufacturing plant was down. It was like, ‘my God this is the end!’ I was very early on in my managing director career at that point, so I phoned the chairman. He came down to have a look and he says, ‘Jim, this is absolutely fantastic. You’ll be able to build the company that you want from here!’

It was the fact he’d turned it around that made it one of those pinnacle moments for me, So reframing is something that I’ve been able to develop over the years. If my team struggling over something, if their heads are down or there’s frustration, do I see that or do I see a team that I can fire up on neurology.

In terms of leadership, do you think things have changed over the last ten years?

I think the answer to that is yes and no. The fundamentals will always be the same for leadership. You’re working with human nature. People respond to good leadership and all the attributes and principles that I’ve mentioned are valid.

What I think has changed, is young people and their expectations. They’re completely different. I’ve got a 16-year-old daughter who is just so worldly-wise in terms of culture. With social media, young people now are very mobile. They know what they want and their expectation for development and proactiveness is so much higher. They’re into equality and diversity, and as a leader, you have to be able to respond to that as it’s only going to accelerate as the years go on.

What are your opinions on culture change in business, and what’s your strategy?

It can be challenging and it can take a long time. Leaders need to lead from the front and they need to be consistent. What they do, it’s not a one-time event. I’ve always thought of it as a triangle between three things – culture, values, and engagement. For me, focusing on these three things will set you apart. I’m absolutely convinced of that.

Many people that work for me run teams, and they have to be engaging. They have to make sure that they hit the three-month or yearly objectives, the five-year vision. It’s about developing a 360 view for these individuals, including development. We offer coaching and mentoring opportunities and many have been encouraged to actually train as coaches. This has been a game-changer for us and in my mind, developing awareness is a big part of being match-fit.

With values, we did a lot of work figuring out what the company values were. We knew we were very value-driven and had a real, meaningful purpose for what we’re about. People played for the jersey with Megger, that was obvious, so we tried to define what the values were. I think we’ve been very successful in that, and we’re still building on it.

The culture for me is about developing problem-solving skills to break down barriers so that multi-functional team working is very strong. There are many problem-solving tools, but when you combine creativity and long-term views with these tools, then you can fly. A big aspect for me was to bring in a coaching culture, which has been very important.

So I think you have to work these in isolation. It’s like a flywheel, the more you do the more that it grows on its own. I would certainly, from experience, offer that as a strategy.

Is it important to make the ‘why’ of what you’re doing really clear to everyone?

Yes absolutely. I think companies spend a lot of time doing that – looking at the purpose of the company, the why, and the mission statement. But I’m not sure they all get it right, to be honest. I think it needs to evolve. If we’re going through a transition in our company, we will evolve.

For me, the key strategic question is how do you stay relevant in five or ten years’ time? That is a very powerful question and something that we chew over every month, every quarter when we have our leadership meetings. Are we still on that track? Can I articulate why you do what you do? It’s actually very important, and if it has to evolve, then I think that’s a good thing. Being able to do it well is part of the good-to-great transformation.

Good companies go to great companies because they’re unified. and everyone understands the why within the company. Undoubtedly, my why is around people development – that’s my why. Any company that I’m involved in, that’s at the centre of the strategy. With Megger, even though it’s manufacturing, even though it’s an industrial company, it’s actually all about people. For me, seeing the response from that is absolutely fantastic.

Are there any book recommendations that have been particularly impactful for you on your journey?

One book that had an early impact on me and still does, was recommended to me in my general manager role 20 years ago. It’s a book called Leading Up by Michael Useem, all about how you communicate and how you influence. It’s about teamwork, about being a leader, looking like a leader, how you act and how you position yourself.

I’ve been able to transpose some of the ideas and thinking to my leadership journey and my style. It’s had a massive influence on me, so I’d recommend that book. It’s not a well-known book, I don’t think, but it’s a fantastic book.

Where can people find out more about you?

They can look me up on LinkedIn and connect with me through there, send me a message and I’ll certainly get back to them. 

I’m actually also writing a book on leadership based on the people that I’ve worked with and taking a view on what I thought was good and not so good. I’ve no date for that yet but I’m working on it.

Many components of business culture have changed over the past few decades. It is a lot more informal, and there is a substantial focus on including various departments in business developments. So, where there used to be a very high level of hierarchy in business, leaders are now starting to leverage all levels of operation to increase productivity and innovation.

One of the biggest facets of changing business culture and improving productivity, is to approach people at a “human” or emotional level while also incorporating the appropriate amount of factual communication.

We interviewed experienced MD, advisor, and coach, Paul Myerscough, on what he thinks the key principles are for good coaching and leadership to improve business culture.

Watch our video to find out how you can utilise leadership, coaching, and data to change your business culture and increase productivity throughout your manufacturing processes.

What are the key things that helped you get where you are today?

The key thing for me was seeing how, very often, people can be underutilised at work. The culture isn’t there for people to participate in improving the place. So, what stayed with me was how to engage and motivate people to get the best out of them, and get businesses onto growth and world-class.

There’s still a lot of companies that are either laissez-faire, or they’re so short term that they don’t really invest in developing the people. They don’t invest in engaging the people in the processes and implementation of things. There’s an awful lot that are still pretty traditional, and pretty top down. It’s easy for leaders to get into the mode of telling people what to do and believing that these guys, will do alright, but we’ve got to constantly watch them and make sure we’re clear about what there is to do. It’s that sort of attitude that perpetuates a culture where people are not really that interested in people, and you don’t get the most out of them.

What are the key principles of good coaching and leadership in business culture?

Well, one is being human and engaging people at an emotional level. We’re all emotional beings. We’ve got to connect emotionally as well as factually.

Another key thing is asking open questions. So if you’re leading with a coaching style, it’s about asking open questions and avoid rushing to suggest what to do all the time. This is so easy to do because you might know the answer. However, if people are to develop and gain confidence and ownership, then it’s better to get them to come up with the answers themselves, wherever possible.

How does data play a role in helping people to motivate teams and get better results?

Well, this is the opportunity to bring the ying together with the yang. So typically, you might see people in an oversimplified way. For example, your engineering data orientated geeks on the one hand and you’re sort of touchy-feely talkers on the other hand. But, we all have both of those aspects in us, it’s just a question of to what extent. What we can do is use data to bring the two together to improve the business.

What I would do, as an example, is to choose a problem to solve or performance to improve and set up some data collection and measures to get people involved wherever possible. Get them involved in collecting the data on whatever performance you’re talking about and then create a run chart, a line graph of what’s happening over time, so you can see trends and see variability.

The great Dr W. Edwards Deming, father of the quality revolution, was famous for understanding how to use data to improve processes. With a simple run chart, you can understand the difference between a common cause and a special cause.

How would you successfully implement a change in business culture?

The key to leading transformation is starting with “the why” that Simon Sinek talks about. What’s the purpose? What’s the driver that can engage people?

Also, listen to people. Talk to them and understand what the stones in the shoes are. Then, when you develop a plan to deliver that new purpose and goal, make sure they’re included. Make the changes part of the way you do business week to week, month to month. If it’s part of your regular meetings, it will always be on the agenda and will just become the natural way of doing things.

Do you have any favourite book recommendations?

If you’re talking about data and improvement, Out of the Crisis by Dr W Edwards Demming is a classic example of the books that are about him and his approaches. If you’re looking for something more about leading transformation, then John Cotter is good for strategy development and deployment.

There are some great coaching books out there as well that I would really recommend. There’s also, The Coaching Manual by Julie Star and The Business Coaching Handbook by Curly Martin.

Get in touch with Paul

You can contact Paul or find out more about him at linkedin.com/in/paulmyerscough

Safety in the workplace is perhaps one of the most important parts of running a business – especially if it calls for staff to work on dangerous manufacturing equipment. Though workers are adults and should be responsible for their own safety, there are some crucial guidelines and requirements you as a business owner should make compulsory in the workplace.

Oftentimes, there’s a fairly extensive list of practices businesses don’t even know are mistakes. It’s not uncommon – we’re all human, after all. But because safety is such a big concern across all manufacturing industries, it’s important to keep track of these practices to ensure everything is accounted for.

So, how do you control the quality, traceability, and productivity in your manufacturing processes? Watch our podcast interview with CEO of Safety Evolution, David Brennan, to learn about common safety mistakes, how you can improve your practices, and which software solutions would work best for traceability.

What are the big challenges in setting up safety processes in the workplace?

I think the biggest challenges are in a paper-based system because of the time it takes to build out systems that work, as well as understanding how those systems need to work. Implementing them on a day to day basis is incredibly difficult because of the amount of administrative work. Also, the amount of money it costs to implement them can be a constraint for a lot of companies,

What would you like to see in workplace safety in five to ten years from now?

A change in the way that companies can actually look at health and safety. When you look at what’s going on in the world, the shifts in information and the way that data has become such a huge part of business, you quickly realise that companies that learn how to use their data, or gather the data that they really need are going to have a huge upper hand. We’re working very diligently to create data points that will allow us to use machine learning A.I. to create predictive capacity within our software. That will really help companies make those decisions and alert them when things are happening.

What techniques are there to ensure the workforce get on board with new safety practices?

• Educate our workforce:
• In my time as a safety professional, I’ve done a lot of work with educating our workforce. I think we oftentimes teach them this is how you have to do it, but we also have to make sure we teach them why.
• Tell them how important safety practices are:
  How to take ownership of a hazard assessment is a great example, in that, this is it’s not about the company, it’s about you. This is your planning document, this is how you have to do your job and this is your tool. Tell them, we’re doing this so that you have a better way of doing your job.
• Explain why it is important:
  Explain to people why we need to do this, what is it going to do for them and How it will help somebody else.

Do you have any book recommendations?

I’m reading one called Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s a really interesting book because it’s like a practical guide to creating habits. it has some very far-reaching implications and applications, teaching your team how to set their day up, how to create the habits, how to stack good habits on what they’re doing, so they set themselves up for success.

Get in touch with David

You can contact David at www.safetyevolution.com and book in a 15 – 20 minute chat with one of the team. They’re happy to look at what you’re doing and see if there is anything they can help you with.

Every business has its own way of maintaining its processes and operations. Some are successful in ways, while others often find themselves stuck in unsustainable practices that affect their entire business.

When it comes to sustainable manufacturing practices, the keyword is “sustainability”. You need some level of consistency. In other words, you need to formulate a strategy, explain it to the team, test the plan, and actually maintain it long-term. There’s no point in using all your resources to formulate a plan and end up losing sight of it after some time. The best strategy would then be to keep an eye on your team and ensure every person comes to the party to sustain these good manufacturing practices.

In our podcast interview, we chatted to manufacturing consultant Tomas Brignell of IMIG UK, about ways to sustain good manufacturing practices. Be sure to watch the interview to get the lowdown on a four-step method that’ll really help you and your manufacturing team.

Here’s a summary of Tom’s 4 step method for Sustaining Good Manufacturing Processes:

Preparation

Ensure you have suitable foundations before you start. Make sure you’ve got a really solid foundation and a well-prepared process in place.

Also, if you’re looking at making a modification to your line, ensure there’s a suitable buffer in place.

Demonstration

Clearly define the process to those that will need to follow it. This could be in the form of a visual work instruction or a specification drawing or document.

Try Out

Make sure that the team have clearly understood the process. Ensure they’ve got everything they need and that they are capable of performing the process in the way you’ve designed it.

Follow Up

Finally, and probably most importantly of all, is to ensure that there’s a well-established layered audit in place to prevent any backsliding.

Don’t assume that people will maintain the process unchecked. Make sure that you have everyone involved as a top-down approach.

For example, your line managers are checking your operators, your seniors are checking line managers and even up to the director level, someone is held accountable for making sure regular updates and checks are kept in place.

Summary

So, the four steps to follow for sustaining good manufacturing practices are:

• Preparation – ensure you have a stable foundation in place.
• Demonstration – clearly define the process to those who need it.
• Try Out – make sure your team are capable of performing the process.
• Follow Up – have a well-established layered audit in place.