Training transforms workforce at former factory

Citation

(2010), "Training transforms workforce at former factory", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 42 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2010.03742fab.004

Training transforms workforce at former factory

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 42, Issue 6

The Hartlepool, UK, site of BMB Clothing needed to restructure and retrain its workforce from production employees to warehouse staff in a difficult economic climate.

In 1999, the men’s formal-wear supplier closed its manufacturing site in the town, making the workers redundant. The decision was taken to turn the plant into a warehouse – the start of a buoyant distribution business that now has major expansion plans.

In order to retrain some of the former manufacturing workers as warehouse operatives, BMB developed its own in-house training, the Bronze Award, and says the business has become more productive as a result.

The volume of goods passing through the site rose by 23 percent between 2004 and 2008, while staff turnover fell from 40 to 13 percent in the same period. An internal staff-satisfaction audit found that the number of people at the Hartlepool site rating BMB as “one of the best” or an “above average” place to work rose from 8 percent in 2003 to 38 percent in 2008.

Shaun Atchison, warehouse-team coordinator, says investment in staff has played an important part. “The business has prospered due to the training,” he explains. “Orders are going out quicker and more effectively. Overall flexibility has improved due to the operators being multi-skilled and competent in their role. Operators are doing less-repetitive tasks and are having a variance from their normal roles – thus making a happier and more contented workforce.”

BMB Clothing, a privately-owned retailer, sells its clothes through a network of more than 500 stores, including its own shops and concessions in larger stores such as Debenhams. It also sells wholesale. Founded in 1894, it today employs 1,600 people nationally, including 53 in Hartlepool. In its heyday, the Hartlepool factory alone had more than 1,000 workers, but over the years the labor force fell until in 1999 manufacturing stopped altogether and the factory closed. In order to best use the space and to retain jobs in the area, the site was turned into a warehouse, initially recruiting 50 people, largely from the redundant manufacturing staff.

At first, staff learned on the job as they made the transition from manufacturing to distribution work, but soon it became clear that more structured training was needed. The Bronze Award was launched in 2004, with the aim of turning unskilled workers into multi-skilled warehouse operatives with the chance to work their way up the career ladder. A training-needs analysis used listening groups, appraisals and wider discussions to decide what areas should be included.

Today, 45 members of staff have completed the program that includes basic workplace instruction in all the aspects of the job as well as in team working, health and safety. Progress through the course, now a requirement for all operatives, is measured through a skills matrix completed every two months and in regular assessment meetings. Evidence of the skills achieved is recorded through workbooks.

Operatives can move on from the Bronze Award to more in-depth training through the Silver Award. The Gold Award gives team leaders the chance to build their management skills and to lead training.

The Bronze Award was introduced in 2004 and by the end of 2008, the training had cost the company £16,522. The training, which won a “large employer” prize in the latest National Training Awards, has since been used as a benchmark for a new level 2 qualification, Distribution Services for the Textile Industry.