PROCESS industries employers could find many of their problems neatly PAC-ed away through a project that aims to deliver an average 10-fold improvement on productivity and competitiveness, and all for an initial investment of just £700.
The BITPAC programme (Business Improvement Techniques Productivity and Competitiveness) was developed by the Manufacturing Skills Alliance and is being spearheaded by the National Skills Academy Process Industries, as part of its mission to help companies address skills issues.
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The programme is designed to help chemical, pharmaceutical and polymer businesses to create a sustainable improvement culture, through a powerful combination of simultaneously making process improvements and upskilling their workforce.
The programme can last anywhere between six and nine months, depending on need. The initial stage involves an expert PAC analyst working with businesses to assess their business priority areas and measure quality, cost and delivery.
The second stage sees the analyst assess skills gaps and recommend BIT (Business Improvement Technique) qualifications for staff as required. The analyst can also arrange for a qualified engineer to work with staff to guide the improvement process, and bring in an expert training provider to assess staff who will be involved directly with the work.
Neil Wilkinson, the skills academy’s BITPAC champion and also Regional Skills Manager for the East and West Midlands, explains more about the scheme: “The core objectives are to help employers find ways to increase production, reduce labour costs, cut machine downtime and build their own capacity to deliver sustainable year-on-year improvements.
“The data is gathered, collated and used in a process developed by the Department of Trade and Industry, called Quality Cost Delivery (QCD). This examines whether a business is making the most effective use of their equipment, if their waste can be reduced and if there are any issues with their deliveries.
“The analyst assesses the company in seven key areas of the business. In most cases the result is a tailored, short term project designed to have an immediate impact on the bottom line.
“Simultaneously, the staff are being trained on BIT so they can all earn a Level 2 or Level 3 qualification, but more importantly so that they can continue to deliver improvements beyond the lifetime of this initial high impact project.”
Progress is benchmarked by a repeat of the initial assessment at the end of the programme, to demonstrate the improvements that have taken place.
“Industry employers can make significant gains against a small investment, not only through the improved processes, but through better informed and better qualified staff,” adds Neil.
“And because cost is such an issue in the current climate, we have worked with partners to develop a new fully integrated delivery process that means employers can access this whole process and expert help for just £700, which delivers excellent value.”
Employers interested in hearing more about how the scheme can help their business should contact Neil Wilkinson on tel: 07894 483 697 or e: n.wilkinson@process.nsacademy.co.uk.
