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STADCONNECT
Issue 14 Autumn 2015
INTRODUCTION - Chris Fisher, Managing Director
On 2 October we announced that agreement had been reached by SAL Automotive to sell the entire business to Magna International Inc.. The transaction is expected to close toward the end of this year, subject to a number of customary conditions, including competition clearance. Magna will be an excellent fit
for Stadco, the capability, knowledge, customer base and resources of one of the largest global suppliers
to the automotive industry can only help enhance our opportunities for growth. During the period until
completion of the sale both organisations are restricted by competition law as to the level of contact and
what can be discussed. We will, of course, update you regarding both the completion of the sale and future direction as more information becomes available. In the mean time, we should all look to the future
very positively.
In Telford, Ray Macera the Facility Director left to pursue his career elsewhere. Ray joined Stadco in
2011 and played an instrumental role in the growth and development of Telford. I thank Ray for all that
he helped us achieve. His replacement Steve Hopper brings a wealth of experience and I am delighted
that he has settled in so quickly during such a critical period for Telford, with series production well underway for the XE and XF.
Following the recent period of unprecedented growth and investment, we must now all turn our collective
efforts toward efficiency improvements, particularly on the new processes. The value and opportunities
from the new processes will only come about by making them efficient and is part of our focus on delivering Continuous Improvement in all that we do. This is part of our development as a Learning Organisation; an organisation that facilitates the learning of all and continually transforms itself; an organisation
that recognises that standing still is not an option.
Telford Plant complete 1 year
without a Lost Time Accident
Telford Plant recently completed 1 year without a lost time accident, an outstanding accomplishment during a period which has
seen the installation of the new press lines and high levels of construction activity. Plans are afoot to celebrate this fantastic
achievement with a pizza lunch for all staff.
Stadco Group Employees Celebrate Long Service
Stadco Group employees, John Paskin, Paul Frowen and Carl Bayliss
recently celebrated their long service milestones, having worked for the
company for 44, 43 and 26 years respectively.
The trio were invited to mark the occasion with their departmental Directors, families and friends at the Hadley Park House Hotel. Following
lunch, presentations were made which included vouchers and personalised framed pictures featuring some of the projects that they have
worked on over the years. (story continues on page 2)
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Six Sigma update
Article by Mike Khanna
The second wave of Green Belt training and projects have now completed.
A total of 11 Green Belts from across the business received their accreditation certificates at a special presentation evening meal at the Valley Hotel in Ironbridge. This takes the number of Green Belts within Stadco to
22. The presentations were made by our Managing Director, Chris Fisher
and Kate Smith, the Managing Director of Capella who delivered the programme. The projects have been a tremendous success with savings of
around £550,000 being made.
As important, is the learning that each of the Green Belts gained that they
can take forward to future projects and apply to their daily working. Well
done to all who took part.
There were also two special awards presented:
●
‘The best application of the 6 Sigma tools’ was won by Dean
O’Callaghan, a Quality Technician from Shrewsbury, for his project on
rework reduction of pressed panels.
●
‘The best overall 6 Sigma project’ was won by Steve Burgess, also
from Shrewsbury plant, for his project on improving the efficiency and
organisation of I Line.
Dean O’Callaghan receiving his
award
Each winner received a commemorative crystal award and a Land Rover
Experience day.
The challenge has now been set to the other sites to get some winners
too!
Wave 3 of our Green Belt Program has commenced with a further 13 people from across the company. This wave will run until April next year and
I’m sure will be just as successful.
If you would like to be considered for participation in the program in the
future, or would like any information about the program, please feel free
to contact me at [email protected].
Long Service Awards
Steve Burgess receiving his award
- continued from page 1
Stadco Shrewsbury employees have also been invited to celebrate achieving their 40 and 25 year milestones at a ceremony to be held on 12 November at the Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury. Two long serving
employees, Vernon Brown, Maintenance Engineer and Goronwy Griffiths, Tool Maker have worked an
incredible 46 and 47 years at Stadco - an impressive 93 years between them.
Also celebrating 25 years service will be:
Stuart Bates
Paul Slack
Alan Cupitt
Mark Gough
Well done to everyone !
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Karl Cowdale
Joy Ward
Telford Transfer
Press Video Online
Leicester Graduate Fair
Stadco recently attended the Leicester Graduate Fair,
where they met and talked to students about the
Graduate Scheme and also internship opportunities
at Stadco. Students who submitted their CV will now
be invited to attend an open day at Telford where
they will find out more about the schemes and also
have a tour of the facility.
The video sequence of the two new transfer
press lines has been updated with footage added
of parts being manufactured. This can be seen
on our website www.stadco.co.uk.
New Group Life Assurance Scheme
As recently announced by Chris Fisher, Stadco has introduced a Group Life Assurance Plan which covers
all employees with a minimum life insurance of 3 x final salary. The scheme has been paid for entirely by
Stadco and there is no cost at all to employees. This means that if anybody unfortunately dies whilst
they are a permanent employee of Stadco, their beneficiaries will receive a minimum cash lump sum
equivalent to 3 years’ salary.
Historically life cover has been linked to opting into the main company pension scheme, resulting in 340
employees not being covered by the Stadco funded life insurance. The decision to extend the cover to all
permanent employees will also align the minimum level of cover for employees to 3 x final salary, benefiting another 59 employees.
The scheme, provided by Aviva, also offers the following additional benefits:
Gym Discounts: save up to 25% on membership from a range of top UK health clubs;
Car or Van Insurance: 15% discount on your first year’s car insurance with Aviva;
Breakdown Cover: 15% discount on your first year’s breakdown cover with Aviva;
Home Insurance: save 15% on your first year’s home insurance with Aviva; and
Travel Insurance 15% discount on your first year’s annual travel insurance.
Chris Fisher said, “ Though all of us hope that none of us ever needs to call upon it, I think you will
agree that this is a generous and worthwhile addition to the benefits package and hopefully demonstrates how much we value all of our colleagues and families”.
For futher informaton on the scheme or if you have any queries please contact Group Payroll or Group
HR.
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Stadco host return visit for Chatwood Safe
Company employee to show that it’s still
‘Quality First’
Stadco Shrewsbury recently welcomed local history enthusiast and former Chatwood Safe Company
employee Bob Faulconbridge to its Shrewsbury facility for a VIP guided tour. The Chatwood Safe Company
was located on the current Stadco Shrewsbury site on Harlescott Lane. Bob started his career as an
apprentice in September 1938, eventually leaving the company in the early part of 1962.
Bob and his wife Brenda, were invited by Rob Glen, Facility Director of Stadco Shrewsbury following the
publication of Bob’s book, which chronicles the history of the Chatwood Safe Company at Stadco’s
Harlescott site.
Rob Glen commented “Stadco has a rich and interesting history and Bob’s book records a fascinating period
during the war, when it was contributing significantly to the war effort. Interestingly, back then, the
company motto was ‘Quality First’, which is still our mantra today. Bob has managed to collate some
remarkable images from this time and whilst the basic infrastructure of the site has not changed a great
deal, internally it is now unrecognisable to how it was in Bob’s day. We wanted to take the opportunity to
show Bob how it looks today and showcase the leading technology and processes we employ throughout
the business”.
Commenting on their day at Stadco, Brenda said “We enjoyed it very much, and Bob was very impressed
with all he saw. Everyone was most helpful and informative, taking great care of us oldies!”
Bob’s book is currently on display in both Shrewsbury and Telford T1 receptions.
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Stamping Engineering Workshop
Report by Paul Jaggers, Product Development Director
Following the recent changes in the Engineering Structure to split Stamping and Assembly functions,
Programme Management held a two day Stamping Engineering Workshop in order to review current
ways of working. The event was cross functional and included representatives from all four facilities,
business unit partners from Commercial, Purchasing & HR as well as the Stamping Engineering group
and was aimed at building relationships and team spirit amongst the wider group.
The theme of the Workshop was to review what we do well, what we need to improve upon and what
we would need to do to further evolve into a “World Class” BIW supplier. We had 2 vehicles (Audi TT
and R8) at the event on Day One to review their BIW quality.
The Workshop was structured into 4 breakout sessions looking at the four main sections of a tooling project from Feasibility to PSW. These section were then split by presentations
to the group on current work-in-progress initiatives such as
the launch of the Stamping Forum, developments in press tool
simulation, an initiative with JLR on material optimisation, HR
initiatives looking at behavioural development and a sustainable workforce going forward including enhancing our apprenticeships for Tooling Engineers and finally the roll out of the Stadco Tooling Engineering Process.
The four Breakout Sessions were focussed on:
Simultaneous Engineering & Feasibility – This
section covers the work we do at Gaydon in parallel
to the Product Design to ensure we have feasible
parts at the point where we are in a position to engage a Toolmaker;
Tool Design – This phase takes the process layouts
and initial feasibility simulations and creates completed Tool Designs in conjunction with our selected Toolmaker;
Tooling Realisation and Supplier Management – This is
where the tools are manufactured, assembled, matured, used
to manufacture pre-production build phase parts and ultimately bought off prior to shipping; and
Launch – Where we take the tools from the Toolmaker Buy-Off and work in the plants to achieve replication, automation, run at rate and subsequently PSW and plant handover.
Each session began with an overview of what our customer expects to see via the Programme management team and the activities included in STEP.
The output from the event and the breakout sessions was excellent and my team and I will be working
through the information over the coming months to develop work streams as we continue on the journey to “World Class”.
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Stadco Telford Continue Sponsorship of Lawley
Comets FC
Stadco Telford are pleased to announce their continued support for Lawley Comets FC. Nick Dunn
commented, “having sponsored the team over the previous two years for age groups of U15 and U16’s,
it has been a pleasure to watch the junior team move up into senior football”.
Stadco have remained the kit sponsor for their entry this year into the U18’s Shropshire Minor League.
Lawley Comets U18s (right) in
their new Stadco sponsored kit
and (below) how the team
looked last year.
Telford Bubble Football
Once a month Telford Plant have a get together to play a
friendly game of indoor football at the TCAT Sports Dome.
Earlier in the year, Telford Plant challenged Group to a
match which turned out to be a very competitive game with
a final score of 20 - 10 to Telford.
For September Plant decided to do something a little different and much to everyone's surprise, organised a game of Bubble Football, with 16 employees taking part. A video of the event can be found
on the Telford Bubble Football page on Facebook.
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Stadco Powys Winners at the 2015 Powys
Business Awards
Stadco Powys were delighted to have been
awarded the Manufacturing Award at the
2015 Powys Business Awards, which was
presented on[ ] at [ ].
The judges commented that “Stadco Powys
has a customer database which reads like
the who’s who of world class motor manufacturing companies, yet
operates its business in Llanfyllin.
The company is a worthy winner in
a very competitive group”.
During the awards evening, it was announced that Stadco Powys were also
shortlisted for the overall Business of the Year award. This is a tremendous achievement and reflects
the hard work and commitment of every employee at Stadco Powys.
Wolf Run raises funds for Cancer Research
Elise Homer, Programme Co-Ordinaror, Group Engineering recently completed the gruelling Wolf Run
in aid of Cancer Research and in memory of her close friend Helen.
Elise recounted her day for Stadconnect. “Waves of 100 or so people set off every 10 minutes and in
preparation for my heat I joined a fun military-style warm up, this helped get us off to a great start.
That was until we came to the third obstacle, which was the first water obstacle, a lake wade. The sun
had definitely not warmed up the water, it was freezing!
In total there was around 20 obstacles over the 10k course, all designed to test you physically and when
it came to the height ones, test you mentally too. We swam, climbed, crawled, waded and ran through
the 10k to the finish. The bruises are starting to fade finally, but it was definitely fun and memorable.
A huge thanks to everyone who sponsored
me”.
Well done to Elise who raised £495 for Cancer
Research.
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Adam takes the Hope House Cycle Challenge
Congratulations to Adam Owen, Quality Engineer/Team Leader, Powys, who completed the Hope
House Cycle Challenge in August. The 72 mile route
started in Oswestry, up to Lake Bala and returned via
Bwlch y Groes, one of the highest public road mountain
passes in Wales with a summit altitude of 545 metres!
Adam told Stadconnect: “The ride was challenging as
there were very steep inclines but I am proud that I completed it and raised money for such a good cause. Thank
you to everyone that sponsored me”.
Adam completed the ride in four hours and raised a total
of £265 for Hope House. If anyone would like to donate
to Hope House, please visit:
http://www.hopehouse.org.uk/home.html
Congratulations to Matthew Douch on gaining
his MCIPS Professional Qualification
You may remember Matt’s last appearance in Stadconnect, just as he was
embarking on his studies for a professional qualification in Procurement and
Supply, (MCIPS). Four years down the line and with 15 exam passes under his
belt, Matt has gained his MCIPS qualification and is now a professional member
of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. Matt attended a graduation ceremony at Birmingham Symphony Hall in June where he received his
qualification.
Commenting on the last 4 years, Matt said “It has been a hard balance between
work, life and study; with a busy work schedule at Stadco, a young son and
life’s usual challenges to keep on top of. However I would like to thank all my
work colleagues and family for the help, support and guidance they have offered and Stadco for
supporting me financially, with study days and giving me the opportunity to further my professional
career and enabling me to obtain a degree level qualification.
Spotlight on New Employee
Jon Simcock, started at the Telford Plant in March 2015, having previously
worked at Brinton Carpets for 11 years as a Team Leader. Although Jon initially joined Stadco via an agency, it wasn’t long before his potential was
spotted and he was offered a permanent role as Shift Leader. Jon now works
on the new transfer press looking after 15-20 people. Jon told Stadconnect
why he had chosen to come to Stadco “I had no chance to advance in my last job and I had heard how
great Stadco was. I’ve only been here a short time but it’s living up to expectations and I’m really enjoying the job”.
If you would like to contribute to a future edition of Stadconnect please contact
Vicky Dorey.
[email protected]
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