Best practice day launched for corporate members

A new networking event exclusively for corporate members designed to facilitate open innovation and shared learning launched on 21 June.

The first best practice day took place at office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller’s facility in Melksham, Wiltshire.

On behalf of the Corporate Membership Committee, Peter Holland welcomed the guests and thanked Graham Dean and Andy Humphreys of Herman Miller for hosting the visit.

The theme of the day was production and manufacturing excellence, with guests having the opportunity to learn about the company’s continual improvement process.

The guests enjoyed a presentation by Graham and Andy, which highlighted the ethos of the company founders back in the 1950s, care for the environment, engagement with their people and the value of design excellence – all hallmarks of the enterprise today.

The tour continued with a visit to the factory to see the day-to-day production process. It was evident that everyone in the team had ownership of the improvement process, daily challenges and production issues, and possible solutions were flagged up and recorded. The teams then came together to rapidly correct blockages and make improvements to increase productivity.

Martin Waller, head of engineering EMEA at Herman Miller, said: “Although we have made a significant investment in our facilities, fundamentally it is the individuals in the production teams that produced the results. As managers, we need to recognise our core objective is to facilitate the ease with which the staff can perform their roles.”

The guests were impressed by the ability of team members to switch from one role to another. These skills produce a flexible and agile workforce, one that is capable of responding rapidly to production needs. It also enables staff to refresh both mentally and physically by changing tasks.

Peter said: “On behalf of the Corporate Membership Committee, I would like to thank Herman Miller putting on a great day and for being such excellent hosts.”