Successful sheet metalworker/assembler to offer continuous improvement knowledge

It is to host a series of 'Improvement Workshops' that are open to customers, suppliers, and other businesses interested in benefiting from the continuous improvement model that the sheet metal manufacturer has deployed to such great effect. The workshops, which will be run by Keith Nicholl, KMF's business improvement manager and former Industry Forum senior engineer with extensive experience gained from helping more than 100 companies. He will be joined by Gary Sutton, KMF's business improvement engineer, who has been instrumental in maintaining KMF's process of improvement over the past five years. "Employing simple and sustainable continuous improvement techniques has played a major role in our success, which will see turnover exceed £30 million in this financial year," says Mr Nicholl. "With this new initiative, we are looking to openly share with others what we have learnt over the course of the last five years at KMF. The intention is to peel back the mystery surrounding improvement strategies by explaining what worked (and what didn't!) and, critically, to detail the key factors that make these tools work in the real world." Each of the KMF workshops will illustrate what needs to happen within a business for sustainable improvements to take place and are open to groups of between five and eight delegates from any single company. The workshops will be enhanced through the use of hands-on simulations, in order to stimulate interest and provide a clear understanding of the process and its benefits to the bottom line. During the course of the full days' events, which will be held at KMF's purpose-built training centre, delegates will be exposed to 5C or 5S workplace organisation, standardisation, visual control and display, and waste elimination. The company will explain how these tools can be used to sustain real improvements within any process or area. Throughout the day, there'll be opportunities to quiz KMF employees that have been responsible for the improvements at the company to find out how continuous improvement has been instrumental in the impressive growth the business has seen over the past few years, and is continuing to benefit from. Concludes Mr Nicholl: "There is nothing complicated about what we do at KMF, we have good people who now understand how to use these simple improvement tools to benefit KMF's day to day operations. We are happy to share the knowledge that we have built up and the process that we have arrived at." Any businesses or organisations interested in booking a workshop, which are priced at £500 per workshop (not per delegate), should contact Keith Nicholl directly by email at K.Nicholl@kmf.co.uk