In the three years to December 2003, Unicam had expanded into the two industrial units currently occupied, built the workforce to around 28 and increased turnover from around £1.5m to nearly £2.5m. The growth of the company has been self funded from profit.

Unicam operates in a specialist niche market place within the UK and Europe. The company designs, builds and maintains bespoke hi-tech Interactive display/demonstration systems for retailers, car audio manufacturers and dealers, and for domestic switching. These systems primarily integrate standard ranges of consumer electronics (audio and video equipment) using sophisticated electronic switching techniques and creative presentation so that the products are displayed for sale in the best possible way. Unicam customers include well known national retail chains and car dealers/manufacturers together with international consumer electronics manufacturers (some examples; Halford, Hartwell, Honda, JVC and Sony).

A programme of product innovation and diversification into such areas as shopping mall mobile retail units (Port-a-Shop), touch-screen kiosks and other interactive display products had stimulated demand and proven the potential for sales. Unfortunately, it also greatly increased the different types of materials and components used. This stretched the capabilities of the staff and required more flexibility in both the internal fabrication and external sourcing of subcomponents.

The Group General Manager, Sally Salter, takes up the story; “…after 3 years growth, I knew instinctively that we were approaching our limits and there would be no use pushing sales if the manufacturing side of the business couldn't gear up……we needed to make dramatic changes to the way we did things …and we needed to do it quickly …that meant both financial and professional help from outside… always a difficult decision for a small business”.

John Lawson, an independent business adviser and training associate of MCCR brought in from the ibd network (Initiatives in Business Development) by Sally, helped to formulate a Business Improvement Plan, “ … it was a classic small business problem, victims of their own success - the company was not scaleable beyond the capacity of certain key individuals and plant without loosing control of product quality and financial margins…” .

The advisers helped Sally identify potential Grant funding available from the YFM Group, agents for the DTI Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), specifically to apply Lean Manufacturing techniques to the Leeds factory. Further grants were potentially available from YFM to partially fund the essential retraining of supervisory/technical staff, through the Best Practice Skills Transfer (BPST).

Access to the grant was surprisingly straight forward and efficiently handled by YFM.

MCCR Associates, approved consultants for the MAS scheme, carried out the one day MAS Diagnostic which confirmed an immediate requirement for a MAS Intervention Project to apply Lean Manufacturing techniques to the factory and the diagnostic also recommended a training programme in parallel to equip staff with the necessary skills.

The Diagnostic report provided the objective input to formal terms of reference for a MAS Intervention Project, which together with some simple paperwork formed the application for a grant. YFM responded immediately and the approval was received a few days later. This was really helpful as the Unicam business has a seasonal pattern and we were able to complete the work so that the annual peak (Sept – Dec) would benefit from the improvements.

The MAS Intervention Project started in June 2004 with a detailed analysis of the manufacturing activities by David Brannock (MCCR MAS specialist). These were mapped to define major flow and tributary supporting supplies. Simple stock control rules were initiated to support these activities. Problems in the installation processes at customer sites were targeted with a Sales driven “Help Desk” to capture any occurrences and provide input to root cause corrective action. The level of rework and finished quality problems were targeted through the definition of new standardised processes for Enquiries, Quotations and Order-Entry. Also, this enhanced the simplicity, accuracy and speed of the processes. Operational staff took ownership of the Product Cost Estimating process, defining and developing it in practical workshops as part of the training on Quality Improvement techniques (i.e. part of the BPST programme).

The BPST initiative utilised the QBITS in Production (Quality in Business Improvement TeamS) training programme . QBITS is about training and developing workteams to apply the principles of TQM/QIP/Best-Practice in their daily work in an SME lean manufacturing environment. Creating a virtuous circle of improvement starting with a core group who subsequently become the trainers and facilitators of further QBITS teams. Establishing small workteams within the natural workplace to take responsibility for implementing specific production performance improvements, setting targets and measuring the teams' effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

The objective of the programme was to equip the supervisory and technical staff with the experience of what Best Practice means in this environment and the practical skills necessary to contribute effectively in a culture of continuous improvement and business change. Providing leadership and a strong vision of manufacturing excellence for Unicam.

The YFM funding was used to accelerate change, so, a total of 9 supervisor/technician grade staff (5 funded through the scheme) were put through the programme, between June and September 2004 in regular half-day sessions so as to minimise disruption to production schedules. During the course they were allocated a real live project, one that had been identified as a common cause of problems and errors in the production process, something relevant so that they could try out the new approaches and techniques.

As part of finishing the course, each group had to give a formal presentation of their project, to the management team, in the form of a Quality Improvement Storyboard. Their proposals consisted of well-defined standard processes, databases, checklists and pro-formas that could streamline the operation removing the source of many errors and rendering them eminently scaleable. Subsequent conversion to ISO 9001 would be relatively simple.

Sally Salter comments “ … we (the management team) were delighted with the results and readily accepted the proposals for implementation…”

Although it is well accepted that changing behaviours and attitudes can take a long time, the Unicam Business Improvement Plan, supported by MAS (the Intervention Project) and BPST (the QBITS training programme) has already transformed the climate within the company and started to deliver results “on the bottom line”.

By taking improvements recommended in the MAS Intervention project and working them through as the practical work studies in the QBITS training, a “sling shot” for change was created by linking the two initiatives for mutual benefit. Whereas the MAS intervention identified what needed to be done, the BPST programme gave the staff the background knowledge and the practical skills necessary to make it part of daily work. Empowering continuous improvement.

Sally continues “ ...we have made efficiency savings and have identified how to increase capacity by 30% without further investment in people or plant … there is scope for much more improvement, now that we are clear about how to achieve our original objectives … the MAS and BPST grant schemes are brilliant, and as administered by YFM are a major factor in helping us to secure our future business success”

John concludes, “Unfortunately many small businesses have a stereotyped image of Government “help” being tied up in red tape and bureaucracy, characterised by interference and obfuscation. Nothing could be further from the truth, the funding allowed us to just get on with the job and focus on delivering results and great value for money. ”