ENTEK’s Newcastle plant was again recognized by the Cranfield School of Management for advancements in its processes and procedures.  As part of its philosophy of sharing best practices and encouraging continuous improvement within the UK manufacturing industry, a small number of factories are honored in several categories including Innovation, Processing, Health and Safety and Continuous Improvement.  ENTEK was honored for its strides in continuous improvement.

Selection for the awards is made by a group of assessors from the Cranfield School of Management and includes an audit of each factory being considered.  From these audits, a small number of plants are ‘short-listed’ and a team of assessors tour the plants, meet with management and interview employees (ENTEK’s assessment took place last July).  They then select winners in each of their categories.  As noted on the Cranfield site:

In making their selection the judges consider several criteria:

• Operating performance measures in comparison with other factories in the same industrial sector. Measures taken into account will include quality consistency, scrap / rework rates, speed of delivery, delivery reliability and productivity
• Rates of performance improvement
• The quality and effectiveness of the systems in place to ensure continuous improvement
• The quality of management leadership and strategic thinking
• The extent to which the factory meets the criteria for world class manufacturing

Neil Craggs, Plant Manager for ENTEK’s UK plant says:

“The reason we enter the UK Best Factory awards is to benchmark ourselves against other preeminent UK manufacturers.  The assessment and the learning tours we host tell us how well we are doing and where we need to pick up the pace.  Winning this award tells us we are doing the right things.  We have been able to achieve this success through focused effort and teamwork, which is evident in every part of our business and plant.  ENTEK strives to be the best supplier in the global battery separator industry and, more broadly, to be a world-class manufacturer.  We recognize that continuous improvement is a never-ending journey so we’re going to keep working on process improvements.”

The awards ceremony took place in early October at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.