A leaner brew forTwinings
Up-skilledengineers increase teaproductionbyup to40%with Festo tailored trainingprogrammes
Althoughoneof thenation’s favouritebrands,
likemanymanufacturers, the recessionand
increased competition fromoverseasproductionhas created theneed to re-alignbusiness,
off-shoringsomeproduction linesandstreamliningothers. The resultwasa leaner
approach tomanufacturing, installationof new technology, organisation restructureand the
requirement toupskill someemployees.
T
winingsholds the title for the
longest standing logo inuse, a
claim to fame that captures the
longevityand fondness for the
brandover the centuries. ThomasTwining
first introduced tea intohis coffeehouse
in1706, sure that itwouldgrow in
popularityand replace themore typical
beveragesof that time, coffee, aleor gin.
It proved tobeanastutemove. Initially
enjoyedby the richand famous, by the
1750s itwas favouredbyall classesand
hadbeenfirmlyadopted into theBritish
consciousness. Today, Twiningsproduces
100varietiesof teaenjoyedby tea lovers
across theworld.
The challenge
For theengineering teamatTwinings,
based inAndover, thisposedanew
challenge: how tominimise costsand
increaseproductivitywitha reduced
headcount andorganisational restructure.
Themost apparent solutionwas to reduce
machinerydowntimeand reduce the cost
of repairsandservicing. Todo this
required cross-skillingandup-skillingof
theexisting team. Theyneeded tobeable
to carryout diagnosticsandsimple
repairs tokeepmachineryup-and-running
and reduce the costsassociatedwith
downtime.
InitiallyTwinings lookedat off-the-shelf
trainingpackages, but quicklysaw the
benefitsof a tailoredprogrammewhich
couldbedeliveredonsite. Thisapproach
wouldmake trainingmore relevant to the
company’sownskillset; allow the
engineering team toshareknowledge
within the team; andprovidehandson,
practical experience thatwouldhelp them
in their day todaywork. Twinings
appointed FestoTrainingandConsulting
toprovide theon-site trainingas theyhad
their rootsfirmlyembeddedwithin the
engineeringandmanufacturingsector.
SkillsAnalysis
Thefirst step indeveloping the course
was to carryout askillsanalysissession.
Involvingmembersof theengineering
team, skillsanalysisenabledTwinings to
establishstrengthsandweaknesses
within theengineeringdepartment;
identify common issues that ariseand
their root causes; identifyspecificareas
of training thatwouldbenefit the team;
and reduce theamount ofmachinery
downtime to increaseproductivity.
