Poeton Industries selected for SiG
Gloucester based Poeton Industries has been selected for the £1.2 million Sharing in Growth (SiG) government-backed productivity programme designed to help firms compete for increased aerospace business. The Sharing in Growth (SiG) programme, which attracts £1.2 million from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) for each participating company, will help develop the company to become more competitive so that it can win or retain around £20 million a year in contracts by 2018 – up from £10.5 million in 2014.
Said Poeton managing director Lyndon Follows: “We see our participation in Sharing in Growth as a key element in enabling the business to introduce training and development programs that can be cascaded throughout Poeton’s organisational structure. It will support our mission to improve the effectiveness and efficiency throughout the business. We want to ensure that our plant and resources deliver high quality coatings at competitive prices, allowing us to maximise on business opportunities and to create major employment expansion.”
To achieve its growth ambitions, Poeton will work with SiG to exploit lean principles and efficiency and to accelerate its staff training and recruitment to ensure its plant is effectively utilised and business development opportunities are maximised. Poeton has made significant investment in plant, factory space and infrastructure over recent years including new buildings in Gloucester and an extension to its Cardiff facilities.
SiG is already helping 40 companies achieve their aim of an average 50% increase in productivity. SiG’s four year transformation programmes are designed to deliver and sustain improvements so that UK firms are better placed to compete for the continuing huge growth in the aerospace sector.
Established in 2013 with £50 million from the RGF and endorsement from Finmeccanica, Airbus, BAE Systems, Bombardier, GE, GKN and Rolls-Royce, SiG has already helped secure contracts worth over £1 billion for the first 24 firms on the programme, equivalent to around 1600 UK jobs. Ultimately the programme’s goal is to safeguard 10,000 UK jobs.
Said Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page: “We congratulate Poeton Industries on joining the Sharing in Growth programme. They have undergone a robust business diagnostic and have the backing of their major customers to achieve their growth plans. The aerospace industry in the UK is highly dependent on capable and ambitious surface engineering companies so we look forward to working with Poeton to capitalise on this opportunity.
“Sharing in Growth is helping to ensure the UK remains a world leader in aerospace by improving competitiveness and productivity in the supply chain. Our success to date means we have secured an additional £30 million from the Regional Growth Fund to recruit another 24 companies for the programme.”
SiG’s cross-functional experts tackle areas such as lean operations, manufacturing engineering, procurement and cost and value engineering. To ensure a sustainable and fully integrated transformation programme they also work with delivery partners such as Deloitte, Unipart Expert Practices, the National Physical Laboratory, The University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing and Industry Forum to provide world-class training in leadership, strategy, business planning and performance improvement.
The privately-owned company, founded in 1895, is a surface engineering specialist, providing a wide choice of Non-Destructive Testing, surface coatings and thermal spraying, serving customers worldwide including Rolls-Royce, Moog, Honeywell Aerospace, Safran Group and UTC and their supply chains. It employs 212 people in total, with 125 in Gloucester and the rest at its Cardiff site in South Wales. The company provides a wide range of coatings aimed at combatting wear and corrosion and also supports global manufacturing industries with coating R&D, a unique expertise within the surface treatment sector.
Companies interested in joining the SiG programme can complete an expression of interest form which is available at:
www.sig-uk.org/apply