BIT improvements at Vita Cellular Foams UK

The Vita Group has 78 sites across the world, manufacturing a wide range of polymeric products including foam, nonwovens and thermoplastic sheets.

The Vita Cellular Foams sites are largely autonomous, with their own identity and management structure, with a shared Lean team focused on improvement opportunities across the Group. It is naturally important to the Vita Lean team that any improvements introduced should be sustainable. A workforce with a clear understanding of Lean techniques and the importance of the Lean approach will be far more likely to make those improvements stick for the medium and long term.

Pera Training were brought in to conduct widescale NVQ level training. As Ian Pilkington, Divisional Lean Director, said, 'We wanted to skill-up the people in our factories, to show our commitment to them and make sure that they feel valued. Key for us was that they got good quality NVQ Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications in Business Improvement Techniques that will help the business improve, and will be real value to them throughout their working lives.' Following a competitive process during which Vita met with a number of consultancies, Pera Training were selected to deliver the BIT programme. Work with each site starts with a scoping exercise and a discussion of issues with the factory management team, followed by delivery of training. Local managers get involved to support the programme and demonstrate their commitment to the improvements. So far, around 130 employees have completed their training programme, with a further 113 employees taking part in training through this year.

Achievement of the Pera Training delivered NVQ's in BIT empowers and motivates individual employees, makes shop floor improvements sustainable, and supports Vita's Strategic Lean Objectives. A win-win-win situation. We also offer apprenticeships in BIT.

For more information please contact Marcus Pearson on:

+44 (0)1664 501501

marcus.pearsons@pera.com