News & Press Releases
- November 2009
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Based in Capenhurst, Chester, Urenco UK Ltd (UUK) is a subsidiary of Urenco Enrichment Company Ltd and provides a uranium enrichment service.
Through its Mission, Values and areas of strategic focus the organisation continues to drive for further organisational improvement, efficiency and effectiveness.
Winners of the North West Business Excellence Awards in 2002 and current holders of the Investors in Excellence Standard Urenco UK committed to being re assessed against the Standard in March 2009.
The assessors found that "there is clear commitment from the top in driving a culture of continuous improvement and Excellence which is supported by a wide range of measures, which are subject to review and monitoring against appropriate targets, learning and change occurs as a result of this."
David Teale, Chief Executive, North of England Excellence said: "I am delighted that Urenco UK has once again gained the Investors in Excellence Standard and wish them every success in their continued drive for organisational excellence.
The 29th September 2009 saw the 2010 EFQM Excellence Model introduced to delegates at the EFQM Forum in Brussels.
Details of the new model can be found on the EFQM website or click here to download a copy of the presentation given in Brussels.
Although this is billed as a new version of the Model the changes are more in the detail rather than wholesale. The Fundamental Concepts of Excellence have been refreshed, with some of the names and content changed. They are now expressed more dynamically, and are more closely tied into the model criteria and criteria parts.
With regard to the Excellence Model itself, the shape and nine boxes remain - but some of the boxes have been renamed. Policy & Strategy is now simply Strategy, Processes is renamed Processes, Products & Services, and Key Performance Results has become Key Results. However, the real changes are in the definitions of the criteria and criteria parts where the opportunity to clarify, update and refocus the requirements of the model has been very successfully seized.
The review group has also taken on and delivered a full review of associated RADAR scoring mechanism, and have simplified the weightings assigned to each part of the model.
Next Steps:
We are actively identifying ways of providing opportunities for Members and others to learn more about the 2010 Excellence Model.
A initial Briefing Seminar is to be held jointly with the BQF in Leeds on Tuesday 27th October (more details from Suzanne House, suzanne@noee.co.uk). The cost will be £95+VAT a head for Members, or £195+VAT for others. Further events are being planned.
An initial Assessor Briefing will also be included as part of the 2009 Award Assessor Conference scheduled for Wednesday 4th November. This free event is open to all who assessed for the 2009 North of England Business Excellence Awards. More detailed workshops will also be held for all those applying to be Assessors for the 2010 Award cycle.
2010 North of England Excellence Awards:
Both the Submission Workbook for the 2010 North of England Business Excellence and the Assessor Teams' Feedback Reports will be based on the 2010 Excellence Model.
Nine organisations are celebrating success after being named as winners in the prestigious North of England Business Excellence Awards 2009.
The winners received their awards from the Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP at the annual awards dinner at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.
The winners were:
Private sector - fewer than 250 employees
Brand-Rex Ltd, Leigh
Private sector - 250 employees or more
Liverpool Direct Limited, Liverpool
Public sector - fewer than 250 employees
The Valley Community School, Bolton
Public sector - 250 employees or more
Cheshire Probation Area, Chester
Charity and not-for-profit sector
Gentoo Group, Sunderland
Special award for customer and customer results
Wincanton plc - HJ Heinz NDC, Wigan
Special award for people and people results
Contact Burnley - Burnley Borough Council, Burnley
Special award for leadership
Northern Rail Ltd, York
Urenco Award for Corporate Social Responsibility
Manchester Airport, Manchester
Business of the Year
Liverpool Direct Limited, Liverpool
Entries for this year's awards were amongst the highest since their launch in 1994. Organisers North of England Excellence believe this reflects in part the greater determination by businesses to improve their competitiveness in the face of recession and increased interest from the Yorkshire region.
Established in 1994 in the North West, the awards were extended four years ago to also cover Yorkshire and the North East. They judge organisations against the Business Excellence Model, a management tool for assessing business performance.
Ms Winterton, who is the Minister for Yorkshire and The Humber and Minister for Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination, said: "I congratulate the winners of these prestigious awards and thank all the businesses and organisations from the North of England who took part.
"This is a great opportunity to showcase the excellent business management we have in the North of England and celebrate the commitment to continuous improvement."
David Teale, chief executive of North of England Excellence, said: "The award winners are setting an example to other businesses by leading the way forward in the face of recession. Organisations which can raise standards and improve their business processes and performance will be best placed to survive in the current climate and take advantage of the upturn when it arrives."
Notes to editors:
For further information contact Pauline Rawsterne on 0161 860 6063 or email pauline@turquoisepr.co.uk
For images from the awards, click here.
For several years, North of England Excellence has awarded a prize to the graduate at Liverpool John Moores University with the highest marks in the Corporate Governance degree course.
Esther secured a Master of Science in Corporate Governance in the Faculty of Business and Law.
Esther has had an interesting and varied career, having been a presenter on GMTV and other TV programmes, she now runs several companies and is a Director of the family construction business. She is also the prospective Conservative candidate for Wirral West.
The photograph shows Dave Rusk, Education & Training Director, presenting this year’s award to Esther McVey, the successful student.
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Northern Rail has been recognised as a well-managed business that is committed to improving the quality of its operations to benefit customers and employees.
The plaudits for the train operator came from the North of England Excellence Scheme, which aims to inspire and encourage organisations to drive towards business excellence by making sustainable improvements.
The North of England Excellence Scheme awarded Northern a Continuity Marque for its continued commitment to putting in place the right people, resources and plans to deliver a successful, growing railway for passengers across the north of England.
Northern runs 2,600 trains each day across the north of England and has attracted 34% more passengers since it started four years ago. It has also improved the punctuality of its services from 83.7% when it started to 90% of trains on time in the last 12 months.
Heidi Mottram, Managing Director, Northern, said: “We’re delighted to have achieved the Continuity Marque in recognition of our commitment and our ambitions for excellence across all areas of the business. This is a major accolade for Northern, and recognises our commitment to quality standards.”
David Teale, Chief Executive, North of England Excellence said: “I am delighted that Northern Rail has achieved the Continuity Marque in the Marques of Excellence scheme.
“This builds on the Achievement Marque Northern Rail has already received. This independent accreditation demonstrates Northern Rail’s absolute commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement. I wish them every success as they continue to develop excellence and quality strategies within the business.”
Northern Rail has adopted the European Foundation Quality Management (EFQM) model as a basis for auditing activities, processes and results against a recognised benchmark.
Notes to editors:
Picture shows left to right: Heidi Mottram, Managing Director, Northern Rail and David Teale, Chief Executive, North of England Excellence.
A Leigh cable manufacturer has achieved one of the UK’s top quality accreditations. Brand-Rex Speciality Cabling Solutions is one of only four organisations in the North to achieve the Continuity Marque of Excellence, which recognises businesses that attain very high standards in all areas of their operation.
The award was presented by Leigh MP Andy Burnham, who is also Secretary of State for Health. It is the culmination of an eight-year programme of continuous improvement by the company, which employs around 110 people at its premises in West Bridgewater Street, Leigh and is a leading manufacturer of high performance electrical cables for the aerospace, automotive, rail and industrial sectors.
The Marques of Excellence scheme was launched two years ago by North of England Excellence and consists of three levels, of which the Continuity Marque is the highest.
Brand-Rex also won the Groundwork Award for Corporate Social Responsibility in the 2008 North of England Excellence Awards. Brand-Rex's Leigh Site holds accreditation for both the ISO TS 16949 Automotive and AS9100 Aerospace Quality Management System standards.
Brand-Rex quality manager John Bachegalup said: “Since most of our clients are in industries where safety is critical, quality standards are very important to Brand-Rex and give added assurance that our products and processes are of the highest of standards.
"The Marques of Excellence scheme has provided Brand-Rex with a vehicle that has driven continuous improvement within our business and helped us to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase market share.”
Andy Burnham MP said: “I am very pleased to acknowledge the high standards that Brand-Rex has demonstrated in achieving the Continuity Marque of Excellence. In today’s challenging economic climate no business can afford to stand still and Brand-Rex’s commitment to continuous improvement is to be applauded.”
Dave Rusk of the awarding body North of England Excellence said: “Brand-Rex has carved out a very strong niche within the cable industry. It has been very persistent in its pursuit of improvements and its efforts have helped it to achieve phenomenal growth even in the face of a recession.
“Some companies shy away from improvement programmes during a downturn but it’s precisely at times like this when these initiatives are most needed.”
Companies who seek accreditation to the Marques of Excellence scheme are assessed using the scoring system in the internationally recognised EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Model.
Notes to editors:
For further information contact Pauline Rawsterne on 0161 860 6063 or email pauline@turquoisepr.co.uk
Pictured from left are Dave Rusk of North of England Excellence, Brand-Rex general manager Steve Tickle, Andy Burnham MP and Brand-Rex quality manager John Bachegalup.
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On 9th June the first recipients in the UK of the Excellence Toolkit Commitment Marques were awarded their certificates at an event to launch the new Excellence Toolkit in Wakefield.
The picture above show the North of England Chief Executive, David Teale, presenting the awards to (left) Kevin Dodd of Wakefield and District Housing and (right) Ron Dougan and Keith Spackman of Trent & Dove Housing.
The Excellence Toolkit is based on the internationally renowned Excellence Model© and has been customised specifically for the social housing sector. The Excellence Toolkit is easy to use and provides those who use it with a superb improvement agenda around all aspects of operations and performance. It also provides a score to chart progress over time It is has been developed by North of England Excellence in partnership with the National Housing Federation.
Housing Associations who have used the Toolkit and started to progress the improvement findings can apply to be accredited to the Toolkit Commitment Marque which is what both Wakefield and District and Trent & Dove did as they were part of the original Toolkit pilot stage.
For more information please contact Dave Rusk, Director, Education and Training by phone on 01925 715245 (mobile 07710 238257) or by e-mail at daverusk@compuserve.com or info@northofenglandexcellence.co.uk
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Hansen win 3rd Investors in Excellence
June 2009
HansenGlass were, in October 2004, one of the first companies in the UK to be accredited to the Investors in Excellence standard. Hansen’s continuous improvement journey progressed further and they were winners of the 2007 North of England Business Excellence Awards. HansenGlass have now been re-accredited twice to the Investors in Excellence standard and are one of the first companies to achieve this distinction.
Ian Whalley, managing director of HansenGlass, is pictured, right, receiving the plaque from Dave Rusk of North of England Excellence. Ian commented: “We are very pleased to be one of the first companies to receive a second re-accreditation of the “Investors in Excellence” standard which we accept on behalf of the entire team.
As a business we believe that the IIE standard which incorporates the Excellence model has helped us to focus on business improvements which are important in the current climate.
One of our key challenges has been to understand how as a processor in a highly competitive sector that appears driven by price and quality, we are able to continually improve performance year on year and maintain a healthy working environment to support and encourage all employees.
The workforce at HansenGlass has an unprecedented level of commitment to continuous improvement and increasing the performance of the business and this is acknowledged by the pursuing “Investors In Excellence” in all parts of the business”.
HansenGlass Processing Ltd is a specialist manufacturer and processor of glass for the commercial structural glazing market. The company now employs 87 people on the Liverpool site and has a turnover growing from £7 million [2007] to circa £8.5 million [2008] equating to a 21% increase.
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Business Link Northwest achieved the North of England Excellence Commitment Marque last year, and is due to be assessed for the Achievement Marque this month.
The Marques of Excellence scheme inspires organisations to use self-assessment as a tool for continuous improvement, striving for excellence across all areas of the business. Business Link Northwest uses the scheme internally to drive its business improvement forward.
The full self-assessment for this year was completed over a three month period using the BETA Plus framework, chosen because it meets the European Foundation for Quality Management model.
A group of 24 employees was responsible for engaging with their colleagues to collate information from across the organisation using a booklet that asked open-ended questions developed to encourage in-depth responses.
Beryl Richmond, Quality Performance Manager at Business Link Northwest says: “There is a commitment to the marques of excellence scheme at all levels at Business Link Northwest. Our first self-appraisal has already helped us to improve procedures and systems, and the results of the more recent second assessment are being used to drive future planning.”
Keen to obtain some objective and constructive feedback about its operational systems, Business Link Northwest has also submitted an application for an excellence award.
Beryl explains: “Business Link Northwest is a relatively young organisation, having just entered into its third year. This means we are still consolidating and refining some of the systems, and we have found that assessing them regularly has enabled us to make some real improvements. The excellence awards scheme is a fantastic way for us to obtain independent feedback about what we are doing well and help us identify any areas of the business that could benefit from further improvement. This will ultimately support us in our ambitions for excellence across all areas of the organisation.”
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Life Education Centres North West were pleased recently to be awarded the Commitment to Excellence Marque which recognises their work to develop a quality service to the pupils and schools where they deliver their programmes, and a framework which looks to ensure that they make best use of their human and financial resources.
LEC NW, which is run by a Charitable Trust, employs five Educators who each year deliver Health programmes to over 55,000 youngsters of primary age across the North West and in parts of Cheshire. Arrangements at the local level are made by Local Operating Groups – volunteers who foster links with schools and arrange towing, storage and maintenance of the Units through which the programmes are delivered.
Brought to the North West over 15 years ago the Mobile Classroom Units which visit schools with their ‘awesome’ environment, intriguing mannequins, and mascot Harold are welcomed back to schools year after year. With so much media coverage of the problems caused by drugs, alcohol and obesity the Life Education mission to promote healthy attitudes and healthy choices for youngsters has never been more necessary.
Making the award North of England Excellence Client Service Director Richard Lloyd-Mullen said, “during the assessment visit against the Marque of Excellence I was particularly impressed with the systematic approach that has been taken in respect of strategic, business and action plans. This approach I am sure will support Life Education Centres North West in continuing to deliver a strong supportive service”.
Accepting it Chairman of LEC NW Peter Shrigley responded “We are pleased to have this acknowledgement of the progress we have made on our quality journey in this vital work and grateful for the support of North of England Excellence in that process. We recognise that this is not an end only a beginning as we seek to become the best organisation we can possibly be for the sake of our schools, their pupils, our staff and voluntary helpers.”
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‘A’ Level Students Learn to be Management Consultants!
April 2009
11 ‘A’ Level Business Studies students from Cardinal Langley High School in Middleton conducted a day’s consultancy with Brand-Rex of Leigh, winners of the Groundwork Award in the 2008 North of England Business Excellence Awards.
Organised and facilitated by North of England Excellence, the students started the day with a presentation by the Brand-Rex management team, followed by a tour of the site. The young people then conducted interviews with managers and carried out two focus groups with workers from the shop floor.
Back to the top >The students then discussed their impressions of what they had seen and heard and put together a presentation of their findings which was given to Brand-Rex senior managers at the end of the day and which included some recommendations for improvement.
The day was a great success and gave the students a practical insight into how a factory operates and how a business is coping with the economic downturn, as well as experience of interviewing and presenting findings.
As John Bachegalup, Brand-Rex Quality Manager, said: “We were really impressed by how much information these young people managed to amass in such a short time. They have shown tremendous insight and their recommendations for future action were spot on.”
Brand-Rex are manufacturers of high specification, specialist cables and have operated from their site in Leigh for over 100 years. www.brand-rex.com
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Outward Bound Professional has been awarded the Commitment Marque under the prestigious Marques of Excellence Scheme.
Organised by North of England Excellence, Marques of Excellence inspires and encourages organisations to achieve excellence through self-assessments and sustainable improvements.
The Assessment team were particularly impressed with Outward Bound Professional's comprehensive business plan, including detailed, stretching and quantifiable objectives and the tremendous enthusiasm and dedication shown by the whole team.
Alan Brenton, General Manager, Outward Bound Professional, said "We are delighted to have achieved the Commitment Marque. North of England Excellence have helped us improve business performance by developing our skills in self-assessment and successfully managing improvement plans.
We intend to continue to develop a very productive working partnership with our colleagues in North of England Excellence."
Outward Bound® Professional provides a range of learning and development and organisational develop services to clients both within the UK and internationally. Wholly owned by the Outward Bound® Trust, all of the profits from the business are endowed to support the young people's charitable work of the Trust.
For more information, please visit www.obprofessional.co.uk
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North of England Excellence Members Dominate the UK Excellence Awards
January 2009
North of England Excellence Members dominated the recent UK Excellence Awards presented by HRH the Princess Royal at the Park Lane, Hilton Hotel, London.
Wakefield and District Housing won the North of England Business of the Year Award at the 2008 North of England Business Excellence Awards and went on to compete against other Regional Award winners winning the UK Regional Excellence Award.
Liverpool John Moores University won the coveted UK Excellence Award whilst First Transpennine Express won the Achievement Award for the leadership of its Managing Director, Vernon Barker and for the results it constantly achieves.
The Dane Housing Group, based in Congleton and winners of the 2007 North of England Business of the year and the UK Regional Excellence Award won the Achievement Award for Customer Satisfaction.
David Teale, Chief Executive of North of England Excellence said "There are many tremendous business stories in the North. It's great to see four of our members recognised in the National UK Excellence Awards. Entering Excellence Awards is all about business improvement, inspiring and motivating staff; getting feedback around opportunities to develop the business and promoting business success to customers and other stakeholders."
Back to the top >Notes to editors: For further information contact Pauline Rawsterne on 0161 860 6063 or Jill Hulme on 01298 25246 or email pauline@turquoisepr.co.uk
