Building quality into every stage of manufacturing

Continuous improvement has become an important part of Glazerite’s manufacturing culture, with teams encouraged to take ownership of quality and look for opportunities to make small improvements every day.

For Rob Brearley, Group Managing Director at Glazerite, the aim is to create a culture where quality and improvement become part of everyone’s day-to-day responsibilities.

“Continuous improvement is really about doing something better tomorrow than you’ve done today,” Rob says. “It’s about making small improvements every day and, over time, those improvements can make a significant difference to how the business operates.”

That approach runs throughout Glazerite’s manufacturing operations, where teams are given clear targets. Alongside the tools and processes, they need to achieve them.

Employees are encouraged to take responsibility for their own areas, make decisions and maintain the standards expected throughout production.

“Once you start the process and get the culture right, it begins to generate itself,” he explains. “People understand the standards, they understand the targets and they take ownership of them. When teams are given the right tools and you’re fair and consistent with them, they’ll chase those targets themselves.”

No Fault Forward

One of the processes supporting this culture is Glazerite’s “no fault forward” approach to quality. Each stage of production has responsibility for checking the work completed before a product progresses to the next part of the manufacturing process. If an issue is identified, the product is returned to the relevant area so it can be corrected at that point.

“Each section has a responsibility to make sure it doesn’t pass a faulty product onto the following section,” he says. “If the next section identifies a fault, they’ll push that product back. It means we’re catching issues within the different zones and areas and correcting them as early as possible.”

Identifying issues at source also gives Glazerite’s teams the opportunity to understand why they occurred and make adjustments to the process.

“A lot of small changes and adjustments are being made throughout manufacturing,” Rob explains. “The important thing is that issues are caught early in the manufacturing chain and corrected. Ultimately, we want to supply the finished product to our customers on time and in full.”

Creating that level of ownership also relies on communication between employees and the management team.

Factory Floor

Rob and Glazerite’s senior leadership regularly spend time on the factory floor, speaking directly with employees and getting a feel for how each manufacturing site is performing. Those conversations provide an opportunity for employees to ask questions about the business, raise concerns and share ideas directly with senior management.

“You get a great sense of the atmosphere and the environment by walking around the factory,” Rob says. “You can see how people are feeling and whether they’re under pressure, and you can listen to their questions and concerns. We want people to be able to ask us questions directly. You can speak to any shareholder or director, and we’ll give you as honest an answer as we possibly can.”

That openness gives management greater visibility of what is happening within the business and helps teams stay connected with the wider direction of Glazerite. For Glazerite, it forms part of creating a workforce that understands where the business is going and the role each employee plays in its performance. Rob believes the combination of clear expectations, open communication and individual responsibility has helped create teams that actively protect the standards and values of the business.

“When people are on that journey with you, they start making decisions for themselves and looking after quality for themselves,” he says. “That’s when it becomes self-sustaining. The teams understand what we’re trying to achieve and they take responsibility for maintaining those standards.”

Lean Manufacturing Principles

The lean manufacturing principles used across Glazerite give its teams a consistent framework for improving processes, maintaining quality and supporting customers. Applying those principles every day helps teams identify opportunities to refine the way they work, improve quality and make positive changes across manufacturing. For Rob, continuous improvement is an ongoing process that develops alongside the business and its people.

“Continuous improvement never really ends,” Rob concludes. “You keep pushing and looking for ways to improve. You make something a little better tomorrow than it was today, and when you look back over time, you can see just how far you’ve come.”

For more information email sales@glazerite.net or call 01933 443222.