Here's a bit more of the story and an address for your own puruit of
information. John Neil led a management buy-out of what was formerly
part of the Rover automotive group. It is a company which
manufactures and distributes auto parts to auto makers and to a large
supply chain for the replacement market. "The City" advised John to
sell off the old manufacturing stuff - or even just close it -
because it was decrepit and inefficient. It also had worse than
typically bad labour relations. The advice was to keep the
distribution part of the business because it had a name and
reputation.
But John wanted to transform manufacturing in Britain as well as his
own plant so he ignored the advice. He built and developed a very
strong management team. I've never been in the presence of such an
open, learning, related management team in my life. In fact it's the
only one that I've seen that I think qualifies for the label *team*.
He used confrontive tactics to wake up the workforce and sent many to
Japan to learn from them. The instructions were "watch, observe,
learn" and then, when you come back, put into practice *exactly* what
they say to do. After we've mastered that, then we'll figure out
how to improve it." John's idea is that it's all about learning and
development.
The company is now one of the top in quality and productivity in the
world industry - one of the few British firms that are - and they
have been growing very successfully ever since the management buy
out. They have not needed to raise public money due to their
success. They were profitable and growing throughout the car
industry slump.
Unipart sells around the world but I think all manufacturing is done
in the UK. I don't have the revenue figures in my mind but they have
plants in various locations and are the major supplier in a number of
fields.
The are now taking on the education and development of their
suppliers as the greatest source of gains in quality and productivity
and quality for themselves. They have improved their processes so
much that, while they continue to learn and develop, the greatest
possibility of improvement is what comes in their doors.
John Neil has an inspiring story to tell. He's told it at dinner at
my house, he's told it at many public events and he tells it
regularly to his own company and its relationships. As far as I
know he hasn't published it anywhere but you might write the company
for talks or written material or even videos (which they use a lot
for their in-house education).
Unipart Group of Companies
Unipart House
Cowley, Oxford OX4 2PG
-- Michael McMaster Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk