The Manufacturer Magazine : Promoting best practice in Manufacturing

WMG, The power of people

Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer
Zone : Skills and productivity
Published : March 2008

WMG is a world-class research and education provider. Stuart Barnes, director of professional programmes talked to Jayne Flannery about realising the latent potential of any company’s greatest asset: its people

When WMG was founded at the University of Warwick in 1980, its mission was clear. WMG’s founder, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, intended to reinvigorate British manufacturing through cutting edge research and effective knowledge transfer. In 2003 his visionary approach was formally rewarded with a knighthood for services to higher education and industry.

With a programme of education, research and collaboration amounting to more than £100 million a year, WMG delivers post-graduate and post-experience education to over 1,000 industry professionals every year. It is now the largest university manufacturing group in Europe with a reputation that attracts students from across the globe.

In common with other academic institutions, WMG is research led and this knowledge is fed directly into its courses. Current research projects include business process design and management for multinational corporations; hybrid automotive technology for intelligent and environmentally-friendly cars; and cradle-to-grave product life-cycle modeling.

However, Stuart Barnes, director of professional programmes, was keen to emphasise that the group occupies a unique position between academia and industry. “All of our research projects are dedicated to finding solutions to real-life business problems. We are not interested solely in knowledge for the sake of knowledge,” he stated.

He believes that the level at which WMG interacts with industrial partners is something that sets it apart from other programme providers. “From the outset, all our programme staff are required to possess extensive industry experience prior to joining us. Of course, all our programmes are underpinned by academic rigour, but we place equal weight on the industrial applications of that knowledge. People must be able to do their job better when they leave us and produce demonstrable benefits in performance for the companies that employ them. That is the reason why our partners keep sending their staff to WMG,” he commented.

In a similar vein, he emphasises that WMG also differs from other providers in the extent to which it has pursued collaborative working practices with industry partners in developing its range of programmes. “We develop resources and materials jointly, which gives our programmes far more relevance to the challenges that participants will later have to tackle in the workplace,” he explained.

WMG is currently providing bespoke education solutions for a number of the UK’s leading companies including BAE Systems, AstraZeneca and Network Rail. These typically send groups of 20 to 30 participants at a time. All can cite improvements to their profitability and performance as a result. “For example, we have been providing bespoke education for BAE Systems’ purchasing team for the past 10 years. They have excellent metrics for measuring outputs and have calculated the savings as over £140 million over that period. The business benefits are clear when it can be demonstrated that the savings far exceed the cost,” he said.

However, not all courses are bespoke. The part-time Msc in Engineering Business Management, for example, is a flagship course and is open to corporate sponsorship, or equally to individuals who see it as sound investment of their personal time and resources. In future WMG hopes to see more professionals take the initiative to further their own careers.

The course aims to prepare the next generation of leaders in technology or engineering based businesses. “It is an open programme, but again has been designed from its inception with solid input from our industrial partners. This course has been designed for people with the potential to progress to senior management positions who need a broader understanding of strategy, finance and other areas beyond the immediate core focus of the business,” he explained.

Typically, applicants will have a first degree in an engineering related discipline and around five years’ experience in an engineering environment. However, there is a certain level of flexibility regarding formal qualifications and he can cite examples of outstanding participants who entered the course without a first degree and later went on to achieve doctorates.

All open courses offered by the group are endorsed by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and many have been approved by professional membership bodies such as the IMechE and CIPS and can form part of the route to Chartered status.

Barnes is particularly proud of the global dimension that programmes have attained in line with the expansion of WMG’s own geographical reach. Currently, there are satellite centres in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. “We regularly send our tutors from Warwick to work in our overseas centres, which represent the economies of tomorrow. Working within this global environment places our staff in an excellent position to share and disseminate knowledge on best practice drawn from the widest possible range of sources on our programmes when they are back in the UK,” he said.

However, despite a growing capacity for global delivery, he does not envisage WMG will ever embrace the distance learning route. “One of our objectives is to improve levels of electronic back-up, but you cannot train in negotiation skills through a computer. We place great value on face-to-face contact, both in the classroom and outside of it. A large part of the value of our residential modules comes from participants being able to informally exchange problems, ideas and solutions,” he said.

Looking to the future, he anticipates that WMG will continue to diversify its appeal and attract participants from an ever wider range of sectors. “We began with a focus on the aerospace and automotive industries, but we have evolved into many new business areas because we focus on generic issues. British Nuclear Group and British Waterways, for example, are two new companies that have chosen to work with us because they believe we can improve their performance. To achieve this, we believe that it is the management of the business that matters, not the fine detail,” he concluded.

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