Sharing in Growth celebrates five years of successfully tackling the UK’s productivity puzzle by announcing that it has helped UK supply chain companies secure more than £2bn in contracts.
Sharing in Growth (SIG) UK Ltd was registered in October 2012 to deliver a nationwide £250m transformation and training programme with support from the Regional Growth Fund and industry.
SiG is using its expertise to make more than 60 aerospace supply chain companies globally competitive, by improving leadership and skills through a four year, fully-integrated intervention based on world-class management practice.
On average companies on the programme have committed to a 50% productivity increase and are now reaping the rewards of implementing changes such as introducing lean manufacturing, financial de-risking and employee engagement.
Companies have attributed contracts valued at £2.1bn to the impact of the programme which means SiG is well on track to safeguard 10,000 UK jobs by 2022. Cumulatively these contracts add up to 20,000 additional man years of work for the Sharing in Growth community.
Business minister Richard Harrington said: “Sharing in Growth plays a valuable role in improving supply chain productivity and is exactly the type of programme the Government is committed to supporting through our Industrial Strategy.
“To date the programme has made a sustainable positive impact on UK competitiveness and raised the UK’s workforce skills and leadership capability.”
SiG is backed by the leading aerospace companies, who benefit from the improved cost and delivery competitiveness resulting from Sharing in Growth.
Among the business boosts derived from SiG’s support are:
- £60m in Rolls-Royce components for Nasmyth Metallics Bulwell
- £30m in defence contracts, creating 100 jobs for Ipswich-headquartered Rockford Components
- £35m in contracts for Scotland’s Castle Precision Engineering
- Record orders for Worcester casting supplier Aeromet from Boeing,
- £7m export deal from Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan for Sheffield’s CW Fletcher
- Yorkshire family firm Produmax has won three new customers and increased sales by 40%,
- Icon Aerospace Technology of Nottinghamshire added £54m in contracts which led to 100 new jobs
Leicestershire engineering company JJ Churchill has secured more than £50m in contracts and aims to double its turnover by 2022. Engaging in SiG has helped the company reshape the business to focus on aerospace and weather turbulence in the oil and gas sector.
Andrew Churchill, managing director of JJ Churchill, explained: “SiG is an excellent example of the Government and the engineering industry working together to make our industry more effective, more efficient and future-proofed. This is increasing opportunity, sales and jobs. And with the resurgence of Industrial Strategy as a political imperative, we know that we have the support we need.”
Sharing in Growth’s CEO Andy Page said: “At the outset of Sharing in Growth industry research pointed to a 20% cost gap between the UK aerospace supply chain and its global competitors.
“So we identified the barriers to growth, including leadership, culture and operational excellence, and are delivering a programme with the scope and scale that is commensurate with the challenge of making 60 companies globally competitive.
“The world aerospace market is growing exponentially, with a nine-year backlog of aircraft orders worth some £220bn. We are encouraging ambitious companies to invest in high value skills, innovation and technology so that UK companies win their share of global growth.
“Looking to the future, our success in tackling the UK’s productivity puzzle leads us to believe that an expanded programme could deliver an additional £20bn of contracts over ten years.”
Paul Everitt, CEO of the ADS Group, the UK’s aerospace, defence, space and security trade body, said:“The sustained support provided by Sharing in Growth is creating an environment in which companies throughout the supply chain can thrive. This translates into a globally competitive aerospace industry, capable of winning contracts in tough international markets, and underpins the industry’s valuable contribution to national prosperity.”
SiG’s 120-strong team, which boasts more than 2,000 years of industry experience, coaches alongside a network of world-leading specialists, including Deloitte, HVM Catapults and NPL, to provide a fully-integrated, bespoke transformation programme based on each company’s diagnosed barriers to growth.
The SiG team has delivered more than 1.8m in training hours, benefiting companies ranging in turnover size from £6m to £70m, across the engineering spectrum including additive manufacturing, assembly, casting, composites, fabrication, machining, photonics, polymers, and repair and overhaul.
The programme, which has attracted around £150m in private investment, supports the Aerospace Growth Partnership’s supply chain charter and complements other aerospace initiatives such as NATEP, ATI, and SC21.
