COOPERVISION
“We believe that keeping our staff engaged in development activities is essential to retaining a competitive manufacturing organisation. The National Vocation Qualification in Business Improvement Techniques has provided our team members with new skills that have led to tangible business benefits from both a hard and a soft perspective.”
Ruth Grossett, training and development manager at CooperVision
CooperVision is a long standing pioneer in the development and manufacture of contact lenses. A global organisation with operations in 12 countries, the company’s UK base is in Southampton, where it employs around 2,100 staff working across three sites.
Training and development manager in the UK, Ruth Grossett, was introduced to Train to Gain by a colleague in the training sector. Her first experience of the service was when Sue Sharp, a skills broker with Skills South East, visited CooperVision’s manufacturing site in Hamble to perform a needs analysis. Sue made a big impression on Ruth, who, acknowledging the training opportunities available through TtG, referred to her as ‘my fairy godmother'.
The great thing about TtG for Ruth is that it provides training opportunities at grass roots level. It encourages people with limited qualifications who may have been out of education for thirty years or more to give learning another go – and very often they surprise themselves with their achievements. And that is something that can have such a positive effect on both their personal and professional development.
At CooperVision the learning programme has been aimed at production staff at the manufacturing plant. At the outset, a pilot programme invited volunteers to study for a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2 in Business Improvement Techniques. Forty-six members of staff enrolled – and the results led to the programme being rolled out to a further 200 staff.
Once all those who are participating have completed the programme, Ruth intends to carry out a survey to find out just what gaining a qualification has done for them as individuals – but she is already satisfied that the programme is having a positive effect on production. She is now looking at suitable programmes for staff in the warehousing and distribution function.
