Two unsung heroes of Black Country industry have been named in the Top 100 manufacturing professionals in the UK.
Malcolm Condon and Richard Spears, People Partner and Marketing Manager of PP Control & Automation (PP C&A) respectively, received the prestigious honour last night in front of 250 people at the NEC in Birmingham.
Hosted by The Manufacturer and Nineteen Group, the competition recognised their achievements as an inspirational leader and a digital transformer, two crucial roles in helping the strategic manufacturing outsourcing specialist to accelerate revenues towards £36m this year.
The duo will now be responsible for helping to host educational visits to the company’s facility in Cheslyn Hay, provide thought leadership in the sector and sign up to be STEM ambassadors.
“People are the heartbeat of our business, so it’s great to get recognition for some of the initiatives we’ve put in place to support their personal development,” explained Malcolm Condon, People Partner at PP C&A.
“Manufacturing is such an important sector for our economy and the more we can do to celebrate the people behind the scenes the better. The UK is enjoying a surge in popularity, but we desperately need to ensure we are bridging the skills gap by attracting more young people into the industry.
“This isn’t just about getting boots on the shopfloor, it’s a holistic approach that focuses on culture across our business.”
Malcolm’s recognition in The Top 100 highlights his focus on fostering respect, inclusion, collaboration, and fun, whilst also encouraging more employee engagement to enhance employee satisfaction and staff morale.
The latter is where the ‘Switched-on’ initiative comes into its own. Any of PP C&A’s employees can fill in a Nomination Form each month, with everyone nominated receiving a customised badge and small gift – this could be a bottle of wine or chocolates.
‘Wellbeing Champions’ then collectively decide if anyone has gone the extra mile and deserves to be given a more substantial reward in the form of vouchers, a personalised gift or employee of the month title. These measures have all contributed to boosting employee retention.
Joining Malcom on stage at the high-profile event was Richard Spears, who has been involved in the manufacturing world for more than 18 years.
The Marketing Manager has transformed PP Control & Automation’s approach to market segmentation, customer acquisition and internal and external brand values, including significant use of Artificial Intelligence to map out new sectors of interest.
He places digital communication at its core, using a range of social media platforms, e-marketing, and video to tell the PP C&A story and some of the pain points the company solves, such as fluctuating capacity, solving production bottlenecks and increasing speed to market.
Campaigns, such as ‘Shock of the New, ‘Rewind – the story behind the sleeves’, and ‘Niggling Critters of Outsourcing’, have helped the business secure more than £12m of new orders over the last year.
Richard concluded: “I love this sector and to be recognised by The Manufacturer as one of the most influential people in our industry is a real honour.
“Marketing can sometimes be an overlooked asset for a manufacturing business, but it really shouldn’t be. We’ve proved how building a brand, consistent communications and taking a creative approach to targeting customers can all come together to deliver growth and employee retention.”
PP Control & Automation, which employs 230 people at its state-of-the-art factory in the West Midlands, offers strategic manufacturing outsourcing services to twenty of the world’s largest machine builders.
This means technology developed by PP C&A helps to robotically milk cows, provides everyday packaging solutions, protects your phones from water damage and cuts parts that are used in F1 cars and the world’s airlines.
