How Macpac focused on workforce development to overcome workforce challenges and standout in the manufacturing industry  

In the current economic climate, and the challenges associated with workforce recruitment and retention, Macpac Limited understand the importance of investing not just in the latest technology and machinery but also in the development of their workforce through training.  
 

The challenge of recruitment and retention of the Macpac Limited workforce  

Positioned within the manufacturing sector, Macpac had already experienced some of the challenges resulting from Brexit, and the impact on the recruitment and retention of their workforce. In order to navigate this issue, investment in training was identified as a key contributing factor to success and would lead to improvements in the company’s efficiency and productivity. 

As an SME based within Greater Manchester, Macpac joined the Skills for Growth – SME Support programme, delivered by the Business Growth Hub, as part of the £42 million, GMCA commission, ESF funded programme to upskill employees, improve productivity and drive growth. 

To begin the Skills for Growth – SME Support programme, Macpac’s point of contact Alison Griffies worked together with their dedicated Skills for Growth Skills Coach Joanne Norbury to conduct an overall assessment of the business’s growth plans and identify any workforce skills gaps that may obstruct the achievement of the business goals.
  

“Being able to draw on the Skills for Growth team was invaluable.  Joanne’s expertise conducting the one-to-one meetings with our employees helped us glean an insight into their individual aspirations, and with Joanne’s help, were able to guide employees to relevant training opportunities.” (Alison Griffies, Quality and Health and Safety Manager, Macpac Limited) 

Once the business analysis had been completed, the second step concentrated on Macpac’s workforce and understanding their current skills levels as well as their career aspirations. During this stage, Joanne took the time to conduct an individual analysis with each employee that resulted in a bespoke, individual skills plan that aligned to the business strategic direction.  

It was essential for the Skills Coach Joanne to be flexible to the needs of the client, the day and night shift workforce and coordinate activities to work around Macpac’s business operations.  This flexibility was demonstrated by Joanne conducting employee registrations onto the Skills for Growth – SME Programme from 6:00am to meet the team coming off the night shift and then until 10:00pm to meet staff finishing their day shift. This activity proved invaluable as Joanne was able to meet all members of the workforce in a condensed timeframe and produce a matrix of training and development areas / needs that would have otherwise been a challenge for the business to produce.

Being able to identify clear career pathways and employee aspirations was fundamental when working with Macpac, as this gave the business a clear understanding to ensure that they implemented an accurate workforce development strategy. By working together with Macpac we were able to improve staff motivation and retention.” (Joanne Norbury, Skills Coach, Skills for Growth). 

As a result of the assessments, Joanne was able to offer a combination of options moving forward 

1. To direct the Macpac workforce to the GM Skills Map at www.gmskillsmap.co.uk. Open to all SMEs across our 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester, the GM Skills Map is an easy-to-use platform offering employers and learners the functionality to search a range of commercial, full and part-funded training courses. With over 2000 courses presented, the GM Skills Map is the destination for connecting learners and providers.  
     

1. With over 2000 courses available, covering disciplines including Sales and Marketing, Leadership and Management, Digital, IT and Cyber Secuity, as well as more specialist courses for industry sectors including Manufacturing, Construction, Health and Social Care.  Joanne applied her GM Skills Map technical expertise and course knowledge to identify options that aligned with Macpac’s activities and their growth objectives. This powerful combination resulted in the presentation of suitable course options for the business to consider including Lean Manufacturing, Team Leaders and Lean Waste Management. 

High workforce uptake rate on learning and development training can make a dramatic difference  

With an incredible training uptake of over 98% of Macpac’s workforce, a series of on-site training options were scheduled to fit in with Macpac’s manufacturing operations. The impressive training numbers also demonstrated the commitment from across both the company and the entire workforce to achieving success.  

The decision to conduct a company-wide Lean Training course option meant that all levels of the business participated in the same training. This included several business functions who would never normally meet in business practice. A benefit of this approach apart from the impact of the training itself was the networking that took place with MacPac reporting an improvement in cohesiveness and cross team working and communications, something that they had not seen as a benefit before the support from Joanne. 

The Business Growth Hub’s Nick Brandwood conducted bespoke Manufacturing training that had an interactive focus resulted in camaraderie and competitiveness amongst the team.  

“Macpac were a great company to work with and really embraced the Lean Manufacturing training programmes. The management team appreciated that Lean thinking isn’t a quick win, it is a culture change. They committed to providing Lean awareness training to the whole workforce so there would be alignment in thinking, and then identified a number of champions within the workforce to undertake more detailed training. This additional training is an opportunity for competitive advantage within semi continuous manufacturing businesses.” (Nick Brandwood, Manufacturing Advisor, Business Growth Hub)  

The Result: A stunning achievement to motivate and retain the Macpac employees  

Participation in the Skills for Growth – SME Support programme has had a tremendous impact on the Macpac business:-  

• The business has enjoyed the benefits of an inclusive culture because of the investment made into group training sessions which brought together all levels of the business  
• There has been a significant improvement in communication and morale across the business as the training has helped to encourage collaboration and cross working across all business departments and specialisms. 
• Increased employee motivation with Macpac employees fully engaged in their own development and further enrichment  

• Macpac has used the data generated from Skills for Growth – SME Support to focus on succession planning.  
• Employees feel valued and invested in by the business, as they understand the importance and benefits of the training to themselves and the business.  
• The importance of the training was evident from the 100% course attendance levels  

What did we learn about taking actions to sustain business growth?  

In these challenging times, identifying ways to improve employee motivation and business successes can be instrumental to the business. The Skills for Growth – SME Support programme has been a catalyst that has inspired Macpac to invest in further training for their workforce to enjoy.  

These options include building on the training that has already been conducted as well as potential investment in a Learning Management System which will allow the workforce to take advantage of bite sized skills development via an on-demand, digital learning platform.   

Alison Griffies, Quality and Health and Safety Manager Macpac Limited "The flexibility of the training was crucial to the success of the programme.  Having providers such as Nick from Manufacturing able to deliver some of the courses on site was immensely helpful, and through this we were able to put a plan in place and deliver at least one training course to every single employee. 

This has proved to be a very positive exercise and one that we would be keen to build on in the future.” 

Further information: Macpac Limited featured as part of the Business Growth Hub’s Here for Business webinar series ‘Skills development in a changing world’. You can watch the case study here and find out more about the impact of the Skills for Growth – SME Support programme on Greater Manchester businesses. Click here