Article Date: 03-04-2009

Merc Engineering has just announced that the 30% annual growth sustained by the company over the past 7 years, will be maintained and probably even exceeded for 2008/2009, thanks to massive investments in personnel and its knowledge base.

The company started up in 2001. Since then the scope of the knowledge being brought to bear on business planning has allowed the company to develop a holistic strategy.

Says Les Nuttall, MD : ‘In a period being dubbed as “the first world war for talent”, having the right people, with the right training in the right jobs, is the key to success. Personnel numbers have increased from 36 to 75 over the past 3 years, and this growth could only be achieved by taking on the right people, with the right skills.’

In 2004, the company had a shopfloor workforce and management comprising almost entirely skilled engineers, with varying levels of qualification. Realising that there is more to growing a company than just having a factory full of good engineers, Les Nuttall began to develop a Corporate Transformation Plan, with personnel development the core to its implementation.

Management and administration have been strengthened with the addition of personnel and training that encourage employees to develop their skills and gain qualifications.

Merc has developed a partnership with the French University of Dijon, Burgundy, where two of its employees have achieved an MBA of Business and International Trade over the past year.

Another three graduates have joined the company with degrees in seemingly unrelated subjects, but the range of skills within the company has been enhanced and their abilities to assess and manage situations that arise has proven itself to be an invaluable resource. The hard skills of decision making, strategy setting, planning and project management are now sitting side by side with the people-related ‘soft skills’, that many managers and leaders find irritating and overlook. Transactional leadership is being replaced by transformational leadership, which shifts the focus from the ‘I will give you this... if you do that’ style, to one which focuses on generating vision, loyalty and trust.

Training however, is not restricted to management. Within the Merc Group, several employees have been earmarked to receive training from the Manufacturing Institute, in Team Leader Development. The 15 week programme (half a day per week) helps first line managers to improve management and lean manufacturing skills - enabling them to get more from their shop floor team and add value to the business. As newly promoted Section Leaders, the course should boost their confidence and ability to lead people, whilst guiding them on how to put new process improvement techniques into action.

The Admin section has been strengthened by the completion of an NVQ Level 3 in Business and Administration, whilst at a lower level Merc has recently started developing an apprentice recruitment scheme in association with the Training 2000 organisation based in Nelson.

www.merceng.co.uk