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The company found itself tempted on occasions to throw money at training initiatives in an attempt to resolve problems quickly. However, the company realised that a systematic, prioritised set of educational and training development programmes was needed and set about establishing such a programme.

The company said that the programme has helped it return to profit. Between 2002 and 2006, Nifco lost an accumulated £15m but in 2006 it made its first operating profit in five years of £42,000.

As well as a training programme Nifco felt that equally important was the establishment of a monitoring programme to measure the impact of training investment on performance criteria. The judges noted that “the company was in it for the long haul” and conscious that you don’t change culture, behaviour and business performance overnight.

The judges felt that this year’s submission demonstrates a “continued systematic approach to going beyond survival” to becoming a sustainably profitable company by the end of 2007. Directors of the company assisted by the management team have implemented a range of initiatives to improve the performance of the company. These include the difficult area of reducing labour costs, necessitating the up-skilling and improved flexibility of the remaining workforce. Benefits accruing from the scheme comprise: stock reductions by 32%; labour turnover down to 0.4% from a high of 18% in 2004; waste reduction down by 63%; labour to m/c utilisation improved from 1:1 to 1:3; customer claims down by 43%; financial borrowing down by 31%.

The judges were impressed that these results have been achieved during a reduction in the labour force of some 28%.