A family-owned firm has introduced a four-day working week, with workers still receiving full pay despite Friday becoming a permanent day off. Scaffold parts maker Chilwell Products brought in the groundbreaking regime after investment in new kit helped it become more efficient and led to growth.
The business, based in Stanton by Dale near Ilkeston, Derbyshire, has invested almost £100,000 upgrading 11 of its presses. The outfit - which manufactures the metal which goes on the end of scaffolding boards - has seen volumes rise 12 per cent from £15.6 million to £17.5 million in the last year, Business Live reports.
Chilwell Products is run by managing director Laura Clarke, who is the granddaughter of founder Derrick Telford. She took over from her mother Lorraine Clarke in 2019. Her mum is now company secretary and director, according to DerbyshireLive.
Thirty-year-old Laura has written into employee contracts that staff working at its Lows Lane factory never have to work on Fridays or weekends, with the team working five hours less every week as a result. She said: “Working 39 hours per week and overtime during multiple points throughout the year is now a thing of the past.
"We’ve made the changes and have still achieved a 45 per cent increase in capacity, helping us increase turnover and giving us the chance to go after new opportunities."
It has been able to achieve growth while operating the reduced working week after being fitted with the new tech from press equipment specialist Bruderer UK. However, initially there were doubts about the plan.
She said: “We always worried that we’d have to move to a larger premises and buy additional presses, but we’ve even eliminated one of the lines as it proved to be surplus. Through experience we found set up times were far quicker and they run the material significantly more efficiently than our incumbent air feeds; less jams, less downtime, less material rejected and wasted. All making for a much more efficient production.
“With this in mind, we began to roll-out the feeders across every press in our factory and are now up to eleven, with a twelfth on order. Everyone at Bruderer has been brilliant.
"From the start, they understood our issues and our concerns and quickly came up with a solution that eased our fears and, instead, opened our eyes to up the opportunity. Thanks to Bruderer UK, the outlook and future for the company really has been totally transformed.”
Adrian Haller, managing director of Bruderer UK, which is based in Luton, said: “We’re very used to our technology and equipment having a really positive impact on the shopfloor, but it is even better to hear we have helped introduce a new culture that has transformed Chilwell Products.”
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