Member Article

Water treatment company taps into college expertise

Gateshead College has won a major training contract with one of the world’s leading designers and builders of water treatment facilities to help it boost business performance. Dozens of staff at the head office of Oldham-based MWH Treatment are undergoing the business improvement training (BIT), which is being delivered onsite by the college’s employer training team.

The move is part of a workforce development programme being undertaken by MWH to equip its staff with the job improvement skills needed to see it through changing market conditions and gear up for future growth. More than 60 staff from the commercial, finance, procurement and health and safety departments have completed an NVQ level 2 in BIT training to enable them to identify areas where they can work more efficiently and deliver improvements in business performance.

Another four people have also undertaken higher Level 3 NVQ training as the BIT scheme is being extended across MWH’s supply chain and into all the regions in which it operates. MWH expertise covers water systems investment and management, water and environmental engineering and water and wastewater products and services. It has designed and built multi-million pound infrastructure facilities for all the UK’s major water authorities including Severn Trent Water, North West Water and Anglian Water.

Training has made employees more confident of identifying and implementing cost improvements while improving service and product delivery. The move is part of a commitment by MWH to have highly skilled teams in key business areas that can operate effectively together and manage change successfully.

Steve Davies, business improvement manager at MWH, said Gateshead College is supporting the company’s strategy to create a ‘community’ of skilled employees who can drive change. “The college has been flexible in their approach by adapting the structure and content of the course to fit with our business needs.

“The training is contributing to a continuous improvement culture throughout the business which underpins our aim to maintain our position as the market leader within the industry.

“In addition to achieving a qualification, the employees have also learnt and implemented various techniques across the business, which are providing significant benefits.”

This includes increased product quality, reduced processing costs and timescales, enhanced reporting and improved quality of service and product delivery. Employees also feel more empowered to facilitate their own workshops while also being able to apply newly learnt skills and techniques to their daily jobs. There’s also a marked improvement in communications and work relationships between colleagues. Kevin Mott, head of national business development and curriculum at Gateshead College said: “MWH recognised the benefit to be had from employee training to help it meet existing and future requirements.

“Improvements have been achieved throughout the business, while thousands of pounds have been saved thanks to employees having the skills to identify and implement improvements.

“The investment will make the company more efficient and competitive now and long into the future.”

The NVQ Level 2 in Business Improvement Techniques consists of a six day programme of education, spread across a two to four month period. It encourages employees to focus on a specific area of their workplace that requires improvement and determine how this improvement can best be carried out. More at [www.gateshead.ac.uk](http://www.gateshead.ac.uk/? target=)

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andy Bruce .