Benson Group, one of the UK’s leading privately owned printed folding carton manufacturers, is delighted to detail that its Benson Box operation has been announced as the winner of the 2012 BPIF Excellence Award in the Lean Manufacturing category.
Search for suppliers of similar products in the
Packaging Network.
The company has been focusing on Lean Manufacturing for over two years at the Benson Box production site in Bardon, Leicestershire – the headquarters of the group. Lean Manufacturing is combined at Benson Box with Six Sigma to create Lean Sigma, a structured programme to provide operational improvements.
Commenting on the success of Benson Box at the presentation event held near Tower Bridge in London on September 13th, David Midgley, Operations Manager at the Bardon site, said: “As with all such events, it’s always a bit better to come out a winner! It was a very enjoyable evening and a great pleasure to have some of my operations team with me to receive the award. It is the result of a lot of hard work by everybody at Benson Box, so we will be displaying this award in a prominent position in the factory to ensure that the whole team has the chance to see the results of their endeavors.
“It is a great pleasure to be recognized for our interpretation of this approach to manufacturing. We see Lean Sigma as an essential collection of tools that help us to consistently improve on the many and varied tasks undertaken here – tasks that result in our Bardon staff producing 20,000,000 cartons every week.”
The short-list of four companies for the Lean Manufacturing award consisted of Affinion International Print Services, APS Group, Eclipse Colour Print and Benson Box.
In a detailed submission to the BPIF Excellence Awards the company was required to outline its Lean approach under a number of headings:
• Objectives
• Key performance indicators
• Customer satisfaction
• Communication
• Workflow / process and equipment control
• Production planning and cost control
• Waste levels and reduction
• Identifying board waste
• Workplace organisation
• and Material flow.
As an example of the “real-world” effects of the programme, in the first year of Lean Sigma Benson Box enjoyed double-digit growth in print production at the Bardon site.
The original criteria for the award, as laid down by the BPIF, read as follows: “The judges will be looking for evidence that the company and its customers have benefited through the reduction of waste and effort using lean techniques. Your submission should include examples of lean production projects implemented in your business that show the involvement of staff at all levels. Supported with key measures to show improvements and benefits gained in line with the lean project. There should also be evidence of a culture of continuous improvement.”
About Benson Group
Benson Group is one of the UK’s leading privately owned printed folding carton suppliers, producing packaging product for both the food retail and pharmaceutical industries for a wide range of UK and European customers.
The business manufactures packaging product at four production sites covering in excess of 400,000 sq ft. Benson Group continues to grow and expects to achieve annual sales for the current financial year in excess of £120 million. Food product manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company’s two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. The fourth site in Crewe serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. In recent years, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £22 million. The group employs in excess of 900 personnel across all four production sites.
Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include Two Sisters Food Group, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, and Samworth Brothers. The company is an approved supplier for all of the UK’s leading retail chains. Food and pharmaceutical packaging is exported to customers in countries throughout Europe.
More info: www.bensongroup.co.uk
Email to a friend