CHH CoNeX gains SC21 Silver Award recognition
Birmingham-based bespoke cable assembly, integrated electronics products and logistics solutions provider, CHH CoNeX, has joined a handful of UK companies to be recognised with the prestigious 21st Century Supply Chains (SC21) Silver award.
The award, which is presented annually in recognition of companies that demonstrate exceptional levels of improvement in performance across specific areas such as business – and manufacturing excellence and relationship management, comes just 14 months after CHH CoNeX first became a signatory of the programme.
SC21 was originally introduced at the Farnborough Air Show in 2006 to accelerate the competitiveness of the aerospace and defence industry by raising the performance of its supply chain.
In gaining the recognition, CHH CoNeX, a member of the General Dynamics SC21 cluster in the West Midlands, has demonstrated the robustness of the programme by achieving an average of 98.56% On Time in Full Delivery and 99.93% Right First Time Quality whilst introducing a number of new customers and products since first signing up in April 2010.
The company has also utilised the SC21 improvement framework to underpin its business strategy formation and deployment as it diversifies into new markets following the announcement of an ambitious growth strategy in 2010.
Tim Hughes, Managing Director at CHH CoNeX explains: “We already had a reputation for achieving in markets with minimal availability of schedule information and constant
demand changes. By integrating the SC21 programme into our overall business strategy, we now have a clear path to our competitive advantage and are in a strong position to fully realise our mission of becoming a true extension of our customers’ business; thereby providing innovative design, manufacturing, logistics and other related services in order to create value and minimise waste.
“SC21 is now a way of life and drives us to continuously improve what we do, reinforces our culture of innovation and excellence and we are delighted to achieve the Silver award recognition level the first time round. We also recognise the valuable role played by the MAA, the Manufacturing Advisory Service West Midlands (MAS-WM), the General Dynamics SC21 cluster and TPT Consulting in getting to this level.”
Tom Townsend, at TPT Consultancy & Training, who has been supporting CHH CoNeX through to this stage said: “When completing the Determining Excellence and the Manufacturing Excellence Diagnostics, CHH CoNeX showed a determination to achieve both business and manufacturing excellence. This was coupled with delivery and quality performance of 99.29% and 99.9% respectively which validates those approaches. In reaching the Silver award recognition level, the company has demonstrated the deployment of the improvement framework and implemented the Continuous Sustainable Improvement Programme (CSIP) to drive the process within the company and has secured the coveted AS9100 accreditation which will collectively be used to achieve further improvements throughout the supply chain.
“This exceptional focus on on-time delivery and quality and the speed with which CHH CoNeX has achieved the Silver award is inspirational and a true testament to how this type of change and continuous improvement programme can add enormous value to all industries, not just to the defence and aerospace industries. CHH CoNeX is now one of the benchmark UK manufacturing companies in terms of level of excellence in business.”
Phil Curnock, SC21 Programme Manager at industry trade body A|D|S said: “I am delighted that CHH CoNeX has gained an SC21 Silver award and is clearly demonstrating the robustness of its SC21 framework deployment, how it is benefiting the business and embedding sustainable improvement to the business and its customers. Many congratulations.”
Byron Clarke, Head of Supply Chain C4I at General Dynamics said: “I am delighted with CHH CoNeX being recognised with this Silver award, however, I am not surprised as the commitment they have shown to this programme has been exemplary, they have fully embraced SC21 into their business strategy that will result in continuous and sustainable improvements. Congratulations to the team.”
Peter Jones, SC21 Project Manager at MAS-WM said: “MAS would like to congratulate everyone involved in CHH’s success achieving Silver Award status. By taking up 50% grant funding toward the costs of the consultancy work they have embraced the MAS-WM SC21 support and made maximum use of the support available. They are a shining example of what can be achieved by embracing the support that is available in the West Midlands for aerospace and defence companies who wish to improve their performance in a World class industry sector showing continuous growth.”
There are currently more than 600 companies that have become signatories of SC21.
Sixty-four companies have been recognised with SC21 awards to date with 49 Bronze, 14 Silver and one Gold award.
Shaun Ashmead, Operations Director at CHH CoNeX explains that in going for the Silver award, the company’s strategy was not just to provide competitively priced products, but to focus on the total cost of acquisition for the customer by incorporating added value services.
“The SC21 framework is geared at leading companies towards excellence. After completing the diagnostic stages and developing your CSIP, you should ideally end up with a change programme that recognises how strategy, culture and leadership come together.
“At CHH CoNeX, our strategy is to be customer-focused, making it essential that our culture is one of involvement, participation and empowerment. Similarly, our leadership style needed to be one of coaching to generate engagement and one that could continuously explain our strategy and the journey we are on. This end-to-end strategy and engagement process helps not only companies looking to work within the aerospace and defence industries up their game, but could be utilised to really give UK industry a competitive advantage.”
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For further information please contact Marianna Marks, on 079 5869 0659 or email marianna@mandmcomms.com
