Ford Motor Company Ltd

International & technological competitiveness places substantial pressure on the UK automotive industry, requiring constant cost reductions & incentives to source from low cost, low-skilled manufacturers abroad. FMC in Britain has restructured to reduce cost & realign the business to focus on powertrain engineering & manufacture; commercial vehicles engineering & manufacture; environmental technologies.

Ford Motor Company Ltd
Eagle Way
Brentwood
CM13 3BW

Business Drivers

FMC’s training & development strategy is based on developing a highly skilled workforce motivated to continuously improve the business through the integration of off the job training with on the job learning; lifelong learning & continuous professional development for all; use of internal & external capability to improve skills; direct access to government funding for skill development & accountability for achievement; & value individual differences & diversity.

In reflection of this FMC has an NES contract with the LSC & was one of the first employers to sign the Skills Pledge.

FMC have created a revolutionary “Skills for Life” (SfL) strategy to help achieve the business’ main objective of surpassing competition through reduced costs. The inclusive & barrier free approach develops a skilled workforce motivated to continuously improve the business as well as safeguarding employment opportunities now & for the future.

Implementation

In 2005 FMC was awarded a government training grant of £10.1 million to upskill its employees at Dagenham Engine Plant (DEP) to increase productivity by 20% & improve its competitive position. The foundation of the programme is the SfL strategy which is being used as a pilot for roll-out across Ford of Britain locations during 2008.

Initially the programme built on the long st&ing work of the “Learning Resource Centres” (LRCs) & “Employee Development & Assistance Programme” (EDAP) by offering traditional discrete “Basic Skills” classes to employees in work time. However, the approach failed to address the high level of residual SfL deficit amongst hard to reach employees. A new methodology was required that would meet the needs of a dynamic manufacturing environment & those of a predominately male, ethnically diverse, long serving & middle aged workforce.

Through close collaboration with all stakeholders, KPMG & Business in the Community (BITC), a clearly defined innovative strategy based on contextualised & embedded learning was developed. Together with a nationally advertised tendering process, this enabled the identification of a creative & capable provider, Tribal, who started in July 2007.

The programme’s success is based on its inclusivity & absence of barriers to learning such as lack of management buy-in, stigma, fear of learning & disruption to production. The “Skills Coaches” are an integral part of shop floor life. Employees are released from work for short periods of contextualised 1:1 coaching near the production line. Following an initial discussion, the coach assesses the employee’s SfL needs & weekly coaching sessions follow until the employee is confident of sitting a national test. Tests are sat in quiet areas on the shop floor invigilated by trained employees & c&idates are informed of results the same day.

To address wider SfL issues, the Coaches work with management to improve the effectiveness of communications & help implementation of business improvement techniques. Additionally they work with the NVQ provider to increase their underst&ing of SfL & to embed literacy, numeracy & language into vocational training.

Partners

The programme is dual funded by the London Development Agency (LDA), who invest £500,000 in up-front coaching & the LSC via FMC’s NES contract. FMC match fund by releasing employees to attend training. The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (LBBD) are the accountable body for the LDA funding. The long-term aim of the programme is to be sustainable on LSC & FMC match funding past December 2008.

The SfL strategy continues to evolve through extensive involvement of all stakeholder groups:

• FMC Management & Supervision – holds discussions on business need & skill requirements.
• FMC employees – provided feedback on their experiences of the 2005/2006 “basic skills” programme.
• Trade Union – holds discussions on business need & skill requirements.
• LDA – provide funding, support & experience from other projects.
• LSC NES & London East – provide funding, support, subject matter expertise & KPMG consultancy services.
• LBBD – project manages the programme, advised on a contextualised approach, hosting a partnership LBBD SfL project visit.
• Tribal – provide resources & subject matter expertise gained from other projects & Move On.
• The Outsourced Training Company – manages the LRCs & provides insight into previous initiatives.

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