Lotus Training Blossoms

Group Lotus plc, the National Skills Academy for Manufacturing, City College Norwich and the Learning Skills Council have joined forces to provide a Level 2 NVQ training course in Business Improvement Techniques (B-IT).

This course at Lotus is the first one in the county of Norfolk to have been run internally.

On Wednesday 12th December 2007 Mike Kimberley the CEO of Group Lotus plc presented the first seventeen Lotus employees to have completed the training, with their NVQ Level 2 certificates.

Mike Kimberley, Chief Executive of Group Lotus plc commented “This training forms part of the continuous improvement philosophy employed at our world class manufacturing plant. Improvements in performance and quality will directly benefit the production of our multi-award winning sports cars as well as the high technology client vehicles we manufacture. We are very proud of the progress we are making and I would like to congratulate the work force on their commitment to the NVQ training course. We at Lotus are giving all our staff an opportunity to grow within the company and progress their career, which will have the triple benefit of improving our workforce, making our business even more successful and contributing to the wonderful reputation that the UK has for innovative, efficient and viable engineering and manufacture.”

Bob Gibbon, the Managing Director of the National Skills Academy said, “The NVQ for B-IT Level 2 is an approved benchmark of competence in the application of best practices in the workplace. Not only do these help organisations optimise their business processes but just as importantly, it empowers employees to engage in their own development journey. Lotus is an excellent example of a committed workforce and leadership intent on achieving world class excellence.”

Principal of City College: Dick Palmer said: “This is really exciting stuff! I’m delighted that City College will be working with Lotus Cars to meet its training requirements. As one of the first of its kind, this training partnership is a strategically important relationship for both organisations and sets an example for others to follow up and down the country. Train to Gain is a new and innovative way of delivering training, based on a flexible response to an employer’s individual demands”.

Continuous Improvement Manager for Lotus, John Vigar has championed this initiative for Lotus from its conception, “Business Improvement Techniques is designed around the interaction between people and the best practices we adopt to ensure that we maintain our world class performance status. This excellent training programme promotes high levels of empowerment for people working within a team ethic and it goes a very long way towards helping people further develop their skill base.”

Lotus has received over two hundred and eighty enrolment requests from employees since launching the initiative earlier in the year. The first one hundred and thirty of these have already completed their classroom training which indicates that the company is well on the way to achieving its target of three hundred City & Guilds NVQ level 2 Certificates by July 2008

The Business Improvement Techniques NVQ includes modules in Health and Safety, Effective Team Working, Work Place Organisation, Continuous Improvement, Visual Management and Problem Solving. This training scheme was the first Business Improvement Techniques course in the region and provides relevant skills for automotive manufacturing.