A CONSTRUCTION company is changing the way it operates on the recommendation of one of its delivery drivers.

John Barker has been a driver with Bishop Auckland's M&M Plasline for eight years and, during that time, had a number of ideas about how to improve the company.

His knowledge of M&M Plasline's sites led financial director John Straughan to put his spreadsheets to one side for a few days, and spend time driving around construction projects across the region.

Mr Straughan said: "John has been making suggestions on how we can save time and money for some time now, and he suggested that I come out on the road with him to see things for myself.

"Over the few days, we talked about handling site deliveries, recycling waste and carrying things around sites, and a lot of what he said made sense."

Among a raft of recommendations, Mr Barker suggested writing weights on all of the material to be delivered to let staff know if they could be carried safely by one person, and setting up just-in-time ordering of materials to prevent a build-up of stock which can get damaged during transportation.

One of the most important issues to arise from the Back to the Floor exercise was how to make the company, which has three separate divisions, work together as one complete unit.

With plastering, construction and shop fitting divisions, each with their own management teams, Mr Barker felt that resources were not being used to their best potential as the company was not considering all staff as part of one big company.

"In a company this size, I think there is a tendency for the management to be distanced from the men on the site and shop floor. There are regular meetings with management, but these mostly deal with safety issues. Now we need to look at the bigger picture," he said.

His boss agreed, and has drawn up a document of ideas for improvement collected from site staff covering all areas of the business, including labour, training, plant hire, company image and customers.

Mr Straughan said: "The intention is to sit down with the other directors and discuss the issues that the report has highlighted, and decide which ideas can be piloted with the potential to making permanent changes.

"This is something we are taking very seriously."

Mr Barker's suggestion for labelling materials with weights has already been put in place and is proving effective, and Mr Straughan has forecast a busy time for M&M Plasline's continuous improvement programme on the back of his experience.

"The way I see it is that if your staff are well informed, and their opinions are valued, then you will have a far more content and productive workforce, not to mention picking up ideas on how to develop your business from those that are at the core of it.

"In business, it is important to recognise that there will always be something that could be improved or changed, and this exercise has brought that to the forefront for M&M Plasline."

Mr Barker said: "As a company, M&M Plasline needs and wants to be at the front of the pack.

I am really pleased that John has taken the time to listen to my ideas and those of the boys on site, and I am confident that together we can modernize not just this company, but also the industry as a whole."

Published: 16/12/2003