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WALSH WESTERN INTERNATIONAL DRIVES EUROPEAN GROWTH THROUGH BPI SIX SIGMA PROGRAMME

An ambitious company-wide business process improvement programme announced today at Walsh Western International (WWI) aims to build a strong base for future strategic growth throughout the UK, Ireland and continental Europe. The company, a specialist in the management and distribution of high value goods, will use the programme to boost the company's profitability and efficiency whilst ensuring it provides high quality solutions to its customers. WWI aims to reach Six Sigma standard within the next three years.

WWI specialises in the management and distribution of high value goods and materials, particularly in the high tech and healthcare technology sectors. WWI operations handle over five million shipments a year across the company's pan-European integrated network which consists of operations in 48 locations across 15 countries.

"Over the past couple of years WWI has grown by over 400 per cent and has expanded its operations considerably in the UK and mainland Europe. We have now reached a point where our processes need to be very efficient to allow us to achieve the next step in our growth plans," commented Phil Cocking, UK managing director at WWI. "To meet our customers' needs, we need to be agile and have flexible processes that allow us to respond rapidly to market demands. The BPI programme will help us ensure that we operate efficiently and productively, whilst improving service to our customers."

WWI's business process improvement (BPI) programme is a set of tools and applications that are used to understand and improve processes within the organisation by eliminating operational inefficiencies, improving productivity and cutting out waste. Sigma is a measure of standard deviation which calculates the number of defects that occur per million. Six Sigma is the highest level of improvement attainable, equating to 3.4 defects per million.

As part of the programme, WWI has launched a company-wide in-house training and accreditation scheme to enhance employees personal development and boost the company's knowledge base. The programme will train all employees to yellow belt level, the basic Six Sigma standard by the middle of the year. The company aims to train a further 30 employees to green belt, and four to the prestigious black belt standard by the end of the year. A BPI manager has been appointed to drive continuous improvement throughout the company and to act as a mentor to individual teams.

The UK arm of WWI will also be working towards the Investors in People (IIP) standard. IIP is a quality standard focusing on good practice in the areas of employee induction, training, communications, management, and leadership. It is a proven method of improving business performance through enhanced management of people. Employees at all levels within the UK operation will be involved in implementing the company's IIP action plan, and it is envisaged that the company will be recognised as an IIP employer by the end of this year.