Faculty on the Floor
Unipart’s Faculty on the Floor is a radical concept through which employees can work on production-related problems using computer-based problem solving tools and best practice websites from training facilities located on the shop floor. The aim is to improve quality, increase productivity and reduce costs continually.
The Faculty on the Floor concept has been developed as a direct extension of the Unipart U, the company’s own corporate university, to bring learning directly onto the shop floor. It enables individual employees to develop the key knowledge and skills that they need to improve quality and productivity in their day-to-day jobs. It also enables teams to tackle production situations using problem solving circles, and then to prove their learning by implementing new ideas or innovations right on the production line.
The concept was first introduced in a Unipart factory and Faculty on the Floor learning centres have since been established in Unipart sites in Birmingham, Coventry, Crewe, Northampton and Oxford, in warehouse, office and manufacturing environments.
The Faculty on the Floor has four key objectives:
To create an environment for continuous learning and problem solving on the shop floor
To make the latest technology and tools available to all staff
To enable employees to gain a shared understanding of lean principles and of how we apply them to the business
Share the latest knowledge as it develops
The facility gives employees access to the latest leading edge technology and training materials and, in particular, web-based training. Best practice know-how can be added to UGC's Intranet in a disciplined way giving knowledge to everyone across UGC in an appropriate manner. This also gives employees the opportunity to short circuit learning by finding solutions to similar problems.
The Faculty on the Floor has been designed to enable employees to achieve the mission of the Unipart U which is 'to develop, train and inspire people to achieve world class performance within UGC and amongst its stakeholders'.
Unipart aims to train employees in the skills they need which can immediately and directly be translated into improving their job every day. The Faculty on the Floor is an integral part of employees' daily activities. As well as being used as a training facility, it is also used to hold team meetings, problem solving activities and OCC Circle meetings.