At the Pencoed facility, high-defi nition broadcast and professional cameras and camera systems for newsrooms, outside broadcasts and fi lm studios are manufactured. An on-site customer service and repair centre supports Sony customers across the UK and Europe.

The Sony UK Technology CentreLeadership, Innovation, Communication

The journey beginsJust over 10 years ago, the site in Pencoed moved from manufacturing televisions to the production of broadcast and professional cameras, changing both the volumes and complexity involved in the process.

As a result, there was a need to revitalise the business with a particular focus on three key areas aimed at attracting business, encouraging innovation, and supporting staff improvement.

8,500 Hours of Learning and

Development Annually

Headcount Doubled in 2 Years

Turnoverincreased by

250% in 5 Years

Staff Turnover is <1%

Britain’s Best Factory Award 2013

The Sony Corporation has 43 manufacturing facilities worldwide – with Sony UK Technology Centre (UK TEC), in south Wales, being the only facility in Europe.

A Business Incubation Centre, also housed at the facility, off ers a shared community for 32 independent start-up companies in sectors such as Digital Technology, Renewable Energy, Media and Gaming.

Sony UK TEC is home to a highly skilled team of over 600 industry leading staff , which includes engineers, technicians, operators, supply chain teams, and customer service centre employees. Thanks to their dedication to excellence and pioneering innovative technology, Sony UK TEC is recognised as a global manufacturing leader.

These were:

Diff erentiation Recognising why they were diff erent so that they could attract new business and customers.

Cost competitiveness Focusing on innovation and continuous improvement in everything they did.

Training & DevelopmentRetraining individuals to create Knowledge Heroes in the manufacturing of these complex camera systems.

The Sony team in Wales then set about creating a structured system to implement, measure, and maintain these changes.

Gerald Kelly, Director of Professional Services at Sony UK TEC, said the creation of the Investors In People (IIP) framework gave them the means to do this.

“The framework enhanced our original plan and provided focus. The whole programme is not an initiative and it is not a project. It really and truly is a journey. There’s no beginning or end. We’ve been at this now for over 10 years now and the journey continues.”

Two-way communication is keyThanks to the IIP framework Sony created a new 10-point plan, which highlighted key areas of learning for the business. For the Sony team, communication was the clear thread that ran through the whole process.

In terms of how the facility communicates with its 600 employees, the framework revealed that staff may respond to different forms of communication. For example, some may prefer to be told information, while others might want to be shown, some digest written information more effectively, while others prefer to review and question.

As a response to this, Sony introduced nine different communication methods, catering to each individual’s preference.

The voice of the employeeAs part of their communication strategy, every year, Sony conducts an anonymous survey.

The data from this proves invaluable because, while Sony may think it is meeting its employees’ expectations, the results can provide accurate feedback on where Sony is achieving highly, and where it requires improvement.

Gerald explains, “It works because it allows us to focus our attention in the right places and understand why some departments perform better than others. We can move away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and adjust for example leadership, reward and recognition from department to department.”

Leading by example Before the Investors in People strategy was adopted, Sony’s traditional management style was dictated by the high-volume nature of assembly manufacturing.

While it was still vital to have managers maintaining control and delivering results, Sony recognised there needed to be a shift from a management strategy to a leadership-focused strategy. It was also essential that managers embraced this new approach, which Gerald admits wasn’t initially easy.

“While it might seem like a very subtle difference in wording, the shift from management to leadership was massive. We needed people who could introduce the changes that were being made, show how it could be done and celebrate success. ”

Often we think of communication as somebody just transmitting a message. When actually, what we really need to be focusing on is the quality of the message, confirming that the message has been received and then testing that the information that has been transmitted is understood.”

Gerald Kelly, Director of Professional Services

When we started the survey, we were at the lower levels. In the last two years, we’ve been shifting the industry benchmark.”

Always learning and constantly changingFor the first five years of working with Investors in People, Sony took a standard, systematic approach to retraining and re-educating people.

However, it was recognised that the standard approach needed to be adjusted as the facility evolved. This led to the creation of their own Learning Academy, which offered bespoke training and development opportunities to suit the team’s needs.

The framework also highlighted that while many Sony employees had career aspirations, others didn’t necessarily share this. To suit all staff needs, a unique pathway structure was introduced, which provided individuals with a structured career progression plan, if they had growth aspirations. Others were provided with clear training and development opportunities within their current role.

Another original scheme inspired by the framework was the creation of a family orientation. All Sony team players live in one of three ‘families’. The Production Family, Business Support Family or Technical Family. With differing roles, aspirations and needs between families, it provides each of them with a shared focus and multiple routes to both progress and contribute to the business.

Unceasing improvementSony uses an improvement process that combines the Japanese principles of kaizen (continual improvement) and Muda-Dori (waste reduction), which they call Production Innovation.

It recognises that there will always be seven wastes in any process, whether you are making a cup of tea or manufacturing a broadcast camera. Originally, targets were set to reduce the time, inventory and materials involved in a job. This was adapted to remove the targets and put the focus on the ‘doer’ and participation.

All Sony staff are trained to recognise these wastes and, at least once a year, given the opportunity to engage in a small group activity, the aim of which is to find ways to eliminate the seven wastes.

The intention was to change the culture of the business.

Previously, a change would be made and staff would question why the change had been made. We’re now moving towards a culture where, if change doesn’t occur, staff will want to know why.”

We identify challenges, find solutions that are outside of the norm and roll it out across the business. All thanks to the support and framework provided by Investors in People.”

Vision & strategySony set their goals on five-year cycles, focusing on sales growth, margin, headcount and the business that the company is engaged in.

It has come to learn that businesses shouldn’t concentrate on the ‘how’ during this process but hone in on the ‘what’. How you achieve it should come from people engagement, one example being Sony’s Town Hall Meetings.

Gerald said: “Once we’ve set our five-year plan, we know what but we don’t necessarily know how. Twice a year, production stops and everyone comes together for a Town Hall Meeting.

The leadership team explain to all staff what the company’s aims are, sharing sales value and margin, what’s going well and what’s not going so well, where money is going, and even sensitive issues like whether or not there will be any pay rises and the reasons why.

Short term goals are set with an explanation of how they can be achieved. Every 6 months the exercise is repeated with an update where the where the focus for the next period will be and this cycle is continued annually.”

Gerald admits that while sharing this level of information on a mass scale is “brave”, the overall aim is to achieve transparency and build trust, which he feels are key ingredients to encouraging engagement and motivation.

It literally is an open book. But it’s an important investment because everyone gets the same message. We’ve found that it’s been phenomenally successful. In fact, the second five-year plan directly resulted in the creation of the Sony Wales Academy.”

Anyone who’s operating a business or considering starting a business, big or small, should take out some time to look at the Investors in People framework. It does take commitment and investment but the benefits and support are unbelievable. Once adopted, it moves from being an initiative to a way of life and I can’t overstate the value. It works. It really does work.” Gerald Kelly, Director of Professional Services

The Future Sony’s latest five-year plan is focused on the factory of the future and finding a new way of working every day. Without innovation, businesses can’t survive, which is why they are committed to keeping their staff informed, engaged, trained, equipped and motivated.

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