Printing company 'on form' thanks to expert manufacturing advice

The Charlesworth Group, which was founded 80 years ago, employs 100 people at its Wakefield headquarters and has a turnover of £8m.  Clients include horseracing publisher, Timeform (part of the Betfair Group), universities (including the Open University) and government departments. The firm also has offices in the USA and a typesetting operation in China.

MAS adviser, Brian Sainsbury from PDA Management Consultants carried out an initial diagnostic report at The Charlesworth Group. This was followed up by a 10 day improvement project, which led to the average time to generate an estimate being reduced by 50% and improvements within the purchasing and customer service departments. 15 members of staff drawn from across the business were also trained to become ‘super users’ in manufacturing planning techniques.

Following on from this success, MAS was invited back to carry out a second project which included reviewing and addressing the costs of downtime, spoilage and waste. Improvements in on-time delivery and stock control were also achieved.

David Boothman, managing director of The Charlesworth Group, said: “The results of the MAS intervention have been impressive and far reaching. For example, we have removed the need to have a separate warehouse to store large amounts of paper stock. We are now much more efficient and able to estimate our requirements more accurately which has improved cash flow and the amount of spoilage has been massively reduced.”

Brian is now back at The Charlesworth Group for the third time helping to prepare for the introduction, early next year, of Web2print (remote publishing) which will enable customers to submit digital content online, which the company will then print.

David added: “Brian’s in-depth knowledge of manufacturing and his quick grasp of our requirements has enabled us to remain competitive and at the forefront of technology during a challenging time for the print sector.”