Overcoming growth challenges
For cable containment company Armorduct, a period of rapid growth presented new challenges that risked setting the business back. Now, with support from Aston Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship’s Help to Grow: Management Course, they’re expanding with confidence and a more-focused vision for the future.
Senior leaders at Armorduct - a leading national supplier of cable trunking, trays and baskets as well as lighting, flooring and perimeter cable containment - joined the Help to Grow management programme after facing communications challenges across different teams and sites.
Help to Grow programme finds practical solutions
Armorduct, based in the West Midlands, designs and manufactures off-the-shelf and bespoke products and has clients across the railway industry and increasingly at data centres.
After doubling their headcount and turnover and acquiring new premises company leaders were finding it increasingly difficult to communicate effectively between the head office, manufacturing facilities, sales and marketing teams.
Help to Grow gave them a chance to re-evaluate their mission and values while finding practical solutions to their everyday challenges.
Speaking about the benefits of Help to Grow, Jo Hackett, Director of Operations, said: “The collaboration on the course with other businesses we found very useful. Talking to our peers, finding that they had the same problems and realising that actually, we’re not isolated, we can get support from other businesses.”
In response to what they learned, Armorduct’s senior leaders developed a new five-year business plan with KPIs for each individual member of staff and each department head. Greater collaboration within the business also led to a new mission statement which was rolled out to all staff.
“It’s given us a whole bunch of new knowledge and confidence,” explained Jo.
“We all have a direction of what are the expectations of the business and where we need to get to, to help it to grow,” she added.
Since completing the course and putting into practice the tools they gained, Armorduct has seen a 20% increase in its headcount and major investment in new buildings and machinery.
“It’s a much better culture here at Armorduct since completing the course. We’ve got a much better communication conduit between all departments and buildings,” said James Wood, Sales Director.
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