Employees help save drugs firm £963,000

Jun 30 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A PHARMACEUTICAL company said its new training programme has helped it save nearly £1m in a year.

Piramal Healthcare (UK) of Morpeth said the launch of a campaign to get its 350 staff to come up with ideas to make the company more efficient has led to savings of more than £963,000. The company has also found savings of £650,000 in energy costs after a comprehensive waste management review which also dramatically improved recycling.

And it has put all its employees through a NVQ in Business Improvement Techniques to get them to work more efficiently and save more money.

Strategic marketing manager Martin Hunt said: “We believe that every individual employee – given the necessary skills – can make a big difference.

“We have worked hard to improve the skills of our workforce and the results speak for themselves.

“The vast majority of our recent savings have been as a direct result of projects and ideas initiated and completed by employees, who have embraced and implemented continuous improvement skills in-line with the training that they have received.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the company’s commitment to its employees has gained Piramal a continuous Investor in People award for the last 18 years and was recently named the winner of the LSC North East’s Celebration of Learning and Skills (CoLaS) 2009 Workforce Commitment award.