Celebrations for Business Award winners
Winners of the first annual Excellence in Business Training Awards 2008 were announced at a black tie dinner at the Headland Hotel on Thursday 24th January.
The awards were hosted by Cornwall College Business to celebrate and recognise the outstanding achievements of local businesses and individuals and their commitment to training.
The award winners for the ten categories are as follows:
Excellence in Commitment to Training - TJ International, who showed that training is firmly embedded into their business by training their staff and their customers, was a key factor in their success. TJ has undertaken a wide range of training including; health & safety, warehousing, first aid, IT, management, fire marshal, manual handing and various business skills workshops. TJ international is based in Padstow and was established in 1970, it is a leading manufacturer of books. The company employs over 135 members of staff.
Leading SME Committed to Training - Cornwall Environmental Consultants (CEC) clearly showed that training has increased their staff numbers, projects, turnover and profit. They recognise that their staff are their most important asset and have committed investment into a training plan to ensure all staff are supported. CEC are specialist ecological, landscape architecture and design consultants. Based at Allet, Truro they are part of Cornwall Wildlife Trust and employ16 members of staff.
Graduate Development Award - Trac Services demonstrated that they had encouraged, supported and developed six science graduates taken on in the last two years. As a result, their turnover has increased three fold, staff numbers have increased, as has their profitability. Trac Services offers comprehensive regulatory services to the pharmaceutical industry. The company was formed in 2001, based in Camborne, and employs 10 members of staff.
Individual Recognition Award - Neil Bate of WTCS has championed training within WTCS to motivate, encourage and support his staff to undertake training to benefit not only themselves but also the business and its clients. Training is delivered by Neil and he also trains other members of staff to deliver training as well as using external companies. WTCS offers training and consultancy to disadvantaged and disabled people to maximise their opportunities to engage in employment. Established in 1999, they employ 204 members of staff across Cornwall and Devon.
Excellence in Innovation Staff Developments - Rittal-CSM who clearly showed that their training programme ‘Learning Island’ is a hands-on practical approach to understanding all aspects of their business. The programme was to promote and develop Lean Manufacturing and was structured to be highly interactive with staff having to build actual IT components within a specific time scale. To date, the programme has trained over 300 members of staff, improved projects and saved the company £44,407. Rittal is a manufacturer of IT and data communication enclosures worldwide. Rittal – CSM is part of the Rittal Group which in itself is part of the Friedhelm Loh Group. Rittal – CMS has been based in Plymouth for 20 years, employing 550 members of staff.
Apprenticeship Excellence Award - Pendennis Shipyard had shown outstanding support and development to their current 44 Apprentices undertaking general Apprenticeships in electrical, engineering or carpentry or surface finishing apprenticeships in painting. Over the last ten years Pendennis has support approximately 90 Apprentices, some of which are still in employment with the company today. Pendennis is a luxury boat new builds and re-fitter and was first established in 1988, based at Falmouth Docks where they employee approximately 300 people.
Outstanding Achievement of an Apprentice - Ben Butler from the Headland Hotel showed outstanding commitment and dedication to his job and study. Ben has already successfully complete Food Preparation Level 3 Apprenticeship and is currently undertaking the Pastry Level 3 Apprenticeship. As the Sous Pastry Chef, Ben’s confidence has grown due to the new skills he has learnt and shows true passion for what he does. The Headland is a lfour-star, family run hotel has 105 rooms as well as self-catering cottages. Situated on the edge of Fistral beach in Newquay, the hotel employees 80 –120 staff over the course of the year.
Individual Achievement Award - Damien Thomas from West Pharmaceutical Services clearly deserved this award due to his commitment to his own training in order to further his career and progress higher within the company. Damien started at ‘West’ as an unskilled packer and through training progressed. He is now employed as a skilled fitter within the engineering department. West Pharmaceutical is a manufacturer of systems and device components to administer medicines. ‘West’ has two sites, one based at Bodmin and one site at St Austell. The company has 300 employees.
Excellence in Environmental and Sustainability Training - MPG Books application was very strong and demonstrated a well established and consistent approach to environmental and sustainability training. MPG also links its training to mitigation in its adverse environmental impacts. MPG is a book and journal manufacturing service based in Bodmin, employing 140 members of staff.
The overall winner of winners to take the award of, Excellence in Business Training went to Cornwall Environmental Consultants. Their commitment to training involves mentoring programmes with the businesses they work with, enabling their staff to develop skills whilst on the job. The breadth and depth of training the company has been involved with proves their dedication and commitment to training.
The judges of this year’s awards comprised of local businesses and organisations including, Sarah Morris CBI, Nick Blandford from Cornwall Enterprise, and Nicky Taylor from Ginsters. They all felt that choosing a winner from the three short listed companies was extremely difficult as the commitment shown from them all was outstanding.
John Latham, Principal of Cornwall College said, “CCB hosted this event to celebrate the diverse range of ways in which companies are looking to add skills and knowledge to their organisations as they develop their people in order to help their business grow.”
