Local business turns itself around to win high profile contract

06 Jun 2017

Business

Chamber member, Coral Products, has recently secured a high profile contract to supply the automotive industry after raising Health and Safety standards with help from St Helens Chamber.

The company manufactures a range of plastic products and has recently introduced a brand new management team to raise the reputation and productivity of the business.

Stephanie Ingham, HR Manager at Coral Products, explains: “We wanted to upskill our workforce in terms of professional development, increased motivation and ensuring we are adhering to Health and Safety regulations. We’ve set up a committee and we are trying to give employees ownership of Health and Safety.”

Coral Products contacted St Helens Chamber and expressed interest in subsidised training to close the skills gap within the business. The company was put in touch with Business Adviser, Rita Gillespie, who helped put a plan into action.

Stephanie added: “We’ve conducted Fire Marshal and First Aid training at the Chamber. We also had one of their training team come in to conduct a full day Health and Safety training which was very informative and changed the mind-sets of our employees towards keeping safe in the work place.”

Coral Products has seen a real improvement in their working practices in general, as well as in Health and Safety on site. In the company’s last British Retail Consortium audit, it achieved the top score of an AA rating and the auditor even commented that they had never seen such a transformation within a company.

Having joined the Chamber as recently as 2015 Coral Products is making good use of the services on offer from St Helens Chamber. Stephanie explains: “A couple of months ago we won a new contract to supply the automotive industry, our ultimate end users are companies like Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Nissan and Renault.

“It’s a new venture for the company with the automotive industry, the standards are very high and we want to show people that we can achieve them.

“That’s where the Chamber has helped us. As part of our strategy, with the new contract coming in we have 11 new machines and we need a brand new team to operate them.

“We have identified and monitored skills gaps and can now use the Chamber’s Business School as a platform to train staff.”

Coral Products also benefitted from a grant, secured through St Helens Chamber, under the Merseyside Jobs and Growth Fund, which helped the company to install new technology enabling them to increase production capacity and add additional products to its already extensive range.

This grant is now closed to new applicants but it has had a massive impact helping companies to expand and increase job opportunities across Merseyside and Halton.

Coral Products have made a commitment to increasing job opportunities in the local area. Stephanie said: “We want to bring local people into local jobs and be able to train them. We have also been to the Chamber to discuss our Apprenticeship Levy, as part of an ongoing commitment to training.”

To find out more about what St Helens Chamber could do for your business call 01744 742000 or email info@sthelenschamber.com