ROTAFORM PLASTICS LTD

Overview

Rotaform Plastics is an Auckland based family-owned company employing about 30 people. Rotaform is one of New Zealand's largest rotational plastic moulders. The company specialises in manufacturing large plastic items, such as water tanks, bins, road barriers, spa pools and a wide range of plastic packaging.

The productivity challenge

Poor staff literacy and maths levels were hurting Rotaform's performance. Staff found it hard to follow written or verbal instruction, there were high levels of manufacturing mistakes and rejects, and bad reporting made it hard to keep track of important company information.

Chief Executive David Brumby recognised that low literacy rates were holding Rotaform back, and decided to tackle the issue head on by providing staff with literacy training.

"To be honest, we were reasonably cynical in the beginning that it would have any benefits for the business because it is a real cost. But we got to the end of the six months, and we realised we could really see some benefits for the business."

The productivity achievement

Improving literacy levels saw a sharp rise in employee skills, confidence and morale, and has led to a number of other benefits for Rotaform:

• product reject rates on the factory floor dropped by 55 percent, the number of late deliveries dramatically fell and the company is producing higher quality, more sophisticated products
• staff began suggesting ideas to management about new systems that could be introduced to improve production on the factory floor
• procedures and processes are now properly documented, which has resulted in higher quality and efficiency
• sales rose 34 percent and profits rose 31 percent.

To find out more about the Rotaform Plastics productivity case study, order a free copy of The Workplace - Productivity Challenge DVD/CD by emailing your name and physical address to info@dol.govt.nz putting Workplace Productivity CD (or DVD) in the subject line.

The full Rotaform Plastics productivity case study is available in HTML and PDF

• Rotaform Plastics productivity case study [HTML]
• Rotaform Plastics productivity case study [PDF, 2 Pages 109kB]

Related Material

New Zealand Literacy Portal [external link]