In 2013 the business went through a major transformation in order to remain sustainable in a declining industry.
The transformation involved a complete restructure of the existing management team and all production and process departments.
The initial phase of the restructure saw the GPC management team reduced from seven to four managers. This was an extremely difficult time for all concerned and would not have been possible without the support of the EDG management team. Following the initial phase of the restructure, the remaining GPC management team was engaged in a complex restructure of the rest of the business. This process was undertaken over a period of approximately three months. During the time the EDG management team took over a large proportion of the day to day running of the print centre which enabled the GPC management to concentrate on the restructure.
The success of the restructure was heavily dependent on EDG being able to provide support to the business by providing a reliable work force, particularly in the Mailroom and Pre-press departments. Many of the duties which were previously undertaken by the GPC technical department were successfully passed on to the EDG operatives. This in turn freed up GPC technical staff to enable them to support the press production department.
Another major factor in the success of the transformation was EDG taking over the responsibility for the newsprint warehouse, full control of resource planning and utilisation was successfully passed over to EDG within this department.
Bob Carr - Production Manager
GPC
EDG Group were instrumental in project lead of the insource of the Guardian Magazines into GPC of which being plant manager I needed to feel comfort in the project being achievable at all levels on time and budget. EDG Group worked to implement correct machinery needs and best product, with capital and running cost proposals to return value - much focus was placed by the EDG team on staff development and training to give ownership and responsibility with staff involvement from the outset.
The result was an excellent product with waste levels and OEE achieved and ROI of 9mths - overall an astonishing result which derived from flexibility and enthusiasm across all levels of staff.
The project created a foundation to work on with EDG to exercise their skill sets into further production environments, hence a cost saving to GPC
Steve Melmore - Plant Manager
Guardian News and Media
