Ballymena achievement benefits charities

Five local charities have been given a cash boost thanks to the world class business achievements of employees at the Michelin factory in Ballymena. The Ballymena factory recently became the second Michelin site in the world to achieve stage two in the 'Michelin Manufacturing Way' initiative, an internal business scheme set up to develop and empower its employees. To recognise this impressive achievement, the company awarded each department within the factory a sum of money to donate to a charity of their choice.

The ‘Michelin Manufacturing Way’ scheme was launched in 2005 and the aim of was to standardise processes, improve standards and boost productivity throughout Michelin’s 72 manufacturing sites across the world. As part of this strategy, factory employees are assessed on their ability to work autonomously across different sectors of the business. The progress of each factory is measured in stages through a validation process, with stage one being a good starter level and stage two being an acknowledgement that a factory has reached an exceptional level.

Kathy Simpson, factory personnel manager at Michelin Ballymena, said: “Reaching this milestone has been a tremendous achievement for the Ballymena site and is excellent recognition of the hard work and dedication shown by all of our staff. We’re committed to supporting worthwhile causes, especially within our local community, so it was great that we could celebrate our success by donating money to a number of charities close to our employees’ hearts.”

The five charities chosen were Macmillan Nurses, Men Against Cancer, The Oscar Knox Appeal, Gateway Medical Alliance and Conquer Cancer Challenge. Representatives from each charity were presented with a cheque for £200 by the Workshop Managers on Friday 21 September at the Michelin factory on Raceview Road.

This initiative is part of the company’s CSR activity, known as Performance and Responsibility Michelin (PRM). As part of the PRM framework, which has been running for a decade, it has supported many worthwhile projects in and around its manufacturing operations in Ballymena, as well as its factories in Stoke-On-Trent and Dundee.