Openness and cooperation creates a risk-safe space

Staff training and engagement is at the heart of Kent Stainless’s customer-centric success, reports Arlene Harris

Established in Wexford by Pat Kent in 1982, Kent Stainless is a family-run manufacturing business that exports 50 per cent of its products to Britain, the Middle East, Europe and the US, while also acting as the European manufacturing base for several American companies.

Combining innovative design solutions with world-class manufacturing facilities, the management team cite the hard work and innovation of its loyal employees as the reason behind its success.

“What sets Kent Stainless apart is its people and the culture throughout the business,” said managing director, Ann O’Brien. “The company culture is to look after its people through engagement and training, while keeping the needs of our customers at the forefront of our goals.

“There is a real can-do attitude which resonates right through the company. The culture is one of openness, cooperation, and creating a space to take risks enabled by the board of directors’ trust in the management team. Despite the fact that the workforce is now over 200, a conscious effort is made to retain an open and communicative style of management which promotes a supportive work environment for employees and managers.”

O’Brien says the company is forward-looking and innovative, and along with a long-standing drive to promote apprenticeships, it also offers internships and opportunities for internal growth and development.

“We want our people to excel while also ensuring the future of Kent Stainless,” she said. “We also have our own in-house Kent Training Academy, ensuring that we continue to get the best out of our people, enable them to achieve their full potential, reward them for their expertise and knowledge, and fully utilise our equipment to meet growing customer demands.

“Our management philosophy is built around empowering and enabling the senior functional management team to run the business. Everyone is focused on continually improving quality processes while investing in the latest technology to stay efficient and competitive. Blending our culture, management style and general philosophy while keeping a firm focus on efficiency and quality, makes our company the success it is today and will ensure continued growth into the future.”

This considered combination helped Kent Stainless to gain accreditation from the Deloitte Best Managed Programme on its first application.

“There is great pride throughout the company since the awards were announced, and it has strengthened our confidence in our ability and processes but primarily it’s a testament to the commitment and hard work of every employee here,” said O’Brien. “We have a resilient, resourceful, trustworthy, and reliable team, who have continuously shown that they have the ability to adapt quickly. Our people are our greatest asset — our success in achieving this award is an accolade to every single employee within the company.

“The award also provides our managers, supervisors and team leads with the confidence to continue with our current management strategy and the roll-out of training programmes around resource management, skills training, employee welfare and both environmental and social responsibilities.

“And from an external point of view, it boosts the confidence of our customers, banks and government agencies, in us and our company. Winning this award has also provided us with the opportunity to network with other winners, share expertise and learn from them.”

O’Brien says the competition evaluation process was “extremely valuable and insightful”, giving them the opportunity to have a “highly reputable external company come into the business to benchmark our company within a formal framework against other extremely successful companies”.

“The process was extremely thorough and forced us to stand back and properly examine our management practices and strategy,” she said. “We found it refreshing and extremely worthwhile, as it allowed us to analyse and evaluate some of our initiatives and strategies in a new context, independently from the day-to-day routine of the business activities. The application process provided an opportunity to revisit our mission, vision, and strategy and how we communicate these through the company. This in turn unearthed some opportunities for improvement in communication, alignment of departments and provided insights to how each department is managing the company’s strategy and how this is linked to the overall.”

And she believes the win would not have been possible without the continued commitment, dedication, and expertise of both the management team and the workforce.

“The retention of staff is crucial to our company and is managed on foot of our HR policy of inclusion, openness, and acknowledgement that everyone should be treated with equal respect and afforded every opportunity for progression and personal development,” she said. “I have no doubt that as we promote our achievement through our customer and supply bases that it will further promote our brand. It will ultimately help us to win more business, major projects and will aid all our pre-qualification for government tenders.”