Matt Rowlands

WHY MATTHEW ROWLANDS THANKS THE LAURAS INTERNATIONAL 'HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY' FOR HIS RISING SUCCESS AT RECKITT BENCKISER.

Chemical Engineering graduate Matthew Rowlands has been fast-tracked through the ranks of leading household and health care product manufacturers Reckitt Benckiser.

Matthew's rising success is due to his own hard work and the insight of his managers who - with advice and support from Lauras International consultants - quickly recognised his potential as an 'Improvement Champion.'

Yet the modest 25-year-old says he was in 'the right place at the right time' when Lauras identified him as being the person for the responsible improvements role, and managers duly appointed him such a 'champion' at the firm which manufactures Airwick, Finish, Vanish, Lemsip, Dettol, Harpic and other numerous top brand household products.

Matthew is only half-joking when he refers to the team of internationally renowned improvement consultants enlisted at Reckitt Benckiser's Derby site as the 'Household Cavalry.'

"The Lauras team were extremely helpful from the outset, whether I was learning about problem solving tools and strategies in a classroom setting or receiving advice in the workplace until I could solve problems by myself,' says Matthew who is now based at Reckitt Benckiser's Hull site as Area Team Leader.

His promotion is largely due to the business acumen he showed whilst working at the Derby site where he proved himself to be a valuable asset within the firm's improvement team.

"I guess they saw something in me that could be developed, I was very fortunate to be given an opportunity not only to prove myself but to earn the respect of those I worked with in order to make improvements really happen," he says.

When Matthew, a Birmingham University graduate, joined Reckitt Benckiser's Derby site in September 2004 his responsibilities were varied.

His degree primarily focused on process engineering and his job within the company graduate scheme initially involved learning about capital expenditure, tendering contracts and looking at specifications for new equipment to be installed at the hugely successful international firm.

Matthew was also responsible for looking at new products and designing the tanks, vessels and other machinery needed to manufacture them. A major challenge was sourcing the equipment and finding the best value available.

He says his first learning curve in what was his very first job was "knowing how to talk to the right people, particularly the external contractors."

Matthew's next challenge was working on the 'Sundance' production line named after the infamous 'Sundance Kid' because of the 500,000 plus 'trigger' spray bottles it produced each week.

The arrival of a brand new cleaning product, 'Cillit Bang', to be produced at a rate of 300,000 to 400,000 extra bottles meant the Sundance production line could not afford to run with any problems impairing productivity levels.

'At the time there were a few efficiency problems at the line which needed to be solved because of the increase in product volume. My remit was to work on the line and improve its efficiency,' says Matthew who was very aware that the new household product was tipped to become a market leader.

Unlike other products produced in 500ml bottles, Cillit Bang was produced in a 750 ml bottle which meant big changes on the production line to accommodate the new size bottle.

The Sundance line would produce one trigger-spray product one week, Cillit Bang, another. As any manufacturer will tell you, there were specific changes needed to ensure the production of a new brand of consumer item ran smoothly.

Removing bottlenecks and reducing changeover time were just two problems the company were faced with which needed to be solved.

Matthew explains, "The changeover time was eight hours to set the line up for the larger bottle and eight hours to revert the line back for the smaller bottles. My challenge was to reduce the downtime - the time when the line is not producing anything.

" Matthew admits that from a young age he was 'lucky to be able to 'look at a machine for 10 minutes and understand exactly how it works.'

But despite looking at a variety of problems and intensive round-the-clock shifts on the Sundance line, he says it was not until the Lauras team were employed on site in March 2005 to help embed a new improvements system that 'things started to change.'

Matthew was part of the first Improvement Team from 21st March - when Lauras arrived at Derby as on-site consultants - until 28th April 2005. (He received continual coaching from Lauras International when he was moved to the Eve line)

He was initially part of a team of seven employees trained by Lauras over two days. Then it was four and a half weeks of hands-on implementation until employees had a firm understanding of the skills and how to use them themselves.

His enthusiasm for problem-solving did not go unnoticed by the management team and Lauras consultants identified him as a person capable of taking on the role of 'Improvement Champion.' Managers appointed him in the role and while he was working as the team's 'improvement champion' he was overseeing the team as line manager.

Matthew says: "I virtually lived day and night on the Sundance line but I could prove to others that I was committed to taking my role seriously. My philosophy is that I will never ask someone to do a job if I won't do it myself."

Jeremy Praud, one of the Lauras consultants who worked with Matthew in Derby says "A few people are natural born problem solvers and get jobs as technical experts/engineers. However, even then, in reality one in five problems are not solved to root cause. That is why we taught Mathew one of our tools. PCS -Problem-Cause-Solution.”

'This involves firstly identifying the cause or causes of the problem. Once you solve that, you are on the way to identifying the problem and the more you delve into it, the cheaper the solution.'

Without giving away any industrial secrets, Matthew solved real problems with real solutions and every improvement was largely down to his technological savvy, excellent people skills and being 'open and flexible' to suggestions from his temporary mentors at Lauras International. He was able to pass on the valuable skills he learnt to others.

Matthew says the experience of being able to work out how to make improvements on his own was very rewarding. His increased level of confidence had a positive ripple effect on the rest of the team who want to share the feelings of success. Any future problems were then tackled head-on with far less resistance from others as everyone was more confident in their abilities.

He says, "When you see the strategies you have been taught actually working when you apply them it is a wonderful feeling. Before Lauras arrived on site Sundance was running at 40 per cent efficiency. After the Lauras team left, efficiency had increased to 60 to 65 per cent.

"Before Lauras arrived we were repeatedly focusing on the sticking plaster approach of fixing line problems which only worked for a short while. Lauras gave us all the skills to fix things properly and permanently which has a tremendous effect on increasing efficiency levels and workforce morale."

Although Jeremy is proud to acknowledge the part Lauras has played in improvements at the Derby site he says Matthew should feel very proud to be a key facilitator in the whole improvement system.

Jeremy adds, "Matt was making a real difference as line leader. He'd already earned a lot of respect from people. He is the sort of person who just gets on with it. People can see he is doing the right thing and people around him liked to work for him and help him achieve things.”

"To begin with he was a little inexperienced as he was fresh out of university. People have a set of standard explanations and if, like Matt, you come along and ask why there is a particular problem, people will justify why it exists. The problem you have is filtering the truth from the mistakes. As Matt found his feet he started to believe in himself and work out why the problems are there and how to fix them. Matt is also very smart.”

'Matt demonstrates how being an 'Improvement Champion' helps employees move into a line management role. He is quite self-effacing and that is partly why people respond to him. As Improvement Champions go, Matt excelled and that's why he has been moved to Hull and promoted. He proved himself by achieving improvements both as an improvement champion and as a line manager. I think he will be very successful in the future. "

Matthew has quickly earned the respect of other workers and this has not gone unnoticed by Bart Derde, Reckitt Benckiser's Supply Projects Director.(Europe).

Bart says, "Matthew was keen to learn and is very good at motivating people. He would explain things to people, not just tell them what to do. When I saw him approach groups in meetings he proved to be a good listener. He would listen to people's problems and then go away and solve them."

He adds that Lauras International, together with the Reckitt Benckiser managers at Derby, worked well together in improving efficiency. He pinpoints three reasons for success.

'Firstly, Reckitt Benckiser and Lauras pulled together to improve efficiency levels and there was a focus on both external and internal resources. Before Lauras arrived efficiency was not good. Secondly, there was good methodology and training using operators to support its implementation. Thirdly, there was daily and hourly focusing on performance.'

Bart added that the results were sustainable. 'Since Lauras left, improvements have been sustained."

Matthew says seeing improvements sustained with people continuing to use skills, tools and strategies initially taught by the Lauras team taught him that once you have the right knowledge you can apply it with successful results.

His advice to others wanting a career in engineering and manufacturing would be to 'take every single thing you have learnt in life because you can usually apply it somewhere."

As well as applying his academic achievements at Reckitt Benckiser, Matthew says his student job working at Safeway as a 17-year-old came in useful.

"I worked on the Customer Services desk for a while which helped me develop people skills. Usually everyone talking to you has a problem they want solving. I think these skills helped develop my management skills in my everyday work now. I also stacked shelves on night shifts which put me in good stead for the night shifts on the Sundance line.'

Matthew says he has a lot more confidence in trying out different approaches to problem-solving and putting ideas into practice in his new role at Hull as area team leader with 30 people reporting to him.

He says: "What might be making the biggest stoppage problem one day might not be the biggest problem overall. You have to talk to the people on a line and you have to get to a situation where people - say the fitters, are doing things automatically and not only when they are asked to. When everyone is pulling together you know improvements will be made."