Londonderry employees take a stake in the business

Employees in a Londonderry shirt and blouse manufacturing company have recently become shareholders in the business.

Over 100 of the 130 shopfloor and office staff at Glenaden Shirts have acquired shares in the company, the assets of which were bought by local management last year when Coats Viyella (CV) decided to cease production at the manufacturing plant.

Andrew Lowden, Managing Director of Glenaden, who led the management buy-out with Industrial Development Board (IDB) backing, announced the shareholding initiative at a conference in Londonderry on the Theory of Constraints (TOC) business improvement technique.

The conference was organised by IDB's Business Excellence Division for companies throughout the North West and focused on IDB's Business Improvement Programme which has delivered significant bottom-line benefits for participants.

Mr Lowden said: "The decision to offer shares to employees is a central part of our commitment to ensure the growth of the company by engaging and involving employees at all levels within a strategic framework focused on excellence.

"We also wished to acknowledge the contribution of our employees to a successful first year in business. It is in line with one of our core values which is to develop through strong teamwork.

"IDB's Business Excellence Division worked with us on-site to identify and put in place improvements that have helped us to keep pace with market trends and to stay ahead of our competitors. TOC techniques are helping achieve our objective to be the preferred choice in terms of quality, design and service.”

More than 30 companies were briefed about business improvement techniques by Bryan Logan, University of Ulster Management Institute; Mike Dinham, Goldratt Institute, which developed TOC techniques; Damien Gallagher of Seagate Technology in Londonderry, another company which has implemented TOC; and Mr Lowden. (MB)