AVK UK Conference 2022

Being the ‘best we can be’ for our customers 11-04-2022

Over 90 of AVK Group’s leaders, managers and influencers gathered at Saint George’s Park last week for a two-day conference. The conference, the first face-to-face opportunity for everyone to get together for two years, focused on ensuring the business was in the best possible shape to support customers and supply chain partners through the challenging times ahead.

Saint George’s Park, located near Burton-upon-Trent, is a centre of excellence for England’s 28 men’s and women’s football teams. ‘Being the best you can be for the customer’ was at the heart of the Conference agenda. Delegates interacted with presentations from colleagues on business-critical topics such as innovation, digitisation, sustainability, and personal development, in addition, delegates benefited hugely from a motivational keynote presentation on the human dimension of lean techniques by Birgitte Torben, the AVK Group’s lean specialist.

Shaping the future through Growth, Leadership and Lean

The highlight of the conference was a series of intense workshops on the AVK UK Group’s three strategic ‘pillars’: growth, leadership and lean. The delegates from AVK UK, Fusion Group, and Glenfield Invicta reflected on how they felt their respective businesses performed against these pillars currently, identified where they wanted to be over a three-year planning horizon and, most importantly, agreed the change priorities needed to achieve this.

By the end of the two-day Conference, a number of key development points had been identified. Delegates from the conference committed to taking on the challenge of addressing these points in the coming months.

Supporting our customers through challenging times

The Conference was opened by Paul Hubbard, AVK UK Group’s Chairman:

‘There was so much energy in the room over the two days. It was great to put the frustrations of the past two years behind us and focus on the future. The ideas flowed and the direct feedback from the delegates was ‘gold dust’ for the leadership team. 
Whilst AVK UK, Fusion and Glenfield Invicta are primarily UK manufacturers, we gain a significant competitive advantage from the supply chain resilience generated by being part of a global group. There is no doubt these are difficult times for all businesses. Energy and materials costs are rising; supply chains are under massive strain; the labour market is challenging. 
By ensuring we continuously strive to be the ‘best we can be’, both individually and collectively, we will be best placed to work alongside our customers to help them through this period of significant political and economic uncertainty.’