Leadership Archives - Page 29 of 34

Rising to the Challenge

Posted on April 2, 2019 | by root

Full Suite of Business Turnaround Services and “One Dollar License” to Lean Literacy in Canada

Since 2010, TheTableau.com has been an international business management company specializing in business turnarounds, supply chain management, and lean solutions. Just months ago, TheTableau’s CEO and acclaimed business innovator, Irene Jeremic, was recognised in CEO Monthly’s Leadership Excellence Programme for exemplary work ethos and professional achievements. We endeavoured to find out more about the firm’s revolutionary lean and safety resource management and implementation system, Lean Paradigm™ and its parallel pro-bono work on One Dollar License for its Aurum brand

By all considerations, Irene Jeremic has a honed talent for realising business excellence quickly. Building on her makeover work at Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc. – where she was nicknamed a “Stork Craft Icon” and named the company’s honouree – Jeremic now serves TheTableau to aid North American organizations to pass the point of stagnation, reenergize their business, or simply grow faster. With the hard and steady work over the past decade, TheTableau has earned an enviable reputation in the business consulting sector.

Yet, throughout it all, Jeremic maintains that her teams remained at the heart of TheTableau’s success, regardless of whether the engagements served the government, for-profit, not-forprofit sectors, or were purely pro-bono initiatives.

With the company’s brand Aurum, TheTableau is now launching a pro bono initiative, “One Dollar License,” to make the proven lean and safety training software available to youth and working Canadians from manufacturing, engineering, distribution, mining, supply chain, aerospace, agriculture, healthcare, trades, and office administration sectors, under the Lean Literacy initiative proposed to the government of Canada.

“Our youth and working professionals had no opportunity to learn about lean and safety in a formal educational setting, as such training did not exist in Canada. In 2018, Aurum lean and safety training was recommended to the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) in British Columbia, as the only solution of a kind in the region.”

With TheTableau’s Aurum, Canadian students and workers had an opportunity to get an exposure to the one-stop-shop lean and safety training, under effective cloud-based system.
“TheTableau is sponsoring the Lean Literacy initiative to offer this Aurum lean and safety training to students and working Canadians, at a symbolic $1 cost per capita.”

TheTableau also developed Lean Paradigm™, the first Lean and Safety Resource Management and Implementation System in Canada, that has been introduced at the Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering in Tokyo in January 2019. The system stemmed from decades of Jeremic’s hands-on experience with building high-performance organizations and working to improve their shop floor and office efficiency with lean concepts, agile framework, and rapid application development (RAD) methodologies.

Company: The Tableau Inc. CEO: Irene Jeremic Brands: TheTableau, Aurum Pro-Bono Program: One Dollar License to Lean and Safety Training, Aurum Brand Community Initiative: Lean Literacy Day in Canada and U.S.

Trademarked Product: Lean Paradigm™ , Lean and Safety Resource Management and Implementation System (LSRMIS), TheTableau Brand.

Website: http://thetableau.com

Contact: [email protected]

Samuel Knight CEO joins fellow business owners to tackle poverty in the region

Posted on March 19, 2019 | by root

On the 21st of March, Steve Rawlingson, CEO of Newcastle-based, Samuel Knight International will be sleeping overnight at St James Park for the annual CEO Sleepout. The initiative will see several such events take place across the country to raise funds and awareness for homelessness in the UK. To date, the charity has raised over a staggering £2 million, with £110,000 raised for the Newcastle sleepout in 2018 alone.

Commenting on the upcoming event, Steve Rawlingson said:

“I’m ecstatic to be taking part in the CEO sleepout this year. Newcastle isn’t just my home, it’s the place where I’ve been able to set up and successfully grow my business, so to be able to give back to those in the community really means a lot to me. It is close to both my heart and our business values to help those around us and support the wellbeing and health of our people. Companies in this region do a fantastic job in creating prosperity and job opportunities, but it is important to look further than growing headcount and also focus on supporting those in less fortunate positions. By taking part in this event I hope to help raise the much needed funds to assist those in need across the region, and I’m even giving away a signed Newcastle FC football to one lucky person donating through my Just Giving page.”

NEW MD FOR CPMG ARCHITECTS TO FOCUS ON EXPORTING MORE DESIGN

Posted on March 11, 2019 | by root

LONDON-BASED CPMG Architects has announced the appointment of Richard Flisher as the firm’s new managing director.

Richard has more than 30 years’ experience as a chartered architect and is responsible for delivering the UK’s first Carbon Negative, PassivHaus certified office building located in Leicester, a 15,000m2 corporate office in the City of London and the recently completed headquarters for British Sugar in Peterborough.

He will continue to act as an architect on key projects, as well leading on CPMG’s long-term growth strategy, ensuring the business continues to meet and exceed its targets.

He said: “CPMG is a great place to work; I’ve been with the business for more than 20 years during which time I have had the opportunity to be involved in some iconic projects across the UK, in Central Europe and in Abu Dhabi, China and Bangladesh, in addition to launching an office in London.

“We continue to secure more work in the capital and expand our portfolio further in the education, residential, commercial and advanced manufacturing sectors and I’m confident that our planned growth in London will give us opportunities to deliver more projects abroad.

“Design is an international language and is a fantastic export opportunity for the UK. We’ve already had some success in the international marketplace and I will be using my existing connections to identify new growth opportunities abroad.”

CPMG has designed several high-profile developments across the UK and especially in London, including HMS Belfast Visitor Centre, John Pye & Sons Luxury Assets showroom on Old Bond Street, the Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks HQ in Greenwich and schools in Beckenham, Wimbledon and Ilford.

“I’m looking forward to working with my fellow board members and our talented team of architects, technologists and interior designers to continually deliver outstanding designs to all clients,” he added.

Richard will head up the 50-strong team of professionals based in London and Nottingham.

His new position also sees changes to the roles and responsibilities of some directors with Nick Gregory heading up business development and Chris White continuing to lead on expanding the London office.

Find out more about CPMG Architects at www.cpmg-architects.com or join the conversation at @cpmgArchitects

Richard Flisher

Ensuring You Hire the Right Team when You Don’t Understand the Technology

Posted on February 21, 2019 | by root

Martyn Hurricks – Director and Cofounder of Talent Locker explores the importance of hiring the right team in markets you are not experienced in.

Introduction

The technology choices we make as businesses can have a huge influence on our capabilities as a business. We need to ensure that we pick the right technology, partner with the right people and put the systems in place to allow us and our employees to do our best work.

If you’re a manager or c-level exec and you don’t understand technology (or even an element of technology) what do you do when it comes to making significant choices about the team that looks after it for you? What do you do when this happens? How do you ensure you pick the right person to lead your team, or even the right partners to trust with such crucial decisions?

Start with The ‘Known Knowns’

At this point, it is important that you take a little time to outline what you have and what you need in the simplest way possible. The kind of questions you want to ask yourself are:

– What technology/solution do you have in place?

– Who is responsible for this technology?

– Why do you need somebody new now?

– Have any technology decisions been made?

– What will change as a result of those decisions?

– Why do you need somebody new now?

The key things to understand at this point is what you currently have in place – the people, the processes and the technology – and how these need to be improved or changed. This will provide you with the information you need about who your team are and what you require from them.

A common move is to attempt to remove a high cost (but also a highly expert) contract with a partner/supplier. The intention is that the expertise will be brought in-house and they will start supporting significant parts of their system themselves, improving productivity and reducing costs at the same time. Whilst this can lead to increased in-house expertise and direct access to a specialist, it can be a difficult process to manage.

The reason these partnerships come at a cost is because these companies add a lot of value to your business. Whilst arguably the very best partners may be able to help you gain a full understanding of who you need to require and take you to the next step, they may also be wary as they will see that they are effectively being replaced by your new hire. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start out by asking them for advice though, provided you have a good relationship with them.

Building Your Team

Once you have established your current position and what you need, you’ll quickly identify the gaps in your team and that’ll help you establish who you need. Whilst this will present you with the basic requirement, you may need to call on some support to sharpen this up and ensure that you are attracting the right candidates. The best places to start when outlining your requirement are a) the IT leadership in your organization and b) the team leader of the team with the gap.

If neither of these are in place, then those leadership or managerial positions are going to be the first that need to be filled to kickstart your process of change. The new hires should be seen as the lead dominos who will ultimately help define your systems and processes and have a huge role to play in whether or not your projects are a success.

At this point you can then call on a specialist recruitment company to find your lead domino who is going to make everything else possible. If you need someone for a CRM project, call on a CRM recruiter etc; your focus needs to be on finding someone with the technical capacity to help and advise you rather than a generalist agency.

Once you have them working with you, ensure that they are aware that you are looking for team leaders and work with them on the technology side of things. They are going to be able to highlight skills, qualifications and experiences that will make a candidate more or less likely to be capable of the work needed to complete your project. This will allow you to focus on the character, problem solving and leadership skills of the candidates they put forward. It’s a great way to collaborate on such an important decision that will shape how your business works over the coming years.

Getting the Right Person – 1st Time

The lead domino is so important in these projects, that it is crucial that you get this right and highly preferable that it is first time, with no costly mistakes. Your time and attention need to be focused on the leadership skills and character of your leaders, so that you can ensure that you have the right cultural fit for someone who is going to become a vital part of your team.

It is important that you do not underestimate the requirement as part of a cost-cutting exercise or missed key skills off the job description. So, work with a reputable partner who you can trust to get this right. This partner may be a trusted connection, a technology provider or a recruitment company with the technical expertise to help you get that 1st hire right, the first time around.

It really can be as simple as taking stock of what you know, using trusted partners to help you with the unknown aspects of your needs and then putting this combined knowledge to use to ensure you hire a team leader. This team leader can then take the responsibility for sitting within your team and identifying the future needs in line with the strategy of your company.

Oneserve appoints Alistair Hayter as its new Chief Technology Officer

Posted on February 20, 2019 | by root

Exeter based field service management software specialist, Oneserve, is delighted to welcome Alistair Hayter as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) supporting its ambitious plans for the future.

Alistair brings with him a wealth of experience spanning more than twenty years in senior technology and product delivery roles in the education, healthcare and finance sectors. His knowledge and experience of the architecture and technology behind the development for SaaS solutions will complement Oneserve’s ongoing technology development.

Alistair, a specialist in solution design, team development and strategic alignment, boasts an impressive CV having held a variety of senior industry positions including Head of Engineering for Equiniti Data, Technical Director for Lovell Sports LTD, CTO for Imagine Education LTD and Senior Product Manager for VitalPac

Chris Proctor, CEO at Oneserve said: “This is a key appointment and we are really excited to have Alistair join the team at Oneserve. Our business has grown dramatically over the last few years and Alistair’s skills and expertise will drive forward our exciting development plans for the future.

“Alistair has extensive industry experience which will only serve to enhance our business offering. We are delighted he has chosen to bring this knowledge to Oneserve at a crucial time in our growth and we look forward to product innovations and new launches ahead,” concluded Proctor

“I am really excited about working with Oneserve at such a dynamic time,” said Hayter. “The industry and the general business climate is going through some unprecedented changes and I am excited to rise to the challenge with the Oneserve team.

“I am proud to be part of a forward thinking and innovative organisation that works so closely with its partners to deliver robust solutions while enhancing customer experience. Oneserve has an exceptional team of people coupled with market leading technology; core values which align with my own thinking and interests.”

For further information on Oneserve visit www.oneserve.co.uk

The Changing Face of Business:

Posted on February 8, 2019 | by root

Chris Parnham, Managing Director at Absolute Corporate Events

The discussion of alienated and apathetic young people has continually fuelled the debate on the relationship between said young people and the business landscape around them. To some, young people are seen to be highly motivated and driven individuals, grateful to have begun escaping their looming student debt with a long overdue steady income. On the other side of the ‘coin’, there are those who brand young people as lazy, drifters and entitled – who lack the drive to get to where they want to be. Somewhat ironically, it is those businesses with a negative outlook of young people that struggle to both appeal to a younger audience and, actually retain said employees once they’ve walked through the door.

With a great depth of world-renowned universities, the UK is undeniably a haven for employers’ seeking the most highly-skilled and economically active young people. Naturally, this should lend to employers’ an unbelievable opportunity to ‘cherry pick‘ those individuals most suited to their company culture and future job requirements; from a diverse and well sourced labour pool. In other words, the UK market is primed for businesses recruiting skilled graduates. Therefore, the issue is not the relationship between young people and the business world around them; rather the relationship businesses have with the young people within.

Since acquiring Absolute Corporate Events (ACE) in 2013, I have made it my mission to develop a business strategy based upon people, rather than just numbers. In the knowledge that numbers will always follow the right people. Hence, ACE is now home to some of the UK’s leading event industry professionals and the business has since experienced growth of 400% in the past five years.

Below, I note three vital themes to consider when questioning the relationship your business has with its staff, particularly in helping to recruit and ultimately retain young people while ensuring they actively want to take their career further with your business.

Trust your Investment

Trust is not something to be taken likely, by any means. If you aren’t comfortable trusting your new hire to perform to the standards set by your business, why did you hire them in the first place? Naturally, there is a certain level of training that will be required before a graduate can be client facing or attending new business pitches; whatever it may be within your sector. However, it is absolutely integral they are given opportunities to both prove themselves and have some legitimate responsibility in their working day. Without, they’ll begin to feel undervalued. And once they feel undervalued, the prospect of working somewhere else is more appealing, but not only this, it is also feasible. Too often we see businesses becoming complacent of their workforce – and in turn, this results in businesses being ‘lazy, drifters and entitled’. If you don’t take your staff for granted, they’re not so likely to take their job for granted; as we so often hear about across the media.

Offer Career Progression

As fun as it may be, young people aren’t taking on anywhere upward of £35,000 debt just to be part of a stigma and have a three-plus year party. In fact, for the most part, they are highly ambitious and charismatic people searching for the opportunity to take them to the next level.

Creating a culture of training and opportunity has, in my experience, encouraged our young hires to not only stay within the industry, but to stay at ACE. Young people are not ignorant to the fact that they need training. That university certainly develops social skills and perhaps even public speaking, but the academic subject matter learnt is rarely applicable to the demands of their ‘adult job’.

Therefore, having a clearly defined and invigorated training and promotion scheme can be a valuable asset to employers of young people. Exercise training to develop your staff, offer promotions to incentivise this training and sustain the access to further promotions as a form of intrinsic motivation. Promotions don’t have to be based on an increased salary either, far too often this is seen as the only means of keeping young people. The reality however is that businesses must sell their employees a lifestyle and not just a salary.

Growing responsibilities and job title changes are a highly effective way of rewarding your staff. Not only this, it serves as a valuable indication to clients that you a) trust your staff, b) reward your staff and c) want to keep your staff. The confidence shown by the employee is a useful tool in encouraging your clients to reciprocate said confidence.

Reward and recognition is another often be valued more highly than a promotion or advancement; as carefully positioned meaningful rewards show your staff that you truly care about them and their contribution. This in turn will encourage them to care about your business.

Be Transparent

It is worth taking note, that when businesses make assumptions of what’s appealing to graduates, they make a fool of both themselves and their potential hires. Brightly coloured walls, ping-pong tables and sleeping pods are not always effective forms of enticement… for the ‘top’ employees at least. And by top, I mean those who have come to get the most out of themselves by getting the most out of their work.

By all means, encourage flexible working locations and a glass of fizz with an early finish on a Friday – but being kept as informed as more senior co-workers is a far greater attraction to the most employable young people. It reaffirms the business’ commitment to their employee and emphasises the culture of trust and career progression, as the key themes in the previous sections.

Moreover, actively seeking the council of new hires when making informed decisions is an easy win-win for employers. Incorporate and empower your team – at no extra cost. Not only this, you have no obligation to act upon the recruit’s council, it simply creates a positive perception of the business and encourages growth and career development.

CEO’s still risk being the weakest link as security measures struggle to keep pace with innovation,

Posted on February 1, 2019 | by root

New report sets out awareness of vulnerability as a major problem amongst senior executives

A new report from The Bunker, the UK’s most secure cloud, managed services and data centre provider, has highlighted that senior executives are still often the weakest link in the corporate cybersecurity chain and that cybercriminals target this vulnerability to commit serious data breaches.

According to the white paper, Are You the Weakest Link? How Senior Executives Can Avoid Breaking the Cybersecurity Chain, many senior executives ignore the threat from hackers and cybercriminals and often feel that security policies in their respective organisations do not apply to their unique position. However, in reality, their often privileged access to company information make their personal accounts extremely valuable to exploit and heightens the need for extra care. In addition to highlighting the common mistakes made by senior executives, the white paper lists the top security areas that should be prioritised to ensure cybersecurity resilience.

Phil Bindley, Managing Director, The Bunker said:

“In tackling and mitigating the security threat, a critical issue is a failure to securely back up email data. Many businesses assume that a cloud-hosted service, such as Office 365, comes with automatic back-up and security provisions. Unfortunately, it does not.

“Unless stated and agreed, vendors do not guarantee complete system security or data backup as standard, so organisations need to be careful and have a full understanding of the SLAs in place. We advise people to replace the word ‘cloud’ with ‘someone else’s computer’, to get a better perspective of the risks that need to be mitigated when deploying a cloud-based service”.

All employees -especially those at the top of the corporate ladder- need to realise that cybercriminals use social engineering, email phishing and malware to access personal accounts, and C-level staff especially need to avoid becoming the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain by adhering to regularly updated, company-wide security policies regarding data sharing and backup.

He continued: “Cloud offers a highly secure and cost-effective platform to defend against threats and malicious attacks. However, data stored in a public cloud typically resides outside the protection of an organisation’s internal systems and many vendors do not automatically back-up data or implement security and privacy controls as standard, making it a perfect entry-point for cybercriminals to exploit.

“Reviewing corporate policies, with a focus on people, premises, processes, systems and suppliers will provide valuable insights into which areas to improve, and by championing a ‘security first’ corporate culture, organisations and their senior executives will be well positioned to avoid the high financial costs, reputational damage and unexpected downtime that could result from a cyberattack or data breach,” he concluded.

To download a free copy of the white paper, please click here

Impellam elevates Simon Blockley to CEO of workforce solutions provider Guidant Global

Posted on January 31, 2019 | by root

Simon Blockley, Managing Director of European operations at Guidant Global, has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect in a strategic move by the brand’s parent company, Impellam Group, to drive future growth.

With over 20 years’ experience in resourcing and managed service recruitment, Blockley originally joined Guidant Group in 2014. He was promoted from Client Service Director to Managing Director in 2017 and following the launch of Guidant Global in October 2018 – when existing Impellam Group businesses, US-based Bartech and UK-headquartered Guidant Group, came together – he took on the position of Managing Director EMEA.

In his new role Blockley will lead the provision of recruitment services in over 80 countries, driving Guidant Global in its management of over 200,000 people deployed with more than 90 clients every year. Guidant Global champions a better, more forward-thinking way of working and has a core philosophy of shifting the focus to people – the vibrant force that drives thriving businesses and creates energy and opportunity.

Commenting on his appointment, Simon Blockley, Chief Executive Officer, at Guidant Global, said: “It is an honor to be offered the opportunity to take the helm of this eminent and exciting brand on a truly international scale. Along with my senior leadership team, I look forward to accelerating our progress in the global managed service market at this exciting time.”

Julia Robertson, Group CEO of Impellam Group, added: “This is a significant appointment for Guidant Global at a time when the company continues to make rapid progress in growing and transforming its portfolio across international markets. This year sees us well placed to cement Guidant Global’s position as the leader in workforce solutions, and I have no doubt that Simon’s knowledge, experience and passion will enable him to take the business to unprecedented heights.”

Simon Blockley

A Charity Championing the Management of Chronic Pain

Posted on January 17, 2019 | by root

Established over 30 years ago, Pain Association Scotland is a national charity dedicated to delivering self-management courses and monthly groups throughout Scotland, Northumbria and North Wales for those burdened with chronic pain. In October, Sonia Cottom, Director of Pain Association, was recognised in CEO Monthly’s Leadership Excellence programme for her dedication to the cause and company. We spoke to Sonia to find out more about the life-changing work that they do.

Good leaders are defined by their proactive approach to their work, and indomitable drive to succeed. The best leaders can adapt to overcome challenges, and seek new opportunities for growth, often in extremely competitive environments. These are the qualities that we expect from directors, CEOs and managers all over the world, but they seem to fall short in capturing the scope of Sonia’s responsibilities at Pain Association Scotland. As Director, she has helped to deliver services that have aided in the relief of chronic pain, a severely overlooked area of British Healthcare. As part of her work collaborating with NHS Boards and the Scottish Government, she has helped realign future strategies to help tackle the UK’s chronic pain problem. However, these significant achievements only serve to scratch the surface of Sonia’s work.

To start, Sonia offers a brief overview of her company and their work: “The Association provides self-management models of community-based training and education programmes for people burdened with chronic pain. The intensive courses are provided for both primary and secondary care referrals and the locally monthly groups are not only provided to help people maintain all the skills which they have learned over the courses, but people can also self-refer to the local group in order to access the all-important peer support network.”

As you might expect, patients are truly at the heart of the Association’s service model, as Sonia takes a moment to explain: “Patients are at the centre of everything that we do, and in order to ensure they are provided with the best opportunity in empowering them to be able to manage their chronic pain and they have access to the best treatment pathway, it is imperative they I use the knowledge, evidence and understanding gained to help influence and underpin on-going and future service delivery.”

“Over the years, this has included producing the Association’s first Journal of Chronic Pain and the importance of self-management, contributing evidence to the British Journal of Pain, and the International Journal of Applied Sciences, contributing to the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition – a national call to action in the House of Lords – and taking part in Scottish Government Parliamentary debates and call for evidence sessions.” It is clear that Sonia is fighting constantly to raise awareness across multiple avenues, realising that change needs to occur from the very top to make a difference.

Further, Sonia truly believes that chronic pain needs to be a national priority. It’s management, and potential treatment, have the capacity to affect other sectors on an immense scale. Indeed, as Sonia mentions, self-management leads to a 73% reduction in GP visits, and a 93% improvement in quality of life due to empowering patients to change the locus of control – in other words, the belief that they personally can make a difference to their chronic pain, without it taking control and defining their life. All of this leads to less stress on NHS resources, and, on a wider scope, an improved economy.

Of course, Sonia doesn’t work by herself, and her team provide essential support in securing the overall success of the Association. “They are absolutely key. We are a small team of five and each have different backgrounds and strengths. I will not say that managing their expectations is easy – we need to remain ahead of the game in the way we operate and quite often, when you satisfy your funders and implement the relevant changes, staff can often put up barriers until you highlight the potential benefits and help them realise that you, as a CEO, are on a journey too and potentially out of your comfort zone.”

In her closing comments, Sonia discusses the challenges that she has overcome on her journey to raise awareness of chronic pain as a priority in the UK: “As a charity we work collaboratively with the NHS Chronic Pain services throughout Scotland and we are often met with resistance around “evidence-based medicine”. Commissioning a Third Sector organisation to deliver a non-medical bio-psycho-social model with outcomes continues to be rather a new concept to the NHS, and we have had many obstacles to overcome along the way. The NHS has a tendency to suffer from institutional hegemony, holding onto ideas – there is the common assumption that only medical models are good for patients and they fail to listen to evidence which proves otherwise, even when it is thrust in front of them. There is a battle for acceptance.”

Finally, when it comes to the future of Pain Association Scotland: “My vision is to increase the collaborative work with Healthcare Professionals where my focus will be to ensure that the Association continues to identify where we can provide added value to Health Boards, helping them achieve their chronic pain wait time initiatives as well as looking for opportunities for service improvement and delivery. Having a strategy is great, but the organisation needs to be open to change and be able to adapt and remain fluid. Ultimately, I want to lead the Association in implementing better patient pathways to ensure patients have better and easier access to self-management at a much earlier stage of their journey.”

Company Details

Contact: Sonia Cottam

Company: Pain Association Scotland

Address: Suite D, Moncrieffe Business Centre, Friarton Road, Perth, PH2 8DG, United Kingdom

Website: www.painassociation.com

Telephone: 0800 783 6059

Bristol Business Coach to Present at Ashton Gate

Posted on January 16, 2019 | by root

FREE SEMINAR AT ASHTON GATE TO HELP BUSINESS OWNERS BUILD PROFIT IN 2019

Gary Keating of ActionCOACH Bristol is hosting a power-packed free business growth seminar at Ashton Gate Stadium on 31st January. For the first time in over 2 years, Gary will be presenting the 6 steps to gaining massive results in your business.

Gary will share his knowledge of how business owners can deal with challenges and grow their profits. Many business owners find themselves trapped in a cycle of working IN their business rather than ON it and this seminar will demonstrate how important it is to set time aside to educate yourself as a business owner. You will also learn how to turn your marketing into an investment rather than an expense and how to manage your employee relationships,

Gary explains ” Building a business is hard, everyone needs guidance. I understand how to build the quality of life you envisaged when you started your business in the first place. It is possible to build a business that runs efficiently without you needing to be there the whole time – my wish is to create business abundance in Bristol through business re-education”

For more details and to get your free tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/6-simple-steps-for-business-growth-tickets-54542894265?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Development of the ‘Long-Range Summon’ Automatic Remote Retrieval (Long-Range Calling) System

Posted on January 10, 2019 | by root

Clarion Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Atsushi Kawabata, called ‘Clarion’ below) has developed the ‘Long-Range Summon’ automatic remote retrieval system for automobiles, which combines unique external recognition technology, connected technology, position information control technology spun off from the development of navigation systems, and HMI with high usability along with integrated vehicle control technology from Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. (President & CEO: Brice Koch, called ‘Hitachi Automotive Systems’ below) which controls actuators for steering and brakes etc.

The ‘Long-Range Summon’ system that Clarion has developed realises long-range automatic remote retrieval of vehicles. The main technologies that comprise the new system are ‘sensor fusion technology’ and ‘integrated technology’ that combines connected technology and position information control technology.

Sensor fusion technology: Strengthens the sensor functions in the low-speed automotive driving technology achieved in the unique ‘Park by Memory’*1
automotive parking system.
▪Integrated technology that combines connected technology and position information control technology： Integrates TCU*2 and Smart Access*3 servers
comprising ‘connected technology’ and ‘position information control technology’ from navigation systems.

The flow for automatic remote retrieval is as follows.
(1*) When the vehicle is being parked, the peripheral environment, route, and external information within the lot is recorded up to when the vehicle is parked.
(2*) To retrieve the vehicle, when the driver presses the button on the smartphone to call the vehicle, automatic retrieval starts based on the smartphone’s position information and the recorded information about the vehicle.
(3*) The drivable area is specified based on sensor fusion technology, and the vehicle is automatically driven within the parking lot to the position where the user is waiting.

If there are obstacles in the driving route, the sensor fusion technology is used to avoid them. Initially the servers will only comprise authentication and retrieval request notification functions, but it is possible to add management functions like functions that monitor other vehicles and vehicle operating functions.

The envisaged usage situation is large-scale overseas parking lots, for example. Users can use their smartphones to automatically call their vehicles to their positions based on the parking environment recorded when the vehicle was being parked. Entering vehicles in overt locations such as entrances of buildings is effective in terms of preventing crime. Furthermore, this system provides a pleasant environment for drivers to avoid getting cold and getting wet, when there are low temperatures outside or storms, etc.

Up until now, in terms of automatic parking systems, Clarion and Hitachi Automotive Systems have developed a remote parking system in which users use smartphones alongside vehicles to park them automatically, and the Park by Memory system that records and reproduces the peripheral environments and routes for parking spaces, such as residential spaces, to automatically park vehicles. This time, Clarion has developed intermediate- and long-range automatic retrieval technology based on the preceding automatic parking technology. In the future as well, Clarion will work to further improve this technology for practical application.

Nick Harris is the Founder and MD of VClean Life

Posted on January 8, 2019 | by root

Nick Harris is the Founder and MD of VClean Life

Nick is on a mission to clean up the ‘dirty’ dry-cleaning sector. He has a passion for delivering great service, value for money and incredibly high standards without jeopardising the environment.

The entrepreneur recently launched the VDrop, a ‘drop-and-go’ style vending machine for dry cleaning, alongside his 100% eco-friendly cleaning facility. Users simply drop off their ‘dirties’ at VDrop machines, located around the capital, at tube stations and office buildings, and collect them 24 hours later, at the cost of just £3 per garment.

With more than 25 years of experience in the clothing industry, Nick set up his own business in 2001, as a visiting tailoring service, which rapidly developed to encompass corporate uniform provision, and then the collection, dry clean and delivery of those uniforms.

From this, he witnessed first-hand the damage done to garments and the environment by traditional solvents used in dry cleaning. This is what spurred him on to search for an eco-friendly responsible way to clean clothes.

Having spent many months considering different options, it became clear to Nick and his team that wet cleaning was the only way to go, and whilst it cost a very considerable amount of money to dispose of his entire dry cleaning set up and start from scratch with the wet cleaning technology, he risked it all and did just that. In 2014, having put everything on the line, his first little wet cleaning unit opened in East London, and the business evolved to become VClean Life in June 2017.

By August 2018, and with the launch of the first VDrops, the company’s “little” unit quickly became too small, and so to service the new state-of-the-art machines, Nick opened the UK’s largest (and only) multi-million pound 11,500 square foot eco-friendly cleaning facility in Watford.

What is the main aim of VClean Life?

We want to clean up the ‘dirty’ dry cleaning sector that has been stagnant for 60 years by providing an eco-friendly and responsible cleaning service that is still extremely good value for money, and ultra-convenient to use.

How does VClean Life differ from the traditional dry cleaning industry?

The dry cleaning industry has seen very little innovation for the past 60 years. 85% of dry-cleaners around the world use a chemical called Perchloroethylene – aka ‘PERC’ – to clean clothes. ‘PERC’, which is classified as a toxin by health organisations, including the Environment Protection Agency and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is known to cause cancer, neurological disorder, kidney and liver damage.

We have opened the first major facility in the UK to clean clothes exclusively using state-of-the-art green cleaning technology that uses mild, biodegradable soaps and conditioners that keep fabrics bright and undamaged, whilst saving the environment from the dreaded solvent. The only waste produced by our cleaning method is water, and our waste is nearly pure enough to drink!

How is VClean Life innovating with new technology?

There is nothing else like this on the market in the UK, or globally! Our technology has been developed over four years – it combines not just the intelligent cleaning tech, but also an advanced logistics function, intelligent VDrop communication and advanced garment tracking system, as well as a full customer user interface through the website. The VICE system – our own software that controls all aspects of the process – represents the pinnacle of technological development and is set to bring the revolution the industry needs. ‘Always on’ intelligent VDrop machines speak to the factory through the VICE software, whilst the factory uses very advanced tech to track the items, sort the orders, pack them and prepare them for delivery back to the VDrops. It’s as high tech as it gets, and with a bonus of reducing the chance of human error, it not only makes the service efficient, but incredibly reliable.

How do the VDrop machines work?

Once you have created an account and been given a unique QR code getting your garments dry-cleaned is really easy and quick. All you have to do is head to your nearest VDrop vending machine, pop your items in the VDrop-provided biodegradable bag, attach the ticket you are given and drop it down the chute. The clothes are then taken away to be cleaned by our garment-care experts. An email notification will be sent out within 24hours, when your clothes are back in the machine and ready to be collected.

What’s in store in the future of VClean Life?

We already have plans in motion to roll out nationally, and in early 2019 we’ll provide even more VDrop machines across Transport for London, Thameslink, South Eastern Trains and major corporate buildings for office workers. Our goal is to make this service as accessible as possible, to decrease the damage other dry-cleaning services output to the environment and to their workers, and to do it at such a low price that it simply offers the very best in value for money.