Employees at a local passenger train company have helped it become the first in the UK to be awarded a five star seal of approval by the British Quality Foundation. Independent assessors visited First TransPennine Express (FTPE) to interview employees at all levels to find out how they feel about working for the company, the organisation's plans for success and its commitment to customer service.

The team was impressed with FTPE's innovation, its internal culture and its leadership, which has created a high performance organisation where pride and passion from staff were noted as key elements. The company's commitment to its people was highlighted as a real strength and key contributor to its success.

Vernon Barker, Managing Director for FTPE said; "This is a fantastic award and acknowledgement of the success that we have achieved. Everyone in the business has worked extremely hard to provide an excellent service to customers. We carry more people than ever, on time, in a fleet of modern trains, through clean, refurbished stations. To achieve, five stars, the best possible result and to be the first in our industry to do so is something to be very proud of and we will continue to strive for further excellence for our customers."

FTPE is one of only 16 other companies in the U.K. to achieve the British Quality Foundation's five star accreditation, which lasts for two years.

The independent, not-for-profit organisation helps companies improve performance, learn from best practice and achieve sustainable excellence.

David Teale, Chief Executive Officer for North of England Excellence (NoEE), who conducted the assessment on behalf of the British Quality Foundation, said; "Five star accreditation is awarded only to companies able to demonstrate that they have achieved the very highest levels of performance and are committed to continuous improvement. FTPE should be very proud of becoming just the 16th UK business to achieve this standard, so soon after their success in the North of England Excellence Awards"

FTPE is committed to delivering great service every day and since its franchise began in 2004, it has almost doubled passenger numbers to 23million per year, transformed train service punctuality, with 92 per cent of services running on time and invested nearly £300million in a new fleet of trains and refurbishment of its 30 managed stations. Passenger satisfaction has risen to an industry leading 89 per cent (National Passenger Survey Autumn 2009).

FTPE, has recently won a number of high profile awards including the Passenger Operator of the Year at the National Rail Awards, the North of England Excellence Business Excellence Award, International Station of the Year (Middlesbrough) and a Sustainability Award for its commitment to the environment and the local community.

Recognised for Excellence accreditation uses the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model to assess organisations.

Back to the top >

At 2010's North of England Excellence Awards Siemens Transmission and Distribution won the North of England Business of the Year Award. Excellence awards went to Transpennine Express, Manchester Airport, Siemens Energy, Wincanton, and Westfield Health. Best Practice awards were won by Transpennine Express (Innovation, Sustainabilty, and Customers), South Liverpool Housing (Housing) and Siemens Energy (Leadership).

Nationally, there was more success for North of England Excellence members with Wakefield and District Housing winning a UK Excellence Award and Westfield Health an Achievement Award for Customers. Liverpool John Moore's University and Siemens Standard Drives were both finalists in the EFQM European Excellence Awards.

Applications are sought for 2011's North of England Excellence Awards. These Awards are different. Robust assessment ensures winners represent best practice; all applicants benefit from 30 days feedback from assessor teams; it gives Regional recognition with opportunities for promotion and PR; differentiates businesses; motivates staff; and creates networking opportunities with an awards ceremony attended by 400 business leaders.

There are awards for the public, private, voluntary, and education sectors and special awards for

Leadership
Learning and Development
Customer Service Excellence
Innovation
Lean
Sustainability

The awards represent great personal development for assessors. They see best practice in other organisations, learn about business excellence and improvement, and work in multi disciplinary teams giving feedback to help businesses improve. Lots of individuals and organisations have benefited - contact us now to learn more.

Back to the top >

On 25th November, at the North of England Excellence Award Winners Conference, First TransPennine Express (FTPE) were awarded the EFQM Recognised for Excellence certification.

The photograph shows David Teale, CEO of NoEE, presenting the certificate to Louise Ebbs, FTPE Strategy Planning Manager. FTPE were accredited to R4E 5 stars (the highest level) and became the first train operator in the UK to do so.

North of England Excellence, in partnership with the British Quality Foundation, are now able to offer EFQM Levels of Excellence, both Committed to Excellence and Recognised for Excellence. For more information about these prestigious forms of accreditation, which are recognised throughout Europe, please contact Dave Rusk at the NoEE office or ring him on 07710 238257.

Back to the top >

The photograph shows Phil Edgington, C-i-C’s Chief Executive receiving the framed certificate from Dave Rusk of North of England Excellence.

C-i-C have conducted two robust self assessments using the beta plus method and then the new, updated version, the Excellence Toolkit, and have been successful in translating these findings into improvement action, closely monitored by the management team who show a strong commitment to continual improvement. C-i-C intend to enter the North of England Excellence Awards in 2011.

C-i-C is a national, not-for-profit social and health care provider and a registered charity and was founded in 1988. C-i-C delivers services in over 300 sites within 43 local authority areas and employs over 4000 staff. Their organisational model is built around four service delivery directorates; Independent Living, Senior Care, Addictions Services and Homelessness Services.

Back to the top >

There was more success for Northern businesses and North of England excellence members at the UK excellence Awards on 21 October.

Wakefield and District Housing, winners of the North of England Business of the Year Award in 2008 won the prestigious UK Excellence Award. This is presented to organisations that reach the very highest standards with only 45 such awards having been presented since the UK Excellence awards started in 1994.

Westfield Health, based in Sheffield, added to their success as winners of the 2010 North of England Excellence Award by taking the Achievement Award for Customer Satisfaction. Congratulations also go to GSK regional service of Barnard Castle for their success in winning the Achievement Award for Partnership.

David Teale Chief Executive of North of England Excellence said “Yet again Northern businesses that put excellence at the heart of all they do have demonstrated that they are the top performing companies not just in the North but in the whole of the UK. Excellence is undoubtedly good for business.”

Back to the top >

An engineering business has been named as the overall winner at the North of England Business Excellence Awards 2010. Siemens Transmission & Distribution Ltd (STDL) was one of 11 organisations, which were honoured at the awards ceremony at the Royal Armouries in Leeds last night.

In addition to winning an Excellence Award, STDL was named Business of the Year. STDL is the leading supplier of transmission and distribution systems to the UK’s electricity industry. The judges in particular praised the ‘inspirational leadership and passion’ of management and the way in which the organisation had successfully integrated the different cultures and working practices following the takeover of a major competitor, VA-Tech UK Ltd, four years ago.

Train operator TransPennine Express was also highly honoured, emerging with four awards in total. In addition to an Excellence Award, it also won the Special Award for Customer Results, the Urenco Award for Sustainability and, new this year, the Best Practice Award for Innovation. The judges said its inspirational leadership, its focus on quality of service, and robust process management had helped it achieve significant increases in services and passenger numbers.

Other Excellence Award winners were Manchester Airport, Westfield Health and logistics business Wincanton plc, which won two separate awards for the operations it runs in partnership with Heinz in Wigan and with Screwfix in Trentham, in addition to winning the Special Award for People & People Results.

The Special Award for Leadership went to another Siemens business, Siemens Energy Service Fossil. The Best Practice Award for Housing, another new award for this year, went to South Liverpool Housing Group. Hansen Glass Processing, Stagecoach Supertram of Sheffield, and Bolton Council’s information service Access Bolton all received commendations.

The awards, organised by North of England Excellence, judge organisations against the Business Excellence Model, an international management tool for assessing business performance. Entrants have their operations scrutinised by teams of specially trained independent assessors. The awards were presented by the guest speaker Ken McMeikan, CEO of Greggs.

David Teale, chief executive of North of England Excellence, said: “Awards are only given to those who reach the highest standards. Our winners have demonstrated that they are amongst the UK’s most outstanding businesses. Even more importantly, their experience shows that investing in excellence improves business performance. Quite simply, excellence is good for business."

Back to the top >

Friday 17th September 2010 saw David Teale, Dave Rusk and Pete Macartney brave a security alert at Manchester Airport to fly out to Abu Dhabi to run a series of training events for entrants in the 2010/2011 Abu Dhabi Awards for Excellence in Government Performance.

Over the course of three sessions – an Executive Leadership Workshop on Sunday 19th September, an Induction and Awareness Session on Monday 20th September for entities new to the Awards, and a three day session run Tuesday 21st to Thursday 23rd September for Champions of Excellence in both 'old' and 'new' entities (see photo) – North of England Excellence, working in partnership with Professor Mohamed Zairi's European Centre for Best Practice Management, delivered over 1000 days of EFQM Excellence Model related training to a total of around 500 delegates from some 44 governmental organisations and agencies.
The Sunday session was opened by, and held in the presence, of His Excellency Mohammed al Bowari, Secretary General of the Executive Council.

The Office of the Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence in Government Performance acts on behalf of the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in support of its Vision to be regarded as one of the best five governments in the world.

Back to the top >

Twelve high-achieving businesses have been selected as finalists in the North of England Business Excellence Awards 2010.

The organisations, which are drawn from the public, private and not for profit sectors, have made it onto the shortlist following a rigorous assessment process in which their operations were scrutinised by teams of specially trained independent assessors. They are:

The winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony at the Royal Armouries, Leeds on Thursday 14 October, where the guest speaker will be Ken McMeikan, CEO of Greggs.

The awards, organised by North of England Excellence, judge organisations against the Business Excellence Model, an international management tool for assessing business performance.

David Teale, chief executive of North of England Excellence, said: “We would like to congratulate the finalists. All of the organisations taking part are engaged in ongoing improvement programmes to hone up their performance and all have undergone a rigorous assessment procedure. Only those which have reached the highest standards are allowed through to the finals.

“Business improvement is more important than ever in these challenging times. The downturn has put many businesses under the spotlight. Those which continually assess their operation and fine-tune their performance will be best equipped to survive and gain competitive advantage in the longer term. ”

For tickets to the awards ceremony or for further information contact Suzanne House on 01925 715242 or email suzanne@northofenglandexcellence.co.uk

Back to the top >

Plus Dane Group has retained its place among the elite of British companies.

The housing association has been reaccredited with the Investors in Excellence Award, an achievement which puts them in the same league as global brands like Siemens and British Aerospace.

To earn the award, Plus Dane had to prove to judges they had exceeded performance targets, improved customer satisfaction rates and further invested in the environment and the neighbourhoods they serve.

Plus Dane’s managing director for Cheshire and Staffordshire, Mike Doran, said: “To achieve accreditation again is a tremendous achievement as this recognises that we are continuing to improve our services and invest positively in our tenants homes and neighbourhoods.

“This sort of recognition could not have been gained without the hard work of staff throughout the organisation who, as the judges recognised, go over and above the call of duty.”

David Teale, Chief Executive of North of England excellence add “The Investors in excellence awards is given only to companies that demonstrate that they consistently provide the very highest levels of excellence and quality. I am delighted that Plus Dane have again achieved this very high standard”

Back to the top >

Two members of North of England Excellence have reached the finals of Europe’s most prestigious award for business excellence.

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Siemens Standard Drives, based in Congleton, are amongst 13 finalists from the whole of Europe competing in the 2010 EFQM Excellence Awards.

The awards recognise Europe’s best performing companies with an indisputable track record of business progress and improving results. Application is a rigorous process involving a week-long independent assessment.

It is the second time both businesses have reached the European finals. Siemens Standard Drives, which produces drives and electronic control systems, was one of the winners in 2007. LJMU reached the finals last year, after winning the UK Excellence Award in 2008. This year’s finals will take place in Bilbao, Spain on 5 October.

North of England Excellence chief executive David Teale said: “I’m delighted that two members of North of England Excellence have been recognised as amongst the best performing organisations in Europe. In the current economic climate achieving excellence and business efficiency, delighting customers, and delivering ever improving results is more important than ever. I wish them both every success.”

Meanwhile Wakefield & District Housing and Siemens Industry Automation and Drive Technologies have been shortlisted as finalists in the UK Excellence awards to be presented in London on 21 October.

North of England Excellence are delighted to award a prize to the graduate at Liverpool John Moores University with the highest marks in the Master of Business Administration degree programme. The photograph, right, shows Dave Rusk, Education & Training Director, presenting this year's award to Kerri Traynor, the successful student. Kerri comes originally from Kent and intends to continue her studies at LJMU by pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration – no easy task as a mother of a two year old ! Kerri was thrilled to receive the prize and saw it as vindication of all the hard work she has put in on the course. North of England Excellence wishes her every success in the future.

For several years, North of England Excellence has awarded a prize to the graduate at the University of Central Lancashire's School of Leisure, Tourism and the Outdoors with the highest marks in the Managing Quality in Service Organisations module. The photograph, right, shows Dave Rusk, Education & Training Director, presenting this year's award to Emma Gough, the successful student. Emma comes from Yorkshire and is currently undecided on exactly how she wants to use her degree but would like her career to involve foreign travel. North of England Excellence wishes her every success in pursuing her chosen career.

North of England Excellence (NoEE) and the European Centre for Best Practice Management (ECBPM), headed by Professor Mohamed Zairi, have signed a formal partnership agreement to promote excellence and quality across the North of England and to work together on other world wide initiatives. Professor Zairi will continue to be a member of the NoEE Board and David Teale, Chief Executive of North of England Excellence, will join the ECBPM Advisory Board. Welcoming the new partnership David Teale said "Professor Zairi is one of the world's leading experts on using excellence and quality to delight customers and enhance business performance. We have already worked together on the Emirates Government Excellence Award and I know this is a partnership that will make a difference to business performance

Dave Rusk and Pete Macartney (Pictured) have recently returned from Dubai where they were asked to train 30 assessors for the Emirates Government Excellence Award. For several years, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have managed their own Excellence Awards programme based on the EFQM Model. However, in 2010 the UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa, requested the creation of an Excellence Award for the whole region (there are 7 Emirates in the UAE). Initially, entry is restricted to government departments. The course was a great success, as evidenced by the positive feedback from delegates.