“TRUST Mills to do things differently!...” reports the MTD CNC website

Mills’ new Employee TRUST initiative will reward loyalty and incentivise staff – and help secure the long-term future of the company.

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, is a progressive company that has a reputation for challenging the conventional, raising the bar and doing things differently.

On the back of a highly-successful MACH show in April and major investments made to developing its campus facility in Leamington, and with 2014 half-year results expected to be the best in the company’s 42 year history, one might be forgiven for thinking that Mills, which has just successfully completed a management buy-out and the appointment of a new Operational Board of Directors, might take its foot off the pedal.

Not so.

Because, rather than rest on its laurels and potentially leave its continued growth and sustainability to chance, the company has recently implemented an innovative employee TRUST scheme designed to reward staff for their continued service...and in doing so help secure the long-term future of the company.

The Trust, created by the gift of a substantial share-holding by Nick Frampton and Andrew Jack means that Mills has the widest employee participation of any company in the UK machine tool sector.

Says Paul Hooper-Keeley:

'Independent research reveals that employee-owned companies consistently perform better and deliver improved customer service.

'Because, we are a privately-owned company with total autonomy and flexibility over the running of our business and, because we are dedicated to improving our performance and customer service by investing in our people, the creation of an employee TRUST was a natural and obvious choice.'

The TRUST gives all Mills employees a vested interest in the future growth and profitability of the company.

It helps address issues facing all UK manufacturing companies – namely attracting and retaining skilled and experienced staff, and will, according to Paul Hooper-Keeley, 'not only make existing staff feel even more valued and integral to the future growth and success of the company, but also attract new talent to Mills who are looking to join and contribute to one of the UK’s fastest-growing and most innovative machine tool companies.'

“Mills CNC has a new Managing Director reports machinery.co.uk

Mills CNC has announced that Paul Hooper-Keeley has taken over the management and running of the company.

Nick Frampton (previous managing director) and Andrew Jack (previous technical director) will both retain a shareholding in the company and remain as consultants to ensure continuity of service and support to customers and partners during the transition.

Nick Frampton explains the reason for the change: "With 2014 half-year sales turnover figures expected to exceed £ 35 million for the first time in the company's history (some 25% up on the same period last year), and through a range of recent customer focused investments made over the last 12 months at our Campus facility in Leamington, Mills CNC, widely-recognised as one of the most progressive in the machine tool sector is in a strong position, primed and ready for the next phase in its illustrious 42-year history."

Mills CNC will also now have an operational board of directors comprising existing directors and senior managers already at the firm.

The new managing director, Paul Hooper-Keeley (previously finance director), is joined by senior managers Nick White, Kevin Gilbert and Tony Dale, who have been appointed sales director, operations director and technical director, respectively.

Adam Attwood will continue as chairman and non-executive director, a role he has occupied at Mills for the last six years.

Managing director, Paul Hooper-Keeley says: "These are exciting times for Mills' employees and our customers.

"The impressive growth we have experienced over recent years, and the ambitious plans we have for the future, have necessitated a strategic change in the way we organise ourselves and run the business.

"The composition of the new operational board of director does this, and more accurately reflects the importance and inter-relationship between machine tool sales, customer service and technical support.

"The key message to customers is that we at Mills are passionate about customer service and are dedicated to delivering first-class machine tools and manufacturing solutions, and providing world-class support.

"Our principles, values and business approach, based on integrity, respect and commitment to meeting and exceeding our customers' requirements, remain as strong in the new structure as they ever were in the past...and that's why I am confident about the future."

Vince Cable visits the Mills CNC stand at the MACH Show which ran from 7-11 April 2014

Mills CNC Directors Paul Hooper-Keeley, Nick Frampton & Adam Attwood with Vince Cable at the MACH Show 2014

BREAKING NEWS: A drinks & networking session added to the CIMA & CIPD ‘Effective Networking’ workshop on 27th February

‘Effective networking: to develop your skills, enhance confidence and create wider business opportunities’ – Joint event with CIPD

Speaker: Sue Tonks

Date: Thursday 27th February

Venue: Wychwood Park Hotel, Weston, Cheshire CW2 5GP

Time: 6.30pm for 7.00pm.

Refreshments: Buffet served on arrival

The evening will conclude with a drinks and networking session – please do stay after the talk for this.

Free CIMA Event in Telford on 26th March – ‘How to improve your presentation skills and avoid death by PowerPoint’.

Time: 6.30pm

Venue: Whitehouse Hotel, Telford TF1 2NJ

Cost: No charge. Buffet served on arrival

Description

How many presentations have you attended which have been killed by the presenter and the use of presentation software?  Have you fallen into the trap of relying on the presentation software and not considered your style and the message you want to give?

This presentation will discuss if PowerPoint is always appropriate, if you, the presenter can affect the outcome, things to consider when planning your presentation and what to avoid.

Speaker

Philippa Watts MBA, FLPI, MCT has been delivering presentations and courses to audiences of all sizes from small groups of 4 to larger groups of over 200 for over 20 years and has a wealth of experience to share.  She started as a ski instructor and she transferred her fun but professional approach into IT and joined MCW Group (now part of Keycom plc) over 17 years ago as a Microsoft and Lotus application trainer. Over the past 17 years she has developed her skills which now include sharing her knowledge of presentations with delegates around the UK as well as delivering presentations on behalf of Keycom plc to prospective training clients.

Sue Tonks' FOC CIMA Networking Workshop - 27th February at Wychwood Park Hotel, Crewe

Effective networking: develop your skills, enhance confidence and create wider business opportunities – joint event with CIPD

Networking is a key link to enable joint action and collaboration with other businesses and professionals, as well as improving internal communication within your own organisation.  However, networking brings with it a host of fears and concerns and bad practice.

This workshop on networking is dynamic, funny and highly participative. It addresses some of the difficulties of networking, gives you skills to join groups and people with ease, develop effective small talk, ask the right business questions, escape from the rude or boring person, spot the opportunity and deal with it in the right way and finally follow up effectively and confidently.

Learn about the preparation and planning, how to answer the question ‘What do you do?’ and how to represent yourself and your organisation at any function, at anytime with anybody.

Networking for the minority is fun, for the rest of us it can be pretty daunting and scary. This talk will help you understand why and how you can use it to your advantage to develop your contacts.

Date:  27 February 2014

Time: 6.30pm for 7.00pm

Location:  DeVere Wychwood Park Hotel, Crewe CW2 5GP 

Price: No charge - Buffet served on arrival - all guests welcome

Booking details: email Julie.witts@cimaglobal.com to book your free place

Speaker Details

Sue Tonks is an international speaker and extremely experienced trainer with an unmistakable style.

She has had 20-years’ experience in leadership and management development with blue chip companies such as Compass Group, Adidas, Manchester United, Baker Tilly, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank and Co- Operative Pharmacy group.

Sue has run her own business leadership and management training company for ten years following her experience in many industry sectors such as logistics, travel and tourism, catering and facilities management, sales, HR and local government.

Her key note talks on business and networking bring realism, comedy and a practicality which will stay with you forever.

Testimonials: -

LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL MBA PROGRAMMES 2011

“Sue's session was wonderful, it has given me the confidence to appear at high level business events with confidence.”

H E BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME - PRAXIS - LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY 2011

“I need to get more from this woman! Amazing!”

“The session I was dreading the most, and the one I needed most. In the end, it was brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt loads!!”

“Sue is fantastic and it would have been good to have a longer session for her. Everyone struggles with networking.”

“Amazing – excellent tips/content. Fantastic speaker – so engaging and so helpful.”

DURHAM UNIVERSITY MBA BUSINESS SCHOOL 2010

“It's a fantastic workshop. I learned a lot about how to network effectively and confidently. When I next take this kind of event, I will deal with it easily and freely”

“Definitely recommend others, especially who are not from the UK.”

FORBES SOLICITORS

“An excellent training session, well delivered covering an interesting array of information with some great networking tips.”

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS: -

“This is just to say that Sue Tonks’ training event yesterday on networking was just brilliant. Full of practical advice on every bit of the networking process, as well as enormous fun!”

“I am no longer apprehensive about going into a room of people to network, and it’s entirely due to yesterday’s training. Elizabeth”

“I'm very grateful to Sue Tonks for sharing her vast experience on this subject. Before attending, I imagined it would be similar to the education slots at my local BNI, but this seminar was altogether far more detailed and more enjoyable than anything I'd encountered before. What really impressed me was how Sue able to deliver so much information with such incredible humour and professionalism - Peter Faulkner”

“What can I say? Yesterday was fabulous. I can honestly say that this was one of the most enjoyable training courses I have ever had the privilege to attend. Sue is an inspiration. Her delivery style is so entertaining whilst still being very informative. Our business is about building relationships, understanding people and encouraging people to know, like and trust us. Sue's workshop demonstrates all of these requirements in spades - Terri Cope”

“A pointless, predatory tax that will do nobody any good” says Merryn Somerset Webb of Money Week

What do you think the fifth most read piece on the personal finance part of the FT website is? The obvious answer is to think that it will relate to some kind of recent news – perhaps platform charging or how to protect your portfolio from tapering turmoil.

It isn’t. It is an article written by Lucy Warwick-Ching back in 2012 on the ten ways in which HMRC can tell if you are cheating on your taxes. And it isn’t just on the most-read list now, it’s been on the list since it was written.

What this tells me is that the people who read the FT think they pay too much tax, and that they are either trying to avoid or evade as much as they can, or they are wondering if they might give it a go. If I was in charge of the country, that in itself would be enough to make me think that I wouldn’t want to raise tax rates at all. Ever.

Better, I would think, to take in as much as I can at lower rates than battle rising evasion/avoidance at higher rates. But I’m not Ed Balls or Ed Miliband, and I am not engaged in an ideological battle against anyone I perceive as rich or over-aspirational.

The idea of returning the top rate to a level that even Labour called ‘temporary’ when it was first introduced smacks, as Lord Myners put it, of “predatory taxation”, and I can’t really see the point of that.

One important thing to note on this argument – and one that appears to be wilfully ignored by everyone – is that no one’s income is static. It might be that at any one moment only 1% of the population are earing £150,000 plus. But over a career, that number is much, much higher. I can’t find figures on this in the UK, but for a hint we can turn to the US.

Some 2% of people are earning $250,000 at any one time. But ten times that number – 20% – earn the equivalent of $250,000 at some point in their career. The point is that the 1% is not actually 1% at all. This kind of penalty affects a huge range of people at the top of their game and on the way to the top of their game.

And let’s not forget that direct tax rates in the UK are already pretty high. There is no such thing as a 45% marginal rate. Everyone pays another 2% in NI at that level, so the minimum you can call our top rate is 47%. You can then argue that employers, National Insurance (a cost which employees effectively end up paying by being forced to accept lower wages) is actually an income tax too. Look at it like that, and the top rate of tax is already far more than 50% already. Not too low, but too high.

It is also worth noting that back in 1979 the top 1% of income earners paid 13% of all our income tax – at a time when the top rate was 83%. Today the top 1% of income earners (not wealth holders but income earners – the difference is important) already pay not far off 30% of all UK income tax despite earning less than 14% of all income.

The arguments about whether higher taxes bring higher revenues will run and run, but my final statistic on this comes from the Sunday Times. In 2012-13, when the 50p rate was in place, HMRC raised £41.6bn from it. This year, with 45p as the top rate, it is to raise £49.3bn.

That should make those who support a rise wonder if demanding it is a good idea – one that will encourage wealth creation, innovation and entrepreneurial energy – or just a sure fire way of raising less tax revenue overall.

 

By Merryn Somerset Webb of Money Week