COVER STORY MARCH 2019
Being a relatively small company, we can grow
young people’s talents and give them full
ownership of entire processes.”
As a prime example of this, Harris points to a
startling statistic. The company currently has a
production capacity of 20,000 units per year, with
the ability to automate this up to over 100,000
units with additional investment. “A lot of what
we’ve been innovating towards and gearing the
factory up for is volume manufacturing,” Harris
explains. “YASA isn’t just about clever technology;
“An organisation can’t
grow unless you devolve
responsibility to the workers”
Chris Harris, CEO, YASA (above, far left)
A dozen
it’s about making our products in volume, at low
cost. We’re all part of that journey, and thanks to
our innovative workforce we have been able to
reduce the manufacturing labour time of each of
our motors by well over 25 times.”
Changing the image of the industry
Remaining true to its academic roots, not only has
YASA recruited heavily from universities, it has also
used academia for support with major research
projects. Harris explains: “We’ve taken students
from seven diff erent universities across the UK. We
have also undertaken PhD projects with Coventry
University, and are collaborating with Cranfi eld on
some of our aerospace work. While we don’t have
anything formal yet, these initial steps help us set
the groundwork for longer-term partnerships.”
These links are a vital part of the company’s
long-term vision, Harris continues. “Key to us is
ensuring we stay at the forefront of technology, and
ensuring we ingrain an innovation mindset into
everything we do. Ultimately, we want to change
the image of manufacturing. We’re very happy to
be a shining example of how the ‘traditional’ image
of the sector simply isn’t true. We do some very
exciting work, using innovative techniques and
state-of-the-art technology.”
This message is reiterated by Molloy. As one
of only two females on her degree course, she is
keen to promote the industry as a viable career
choice for young girls. “The idea of manufacturing
as a career wasn’t very well advertised when I was
at school, especially towards females,” she says.
“I recently visited an all-girls school to give a talk
on the possibilities that become available when
you study a STEM subject. It’s important to do
things like that and give something back to the
community.”
Hillman agrees. “The fact is that ‘engineering’
sn’t traditionally a subject at school, aside from
as a mixture of maths and physics. Even design
technology lessons don’t really give a true sense of
what working in manufacturing or engineering is
like. As a result, I felt I’d never ‘done’ engineering
until I started work at YASA.”
Molloy has also become a public face of
YASA, appearing with YASA’s other former student
placements on ITV News alongside Business
Secretary Greg Clark at the opening of the new
manufacturing premises last year.
A winning formula
Hearing all this, it’s little wonder that YASA
was so successful at the Manufacturing
Champions Awards last year.
Hillman explains how the awards received by
both him and Molloy help put the work they do
into perspective: “It’s very easy, while you’re at
work, to become preoccupied with your day-to-day
job. Sometimes it’s important to take a step back
and take stock of the work you and your colleagues
of YASA’s full-time
staff have joined the
company following
graduate schemes
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