MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE OCTOBER 2019
Spreading the word
When Sue Paxman was
undergoing scalp cooling
treatment over 20 years ago,
the process was painful, long
and labour-intensive. A cap was
kept in a freezer at around -25oC,
placed on the patient’s head
before being replaced just as they
started to get used to it. Today,
its efficacy and quality are much
improved (see box, p30), but the
negative associations still linger.
Leading the charge against this
is Paxman’s director of strategic
initiatives – and Richard’s sister
– Claire Paxman (pictured above,
with Richard).
“One of the many areas I
work in is making sure everyone
has the right information
to ensure they get the best
treatment,” she says. “Because
I stood in the bathroom when I
was 14 and had to cut my mum’s
hair off, I’m passionate about
making sure nobody else has to
go through that. I’ve developed
key partnerships with leading
charities across the country to
help raise awareness. I also built
up a friendship with BBC radio
presenter Rachel Bland, who
Richard and Claire Paxman with an example
of the company’s scalp cooling cap
used our product when she was
going through her illness. When
she died, she requested money to
be sent to us. Things like that are
a great endorsement for us. She
could have chosen any charity,
but she picked us.”
It’s not just the general public
who needs educating about
the benefits of scalp cooling;
Claire’s role also encompasses
informing nurses and hospital
trusts around the world about
the developments in technology.
“Everyone who trains on
our system is now certified
to a standard that we have
developed,” she explains. “We
have also developed a distributor
certification programme. You
put so much trust in your
distributors, so it’s vital that they
know how to use it. When you
have such a wide geographical
spread of equipment, we can’t
be at every hospital all the time.
We go in once or twice a year
to check how effectively the
product is being used, but also
that the people using them are
understanding the empathy
behind it. You’d think that nurses
would always be empathetic,
but it’s not always the case. People often try and
detract themselves from the grim situation and
can come across cold. To combat that, we have
launched a Clinical Pioneers programme. The
idea is that there would be a person inside each
hospital who comes to a full Paxman accreditation
day, where they learn how to use the product,
as well as the history of the company. This puts
them in a position to provide training, advice and
best practice to patients and colleagues back in
the hospital. The hope is that they help change
attitudes to cooling.”
A bright future
Fortunately for Claire and the rest of the family,
her hard work seems to be paying off. The
company now has over 500 investors, mainly in
Sweden, and is making headway in the lucrative
US market. Three years ago, the plant was making
around 200 cooling caps annually; in 2018, that
had grown to over 550, and is expected to grow by
a further 25% this year. “We’ve got future plans
to move premises,” says Richard. “The growth
we’ve experienced is very significant. We’ve
had to change the layout of the shopfloor and
revolutionise the way we work. It’s a headache,
but a good one to have!”
Paxman may not be the biggest company
featured in the pages of MM in recent months, or
the one with the highest turnover; but it is one of
the most important. It reiterates the value that
manufacturing can have, not just from a purely
economic point of view, but from a societal one.
Richard sums up how he sees Paxman’s role:
“Manufacturing is all about making things that
will help others or make their lives easier. Our
products help people’s quality of life at a time
when everything has been turned upside down.
The company will always be my mum’s legacy, but
it’s also testament to the work of my father and his
brother. To be able to carry that on alongside my
sister is a great honour, especially as my dad is still
involved. It’s a true family business; my brothers
work for the other family business but get involved
with this one and fully get why we do what we
do. Everything we do leads back to mum or the
patients we help.”
Hear from Paxman at the National
Manufacturing Conference 2020
Paxman was named national champion at the 2018/19 Make UK
Manufacturing Awards. To recognise the company’s success,
Richard Paxman has been announced as a keynote speaker at
Make UK’s National Manufacturing Conference, which is being
held in Westminster on 25 February 2020. Richard will be
discussing his leadership of the company, and giving the
perspective of a small manufacturer for executing a vision that
has resulted in a British manufacturing success story.
To register, visit www.manufacturingconference.co.uk.
32 www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
/www.manufacturingconference.co.uk
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