News & Downloads

What makes a great Deployment Leader?

by Simon Grogan Great deployment leaders possess a unique set of skills and qualities that enable them to lead their teams toward Enterprise Excellence. Do you have what it takes? Ask yourself these three questions… I know who I am, what I’m good at, how I speak, listen, and think, I know what brings me […]

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5 Great Reasons to Undertake an Assessment

We all need to grow, innovate and compete. To do this we need to have a deep understanding of our organization’s current state – hence the need to build a regular benchmarking assessment into your strategic plan. We’ve identified 5 compelling reasons to kick start an assessment: Identifying Gaps One of the primary reasons to […]

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The Power of Benchmarking

By Ailsa Carson, Partner Benchmarking is defined as the act or practice of measuring something against a standard, or of testing in order to develop such a standard[i]. Most organizations that are invested in best practice or continuous improvement will use benchmarking either formally or informally to support their journey. It can take place within […]

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The Role of Leadership in Digital Transformation

By Jack Worboys, Consultant  Technology is changing the world in which we live faster and more exponentially than ever. Our use of technology pervades every aspect of our lives and it is therefore imperative that every organisation has a digital transformation that is aligned to their strategic objectives. It is however all too easy to get […]

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Delivering Process Improvement

We all want to improve the way that we work. Process improvement (digital or otherwise) doesn’t just happen though, someone has to drive these projects. Whose responsibility should this be? Should we ask our divisions to improve their own processes or do we create a transformation team to do it for them.     To start, […]

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The SHINGO© Model that drives Enterprise Excellence & the focus on Culture & Behaviours that matter

By John Quirke, Author In 1988 as a recognition for his work across a broad range of industry sectors, Shigeo Shingo was awarded an honorary Doctor of Management from Utah State University.  Over the course of his life Dr. Shingo wrote eighteen books on the improvement of work and the processes that support the effectiveness […]

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Align, Engage, Improve with Effective Tiered Meetings

By Sonja Allen Have you ever considered… How many meetings you have a week? How many of these meetings could be an email? How many of these meetings have few or no results? How many rabbit holes do your meeting conversations go down? How regularly do you talk about what really matters, in a focused […]

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Celebrating 30 years of S A Partners

We are 30 years old and we are celebrating just how far we have come.. from our early years as a spin-out from Cardiff University’s Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC) our founders Peter Hines & Paul Morris founded a company that now has a global team and offices in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the USA, […]

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Understanding Lean Leadership

By MEGAN JAMES, European Business Development Manager I previously shared the S A Partners implementation model for Enterprise Excellence and how to use this to build effective training programmes. In case you missed it, you can find it HERE. I received some great queries specifically about the design of the Leadership element so I wanted […]

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S A Partners Launches Online Learning Capability

Well, ok we may be a bit slow starting but I promise you that we have caught up fast. Over the past three years with the impact of COVID19 we have seen a significant shift in the way we all learn, we have become more comfortable with the use of technology in how we develop […]

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Why I’m uneasy with the term ‘True North’ by John Quirke

I came in for a bit of teasing by a work colleague recently over my uneasiness with the term True North.   We were working with a leadership community in a large automotive business, and he used the term True North, which brought about an obvious and over exaggerated wince from me which raised a few […]

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Take the TPM Interactive Awareness Course
S A Partners have created an interactive Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM) awareness course that takes you through the background of TPM step by step. You can access this course by filling out the form below, and you will then receive the awareness course link. The purpose of this interactive awareness course is to get you [...]
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Celebrating 12 Years of Lean Competency Accreditation

Successful Re-Accreditation of Training, Assessment & Certification Services to the Lean Competency System (licensed by Cardiff University) S A Partners and Cardiff University – through the Lean Enterprise Research Centre and the Lean Competency System have a long-standing heritage. After 12 years, we are now celebrating the successful re-accreditation of S A Partners Trainers, Coaches and […]

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S A Partners Named a Winner in 2022 Nintex Partner Awards
London, UK—September 28, 2022— S A Partners is pleased to announce it has been recognized as a Regional Spotlight Award winner of the 2022 Nintex Partner Awards. S A Partners was recognized for its proven ability to help organizations accelerate digital transformation and drive business outcomes with the powerful and easy-to-use capabilities of the Nintex Process Platform. [...]
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Jeff Williams supports Fareshare on their journey to Enterprise Excellence
As part of our Care Programme, we provide both financial and in-kind support to charities around the world.  Jeff Williams, our Director of Business Development was delighted to spend a day with the team at one of our much-loved charities Fareshare to support them with business improvement and their journey to Enterprise Excellence.      [...]
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Celebrating Ideal Behaviours
Every July we recognize some of our amazing team for their contribution to the business.  This annual award is given each July and builds on our monthly reward and recognition program. Both of the programs are designed to recognize those individuals that go above and beyond in demonstrating our core values and the behaviours we [...]
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Team Celebrates Shingo Publication Award for TPM: A foundation of Operational Excellence
On May 19 in Orlando, Florida, John Quirke, Life Science Practice Leader at global consulting company, S A Partners, received the SHINGO Publication Award on behalf of the team for the book TPM (Total Productive Manufacturing): A Foundation of Operational Excellence.  John, along with business colleagues Andy Brunskill and Peter Willmott, are authors of the [...]
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Celebrating Our New Doctor of Psychology – Bryan Cutliff
Congratulations to Bryan Cutliff, a pivotal member of our US Division who has recently been awarded his Doctor of Psychology in Leadership Psychology.  Bryan has brought a unique insight into leadership and the psychology of leading change to our team over recent years.  Having worked previously in executive leadership positions in healthcare in the US, [...]
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Three new partners appointed at fast growing consultancy firm S A Partners
Following rapid growth, S A Partners is welcoming three new members to its partnership team - Clare Pryce; Kenneth Wisinski and Jim Mikulski. Simon Grogan, Managing Director is delighted to welcome these new appointments: “Over the last two years, we have seen some remarkable changes within our businesses and even more remarkable growth.  We have [...]
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Onsite Insights Returns in 2022!
Relaunch of the Best Practice Visit Programme in the UK We are delighted to announce the relaunch of Onsite Insights – the UK’s national best practice visit programme. The programme has been put on hold during the last two years but we are delighted that our host sites have once again agreed to welcome visitors [...]
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S A Partners launch Carbon Neutral Programme
We are pleased to announce that S A Partners has begun its journey to Carbon Neutrality by supporting the Ocean Foundation, a blue carbon initiative focusing on the support and rebuilding of ocean habitats through the replantation of Seagrass, mangroves, and blue carbon education. The Carbon Neutral Programme aims to completely offset the business's carbon [...]
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S A PARTNERS receives its 5th SHINGO Award
The latest publication by global consulting company S A PARTNERS has been awarded the coveted SHINGO Publication Award™.  TPM: A foundation of Operational Excellence has received exceptional reviews since it’s first release in 2020. The SHINGO Publication Award recognises and promotes writing that has had a significant impact and advances the body of knowledge regarding [...]
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GWAAC opens new shop in Yate Shopping Centre
Yate’s local air ambulance, Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC), has become the latest fixture in Yate’s Shopping Centre as they opened their new shop in North Walk. The new shop was opened in a small ceremony this morning with a few of the charity’s Patrons, including Countess Bathurst and former patient and Trustee, Robin [...]
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5 Steps to Enterprise Excellence Guide.
The Five Steps to Enterprise Excellence developed by S A Partners has successfully created over 200 roadmaps globally and has provided a framework for companies, across 20 different sectors, on their journey towards Enterprise excellence. This free booklet helps answer the following questions: What is Enterprise Excellence? How does the Enterprise Excellence model work? What [...]
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S A Partners team members complete the Managing & Promoting Positive Mental Health & Wellbeing Programme
Members of the S A Partners Team have successfully completed the Royal College of Psychiatrists accredited programme – Managing & Promoting Positive Mental Health & Wellbeing as part of our continued professional development.  The training was provided by accredited trainer Stephne Puddy. The team deliver training, coach and mentor UK and international candidates on our [...]
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Continued Success of Virtual Training
Over the last two years we have delivered our popular White Belt training virtually, demand has undoubtedly increased in recent months as we all transition to a virtual world. There are some great benefits to virtual – flexibility, accessibility for remote teams and cost.  Whilst we still advocate face-to-face training we are seeing high levels [...]
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S A Partners join the European Mentoring & Coaching Council
S A Partners have a number of professional coaches amongst the Executive Leadership Team, Partners and Consulting community. Our coaching and mentoring services complement consulting and training on our Improvement Coach and Leadership programmes. We work with global leaders from shop floor, first line management up to executive level, in sectors as diverse as Defence, Aerospace, Utilities, Process, Food [...]
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Celebrating Joscar re-certification
Celebrating JOSCAR re-certification It’s not just a badge we need to gain the trust of our customers, it is more than that.  We are genuinely delighted that we have received re-certification to the JOSCAR register.  This certification means that S A Partners continues to be recognised as a fully compliant supplier to the defence industry. [...]
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Feeling Proud – S A Partners achieves Investors In People Gold Standard
We are delighted to announce that S A Partners has been awarded the Investors in People Gold standard. This prestigious award has been bestowed to recognize that S A Partners has achieved exceptional standards in leading, inspiring and empowering it’s team. We often use the term ‘Cobblers Children’ to remind ourselves we are a leading [...]
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Developing your TPM learning pathway
In the days before TPM an operator in conversation with his maintenance colleague might suggest albeit mischievously ‘I operate, you fix’, I add value, you cost so watch out my friend!’ In order to begin to change perceptions relating to the equipment and it’s operation and maintenance we need to create an ownership culture where [...]
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NINTEX partners with specialist business transformation company S A Partners
S A Partners is delighted to announce a new partnership with the world’s leading digital transformation specialists NINTEX.  The partnership will support S A Partners to deliver it’s world class transformation and training solutions with digital capability.    Today, over 10,000 public and private sector organizations, including more than 50% of the Fortune 500, turn [...]
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10 Years of Lean Competency Training Accreditation
S A Partners is proud to be celebrating 10 years Accreditation with the Cardiff University developed Lean Competency System (LCS). The accreditation has become a cornerstone of S A Partners delivery with our customers. It recognises the standards to which our training modules are held, as well as the capability of our trainers, coaches and [...]
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GWAAC’s Big Give Christmas Challenge

GWAAC are only called to the most serious medical emergencies, and bring with them skills and equipment normally only found in a hospital operating theatre. All of the funds raised from GWAAC’s Big Give Christmas Challenge will go towards essential training for our Critical Care Team. One of the courses to be funded is a […]

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Helping Tommy Box Provide Free Meals
Jeff Williams, Global Business Development Director at S A Partners has donated a proportion of his allocated Partner profit share to a local cafe The Tommy Box.  The community café is based in the town of Treharris where Jeff grew up.  The donation was to support the café in cooking and delivering over 60 free [...]
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S A Partners Perform Higher Than The Industry Average
S A Partners latest NPS score of +75 is seen as testimony that the customer remains at the heart our consulting business. The challenges of the current market have moved much of our delivery into the virtual space.  Our consultancy, coaching and training is all now delivered to our customers teams across the world – [...]
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Download the Award Winning Publication, Staying Lean
S A Partners are pleased to offer the Shingo award winning book, 'Staying Lean, Thriving not just surviving' as a full, free download using the link provided. This publication won the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize in 2009, and it takes you through how to create and sustain a Lean business. It followed Cogent [...]
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Greenyard Fresh UK awarded Lean Gold validation

Jeff Williams, Business Develpment Director, is pleased to announce that Greenyard Fresh UK has been awarded Lean Gold Validation which recognises the organisational transformation and continuous improvement in the Greenyard Fresh UK business through our Food & Drink sector work. Jeff Williams said of the award: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with […]

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Friends of Chernobyl Children get £5,000 Boost

Friends of Chernobyl’s Children are very grateful to S A Partners for their recent generous donation of £5000. This will go a very long way to helping the children in Belarus supported by the charity. It is especially welcome at this difficult time when the charity is not able to hold its usual fundraising activities. […]

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Covid-19-Coaching through Disruption
Keivan Zokaei, partner and head of Financial Services at S A Partners, recently delivered a webcast for the Chartered Banker Institute where he talks about taking advantage of a crisis situation and turning it into a positive one. In this webcast you will: Learn the basic principles of well-being and resilience Learn more about the [...]
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Looking Forward to the NEPIC Best Practice Conference

Phil SPooner, partner at S A Partners and who heads up our Process sector, will be speaking at the NEPIC Best Practice In Industrial Asset Management Conference this coming 18th November. The topic Phil will be speaking about, will be ‘A foundation for Operational Excellence’. In this session, Phil will position TPM as an approach […]

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What will our future working environment be like?
Dr Keivan Zokaei took part in the ‘Lunch with Mairi’ series recently which are virtual thought leadership events launched by Mairi Macintyre, Associate Professor at WMG. In this episode, Keivan, along with Chris Buckell of Babcock International discuss the impact of Covid, and how the current pandemic will change the way we will work and [...]
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Covid-19 Workplace Improvement and Protection Webinar
S A Partners have supported the Irish Government agencies, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA in developing a summary webinar to help companies prepare for and manage Covid – 19 in their workplaces. The team within S A Partners are already supporting and working within businesses who are managing their way through this current crisis. John [...]
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Webinar Series: Business Continuity Planning
We recognise that business continuity planning has become critical in the current unprecedented environment, and we know that many of our customers are moving their teams to home working where possible. To help you adapt and hopefully thrive during the weeks ahead, we wanted to make you aware of some of the support we would [...]
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Air Ambulance Anniversary
12 months ago Robin Jaques suffered a near fatal crash while out riding his bike in the Forest of Dean. Breaking four of his ribs on impact, suffering a punctured lung and a burst femoral artery – Robin was losing a lot of blood and was in a critical state. Fortunately for Robin, the Great [...]
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Award Winning Financial Services Book Give Away

We’ve decided to give away some copies of the award winning publication, ‘Staying Lean, Thriving not just surviving’ written by Prof. Peter Hines and Gary Griffiths et al, both of S A Partners.

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Supporting a School Learning Area

S A Partners via Phil Spooner are delighted to support the development of a designated learning area at Lixwm Primary School, which is a small rural village school with 58 pupils. The school has considerable funding challenges to support the learning environment of the pupils. After discussions with the Head teacher and the Special Intervention […]

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S A Partners Supporting Junior Sports Talent
Simon Grogan, MD at S A Partners, has put his lot in with rugby, and has decided to sponsor the the junior team at Crumlin RFC by donating his portion of S A Partners charity fund to help the lads for the remainder of the season. Simon, himself a former front row forward who has [...]
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TPM Book Launch for 2020
We are extremely pleased to announce the launch for the TPM book at two venues for 2020. The first is the University of Birmingham on 7th Febraury, followed by the 20th February  at SPI Lasers, where both events will be free to attend. This is an ideal opportunity to chat to the book authors. The [...]
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Onsites Insights Partner with S A Partners
We are extremely pleased to announce that S A Partners have formed a strategic partnership with one of the leading best practise events company in the UK, Onsite Insights. Onsite Insights is a programme of best practice visits to award winning companies and is designed to provide delegates with direct contact to people and teams [...]
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National Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition

impressive line-up of manufacturing leaders, academics and government agencies who will engage in a stimulating blend of key note addresses and debates.

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