>>Q& A with frank mcAdam, remploy household and toiletres

Frank McAdam has been the head of manufacturing at the government grant-aided company Remploy Household and Toiletries, for the past three years.
His St Helen’s, Merseyside, factory, where 83% of the 350 employees have a disability, makes products such as washing-up liquid, laundry liquid and conditioners for companies including Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Cussons.
The new site, which McAdam designed and built, was opened in September, and now finishing touches are nearing completion.
McAdam says his typical week involves overseeing operations and procedures. “The last few weeks have been predominantly about the business plan. I started last week going through the budget, people forecasting and cost plans.On Tuesday, we held a full day team leadership course for our production and office staff - I was participating and leading the event.”
One of Remploy’s customers came to the factory midweek to carry out an audit, which McAdam believes is a good way of showing that the new factory can live up to its promises. “After lunch we sat
down to agree an action plan and accreditation score,” says McAdam. “We went up three categories with that particular customer so we can now bid for bigger business.”
The weekly project review took place on Thursday, which gave McAdam a chance to check the factory was on course for completion. “We have a full cost review once a week, deal with any problems, and create an activity plan for the coming week.”
Over the past few months McAdam has taken on about 160 new employees and the recruitment drive continues.
“On Friday I carried out a couple of interviews in the morning to enhance our sales and marketing team and in the afternoon I had two second round interviews for a health and safety manager.”
building a future for disabled staff with new plant