Blum opens its doors to ukfirst

Attendees from 11 UK furniture companies recently visited the manufacturing headquarters of Blum in Austria for a two day best practice programme organised by industry forum ukfirst.

Blum is renowned for it’s high quality hinge, lift and pull out systems which attracted 20 delegates from different sectors of the furniture trade, including kitchen manufacturers, contract furniture and panel suppliers. ukfirst offers a series best practice visits such as this to gain insights into the operations and process of world class organisations.

Three ukfirst Master Engineers, Eunice Cinnamon, David Storer and Bruce Lovell led the event, combining issues such as workplace organisation and value stream mapping with factory tours. Attendees were given the opportunity to discuss the common issues faced, including lead times, use of space and waste reduction.

“Some of the biggest improvements that can be made within a business come from the knowledge and skills of your own workforce,” said Eunice Cinnamon. “It is important to get to the root cause of a problem and nip it in the bud before it can progress.”

Blum’s concept of dynamic space for kitchen planning was demonstrated by a tour of an ergonomically designed kitchen lab, which simplifies work processes. With guidance from the ukfirst engineers, attendees were invited to apply this concept to their own organisations to help reduce time wasted and to increase efficiency, and they left with a fresh perspective and intentions to make significant and continuous improvements to their own business operations.

To find out how ukfirst training courses can benefit your business or to find out about future ukfirst best practice visits, please visit www.ukfirst.org or contact Alex Woodfield on 01438 777801 or email

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