Painting a picture of workplace culture at AkzoNobel

AkzoNobel’s facility in Ashington, Northumberland, was opened in 2017 as the world’s most advanced and sustainable paint plant.

And it represented the largest ever global investment by the company’s Decorative Paints business…

So perhaps unsurprisingly, it provided to be a fantastic location for our latest Marketing Lunch and Learn event with the Engineering and Manufacturing Network (EMN)!

The event, held on November 1 at the AkzoNobel site in Ashwood Business Park, saw Shirley Spoors, Production Manager and Jill Johnston, Site Support Coordinator of AzkoNobel talk about how the company supports its workforce and engages with the community, and how the culture of its site was inspired by Ashington’s Pitmen Painters.

The Pitmen Painters, who began as an art appreciation class in 1934, produced hundreds of paintings which showed what life in the mining communities in Northumberland. And their legacy has been embraced in the culture of AkzoNobel’s Ashington facility.

Delegates also learned about AkzoNobel’s internal communications programmes, its work with Northumberland College and local community initiatives, and its support for young people with special needs.

Richard Holmes, Business Development and Marketing Manager at Horizon Works, followed up with guidance on communicating company culture, effective marketing for recruitment and how marketing can boost employee engagement.

In addition, this lunchtime session saw Michael Harriott, Senior Growth and Investment Manager at Advance Northumberland, present on the support offered by the organisation to Northumberland-based businesses and companies who wish to invest in the areas. He also provided an overview of Advance Northumberland’s role in the development of Ashwood Business Park and Northumberland Energy Park in nearby Blyth.

The event culminated in a fascinating ‘bird’s eye view’ tour of AkzoNobel’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, which was kindly hosted by the AkzoNobel team.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Shirley, Jill and the AkzoNobel team in Ashington for hosting such a wonderful event, and for providing much food for thought for the many manufacturing and engineering businesses who attended.

Horizon Works is an Affiliate Partner of EMN and we launched our regular Marketing Lunch and Learn events with the network on December 7 2021, at Gestamp in Newton Aycliffe.

Since then, companies such as Komatsu UK, The Expanded Metal Company, Crabtree, and 3T Transform have hosted the Marketing Lunch and Learn events, and they have attracted delegates from across the North East’s engineering and manufacturing communities.

Conquering award entries – how to create a compelling awards submission!

Our next Marketing Lunch and Learn with EMN will take place on December 6 at our HQ at Northumberland Business Park near Cramlington and will focus on helping delegates to build their awards stories, impress judges and craft great awards entries!

To book, click here.