At our Tate & Lyle Sugars Thames Refinery, a special event recently marked a year of progress, innovation and learning through Continuous Improvement (CI). From apprentices and Yellow Belts earning top honors to the refinery’s Crystal Award win, the celebration highlighted the people and projects driving our culture of operational excellence.
This year marked the third cohort of CI apprentices, a program that leverages the U.K. government’s apprenticeship levy to introduce employees to key Lean manufacturing principles.
“We have seen significant gains at the Thames Refinery through projects completed this past year, and CI apprenticeships have become an important stepping stone for those wanting to progress to trained assessor and shift supervisor roles,” said Technical Training Manager Akash Brahmkshatriya, who manages our broader apprenticeship program and, in partnership with CI Manager Tom Sutton, manages the CI apprenticeship program. “Well done Nathan Dalley, Chris Nairne, Sean Mooney, and Paulina Staskowiak for your Distinction results!”
In addition to supporting Continuous Improvement, the apprenticeship program has also created opportunities for employees in other functional areas, including through a leadership apprenticeship.
The Thames Refinery’s celebration also recognized the achievements of Yellow Belt awardees from our London Cohorts 3 and 4. These participants represented various departments, reflecting the broad impact of CI principles across the business. Tomasz Staskowiak, a former CI apprentice, expanded his expertise with a Yellow Belt project. Well done to Katarzyna Zoltkowska, Sam Welbourne, and Harry Lee, who all also passed the external assessment with flying colors.
The event also celebrated the Thames Refinery team’s win of ASR Group’s FY24 Crystal Award for best small CI project—a prestigious honor recognizing innovative, high-impact operational improvements. Dan Meach accepted the award on behalf of the cross-functional team that made it possible.
The celebration coincided with Green Belt training for two team members—Mohsen Hajisafari and Harry Lee—whose future projects are expected to bring further CI gains.
“We were so pleased to be able to celebrate everyone’s CI and apprenticeship achievements,” said Tom. “With new projects underway and more training and apprenticeships on the horizon, the Thames Refinery continues to build on its CI legacy—one milestone at a time. Congratulations again to all!”