Extended Details of our December 2007 Westfield Sportscars Event
Contains editorial and pictures
Tuesday 4th December 2007 7.15 p.m.

Westfield Sportscars

Outline of Event
Westfield is one of the few remaining niche car manufacturers in the UK, it is the largest kit car company that makes over 70% of the car in house to an impeccable standard to give the ultimate driving experience.
Presented by Julian Turner Managing Director, Westfield Sports Cars.

Review

We were very pleased to have with us Julian Turner the managing director of Westfield Sportscars. It was a very warm December evening with in total around 60 people present, some of who had forgot that we start at 7.15 p.m. The focus of the lecture being the transformation of Westfield over the last 12 months. 

Apparently it had been in financial trouble for some while when Potenza took it over around 12 months ago following an extensive due diligence process. Potenza is a family owned business development organisation that saw a potential in Westfield.It would appear that Westfield was suffering from many of the typical problems of a small business started by an enthusiastic entrepreneur. 

As the business grew it had  failed to invest in the systems and process necessary to support an ever expanding business and was in danger of going broke. Julian talked us through the processes and systems as they were at present and the changes they are putting in to bring the business into the modern world. This includes: Manufacturing: factory layout organised around the workflow, scheduling of manufacturing and parts procurement, supplier deals, just in time manufacture, stores layout, selling off old stock, outsourcing where essential. 

Design: CAD used in the design process, common parts, simpler parts, working with suppliers. Sales: stream lining the sales process, engaging with customers, providing new and better offers. Staff: getting the staff to take ownership of the processes, training of staff, on going communications. All in all a complete transformation of the business. This was followed by a lively question and answer session where we tried to tease out some of the more intricate details and information on future car developments. 

Every one present found the talk stimulating and lively. There was much nodding of heads from the audience who had obviously experienced similar problems. An excellent event combining an interesting view on business transformation with an extremely desirable product. Well worth repeating, if only to get an update on the transformation process. Check out their website for more details.