Starkey Labs

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :12/10/2007 6:35:41 AM

According to figures from the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, 8,945,000 people suffer with hearing problems in the UK. Starkey Laboratories is focused on helping these people

Written by Lucy Mowatt and produced by Ben Weaver

As part of a multinational group, Starkey Laboratories in the UK has a long history in the hearing device industry. William Austin founded the company in 1967 in Minnesota and the business has developed at a rapid rate. The first facility outside of the US was established in Cheshire in 1977 and a number of other subsidiaries have rapidly appeared. Today the group has 35 facilities in 24 countries worldwide, which offers an excellent support network for the individual subsidiaries.

In spite of these developments, Starkey is still owned by William Austin and the UK facilities remain in Cheshire. Alec Whipday, the company’s operations manager in Cheshire, gives Exec UK an overview of how these facilities have changed: “The first building was in Handforth in Cheshire. From there we moved to Hazel Grove, also in Cheshire. The building we’re in now is our third, just across the road to our second facility.”

This site is rapidly being outgrown, as the number of orders increases. The operations manager was keen to explain how the company intends to combat this. He says: “We’re pushing the boundaries of this facility already. We’re now looking to operate a shift pattern, rather than keep changing sites; we want to change shift patterns and take on more people.”

Model business

Recently, significant investments have been made. Alec Whipday explains that the Cheshire-site has Stereo Lithography Apparatus (SLA) which digitally makes shells for hearing aids. These developments in CAD technology mean that ear impressions can be scanned into a computer and electronically transmitted to Starkey Laboratories.

From here the company can download the model and build a shell for that ear. It removes the need to send ear impressions by post, reducing the time needed to produce devices.

Two new Viper machines have also been installed at the site, which can manufacture large batches of shells. Alec Whipday explains that the machines can be left overnight, and the shells will be ready for use in the morning. The company is considering investing in another of these, in order to remain competitive. At the moment, the largest ear mould laboratory in the Starkey group is capable of producing 5000 ear moulds per week.

Starkey’s headquarters hold the ISO 9001 certificate for quality, which the British Standards Institute audits them for in the UK. This is achieved by looking closely at all products and processes. “We have stringent quality checks throughout the factory. We have quality procedures across the production floor; every hearing technician checks the work before them and signs off a route card. After the final stage of assembly it goes into our quality control room, where we send a signal into the hearing aid and measure the response. That’s printed onto a data sheet that goes out with an order when we ship it,” Alec Whipday explains.

Kaizen events have also been rolled out across the company alongside lean manufacturing. This technique makes the company look at how it operates and encourages the removal of unnecessary processes. So far, in the departments which have implemented changes, a day has been saved on the turnaround time, making Starkey Laboratories more efficient. “Absolutely anyone can attend a kaizen event too, it’s not just a management event; you leave your ego at the door,” the Operation Manager states.

Cross training

At present, the company employs 185 people in the UK and 4000 people worldwide. Alec Whipday was positive about the opportunities that Starkey Laboratories offers its people. He enthuses that it promotes career development with “cross training” and flexibility: “Indeed I came from the production line myself and I have been here for 20 years. It was pretty much my first job after leaving school; I started out as a hearing aid technician and progressed through the company.”

Employees are encouraged to stay with Starkey Laboratories too. There are bonuses available according to assessments, while the company also contributes to pension schemes and a subsidised staff canteen. Mr Whipday also explains that there is a “loyalty holiday scheme” too.

This allows people that have been with the company for five years or more to gain an additional day holiday, which can accumulate in an extra week’s holiday after twelve years. “We like rewarding length of service,” he states.

These employees help to implement the newest hearing aid technology. Alec Whipday explained the new product developments at the labs. The new Destiny range is a revolutionary technology in hearing devices. Based on nanotechnology, the device is advanced; Alec Whipday explained why the range is so important: “One of the reasons that people do not wear their hearing aid is feedback, like high pitched whistling when they put a telephone to their ear.

It can be daunting and embarrassing in some cases, so people refuse to wear them. The Destiny range virtually eliminates that, allowing users to turn the volume as high as needed.” This technology is likely to result in a 22 percent increase in the company’s revenues in 2008.

Customer service

There is also a 24-hour service available for the manufacture of paediatric ear moulds, and part of the lab’s remit is also to look for ways to get children to wear hearing devices. Mr Whipday explains that children often find that they are uncomfortable or feel that there is stigma attached to wearing them, which could negatively affect their education. As such, Starkey Laboratories has worked with a number of organisations, such as football clubs, who have agreed to put their logos inside ear moulds. “We want kids to wear them,” Alec continues. “We can make them more of a fashion accessory and get them over the problems they might have.”

The StarKids package is also sent out to children with a hearing device, again to reduce stigma and raise awareness of why wearing a hearing device is so important. William Austin has founded the Starkey Foundation too, which provides devices to people that cannot afford them. Alec Whipday describes how the system works: “What we do is collect hearing devices from the government and people that do not need them anymore. Then we refurbish them and send them to the Foundation, where devices can be distributed.”

There is also a flat-rate repair service also available to adults, and Starkey will repair any device, regardless of whether they manufactured it. The company is one of few to offer this service and the Operations Manager explained that the idea was about boosting customer service: “Sometimes people find it advantageous to send their hearing aids to us rather than the manufacturer because they know that there will be a flat rate charge.”

Going forward, Alec Whipday says that the company wants to increase its market share, by focusing upon increased customer service. There is already the repair service, a customer service line and a technical help line, but Starkey Laboratories believe that this will be the key to future growth.