The aircrete manufacturer H+H has announced the appointment of Phil Ball as Operations Director.

Ball will take charge of the company’s manufacturing plants in Borough Green, Kent, and Pollington, Yorkshire.

Joining H+H from Finnish timber company Metsawood, Ball is a manufacturing specialist with a personal as well as professional belief in the importance and potential of UK manufacturing. He summarises his approach as being “shopfloor centric”.

“Equipment and automation are important, of course, but the heart of any business is its people: its customers and its staff. Put the people first, design the processes that make it as easy as possible for them to do their job and the results can be truly dramatic.”

Ball will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Kent and dividing his time equally between the company’s two locations. His responsibilities include Operations, Procurement and Health and Safety.

H+H has recently completed a two-year investment programme in its factories, ensuring the equipment and facilities are the most up to date in Europe.

“We are now ready to focus all of our attention on maximising the return from that investment” observes MD Calum Forsyth. “We have done the mechanical part, now is the time to focus on perfecting the processes in order to meet ambitious output targets.”