US defence contractor Raytheon has joined BQF, the UK’s largest corporate membership organisation, to focus on improving the underlying performance of its internal operations and processes.
The move follows the announcement of a new £800m UK government funding programme, which will support the development of new and disruptive defence technologies.
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The funding programme was launched through the UK Ministry of Defence’s innovation and research insights unit fund.
As BQF’s newest member, Raytheon will gain access to its extensive network of more than 500 members, which includes organisations ranging from Oracle, O2 and Marks & Spencer, to BT, Siemens and bathstore.
The company will engage in a collaborative process that supports companies in designing and developing measures to deliver sustainable performance improvement.
Raytheon executive Raymond Barnes said the company’s areas of interest include training and development, networking, benchmarking and the deployment of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model.
BQF CEO and director general Russell Longmuir said: “The pace of development is rapid and unrelenting, but Raytheon is well positioned to maintain its track record of innovation despite more challenging macroeconomic conditions, and I am sure that it will both provide a meaningful and powerful contribution to our network’s collective drive for sustained improvement, and derive huge value from the engagement that it undertakes with peers and partners from across UK industry.”
BQF supports businesses to develop their capabilities and provides the necessary tools, training and skills to enable them to invest in their own performance improvement programmes.
