P R Facilities Management

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by P R Facilities Management's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from P R Facilities Management is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.prfm.co.uk

23P R FACILITIES MANAGEMENT LIMITED |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Managing Director Haydn Price

Redditch premises

Founded in 1999, PRFM is a highly successful SIM fulfilment

and packaging specialist that offers custom solutions and

automated services for large companies, including SIM

manufacturers and mobile virtual network operators. Remaining

true to the needs and requirements of clients is absolutely

crucial in this industry; failure to do so can be disastrous for

the customer. All of this requires the utmost attention to detail

and the careful management of data. This is why Managing

Director Haydn Price emphasises the need for sincere care and

commitment towards his customers – something he believes

distinguishes PRFM from its competitors. What follows is his

article for

The Parliamentary Review

which covers these topics

and more.

The core of the company

As a company, our foundations are rooted in our early successes in providing

a variety of packaging and fulfilment services, including POS fulfilment and

collation for many highly recognisable global brands. By establishing ourselves

in this area, we forged many lasting and useful contacts within the industry.

With nearly two decades of experience in this sector, we’ve reached a stage

now whereby we pack approximately 35 million SIM cards a year – an

enormousundertaking.

FACTS ABOUT

P R FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

LIMITED

»Managing Director: HaydnPrice

»Founded in 1999

»Based in Redditch, near

Birmingham

»Services: SIM fulfilment and

packaging

»No. of employees: 100

»www.prfm.co.uk

P R Facilities

Management Limited

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

24 | P R FACILITIES MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Before our exit from the EU becomes

a reality, it was my decision to open

a facility somewhere in the EU, which

resulted in one of our facilities now

being situated in the north of Romania.

The move towards this part of the

world was also motivated by a concern

for the prospective rise in the minimum

wage in the UK by 2020 – a move by

the government that will make us far

less competitive as an industry (more

on this later).

It quickly became apparent to me that,

without our production taking place in

a cheaper labour market, our market

share would decrease considerably.

We already compete with fulfilment

companies in eastern Europe, so

moving in this direction was a sensible

step, especially when considering

the talent and infrastructure already

available there.

The crux of what we do: data

management

At its simplest, we are a company

that packs SIM cards. This, however,

conceals the core of what we do –

which is data management. SIM cards,

after all, are physical embodiments of

data – data that our clients often place

very high value on. This means that,

in addition to packaging, we have to

be experts in data management and

reporting (the latter being especially

important when we are audited by

large companies). As part of this

expertise, we use our very own

software platform with which our

clients can interface. This software

allows for direct communication

between us and our clients regarding

orders, specifications and logistics.

This data management aspect of the

business will only increase as the IoT

features ever more in our daily lives.

Importantly for us, one of the ways

in which this will occur is via the

introduction of e-SIM devices – that

is, devices that no longer require the

standard physical SIM card to which

we are so accustomed. Instead, the

necessary data will be stored remotely

and accessed via the internet. This

change (which we believe will reach a

significant level of penetration within

three to five years) redoubles for us

the importance of mastering data

management. Indeed, anticipating this

shift is a crucial part of our investment

for the future.

Our challenges at present include

making sure that the SIM cards we

send out to large retailers, wholesalers

and individuals have been correctly

allocated and have the appropriate

information on the label and that the

accurate return files have been sent

to the client, without fail. We often

send out these SIM cards in large

bulk orders, which adds yet more

priority to the task of making sure that

the information is wholly accurate.

Employees skilled in data

management

This data

management

aspect of the

business will

only increase

as the internet

of things

features ever

more in our

daily lives

“

25P R FACILITIES MANAGEMENT LIMITED |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Thisisour absolute key competency,

so if we failed to do this, our trust in

the industry would quickly plummet,

as would our prospects as a business

more generally. It is for this reason that

care – genuine care – is at the centre

of our company’s ethos, permeating

every aspect of our interaction

withclients.

Challenges along the way

As alluded to earlier, the company

is not without its considerable

challenges. As a sort of political

commentary, we believe that the

government’s pledge to increase

the minimum wage by 2020 was

misguided. Not because we don’t

believe that lower-paid workers should

have extra money in their pockets but,

rather, because we believe that there

is an alternative method with the same

net effect, one that doesn’t penalise

the UK businesses that contribute so

much to the economy. This alternative

is raising the income threshold at

which workers begin to pay tax,

which leaves workers with exactly the

same outcome: namely, having more

money to spend at the end of the

month. By opting for the former policy

rather than the latter, the government

will lessen our industry’s ability to

competeabroad.

On top of this is the prospect of Brexit,

which brings with it the possibility of

ending the free movement of labour

within the continent, which we felt

necessitated the need to start directing

more of our resources outside of the

country, purely as an act of survival.

Ultimately, it is our ability to anticipate

the structural shifts in the worlds

of business, technology and politics

that has allowed us to occupy the

successful and trusted position we

do today. In addition to our unique

care for clients’ needs, it is in these

aforementioned areas (anticipation

and adaptation) that we stand out

as exemplars of best practice. By

maintaining these general traits of

ours, we are confident that we will

continue to succeed in the future,

just as we have done for the last

twodecades.

It is for this

reason that

care – genuine

care – is at the

centre of our

company’s

ethos

“

A highly professional

and efficient workforce

www.prfm.co.uk

This article was sponsored by P R Facilities Management. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy