Behind the scenes of business: Denby Pottery

Sixteen sixth form Business pupils with an eye for art took a trip to Denby Pottery this Monday, seeing firsthand how their studies can apply to real-life businesses.

Denby Pottery is marked as one of Britain’s oldest pottery manufacturers, having been hand making products since 1809. Their popularity, which has now lasted for over 200 years, makes them the perfect example for the girls of excellent business practice, and reinforces what they learn during the two years of their A Level course.

The visit included a tour of the expansive Denby factory. The group had the chance to see for themselves all three of the main production methods studied in class: job production, where items are made individually, batch production, where groups of items are made together, and flow production, where identical items are produced on an assembly line. They were also able to learn approaches to quality management, methods of motivating and rewarding staff, and the growth of Denby’s export sales.

Another unique aspect of Denby’s products is the blend of traditional and modern pottery making. Although items are crafted in the factory, they still have handmade elements incorporated into the design, demonstrating how the business has modernised their production over the years whilst retaining their heritage of bespoke design.

As a special treat at the end, everyone had fun trying their hand at decorating items of Denbyware themselves - the class is excited to see the results of their efforts when the products are returned to school after February half-term.

Lucy commented, “It was great fun! It definitely brought this part of the course to life.”