I already worked for the company and I knew that a vacancy existed within the organisation. Once the job was advertised I applied and after a few interviews I was successful and started about 15 months ago. Some of these interviews were internal while other were with divisional VP's from the US.
Describe a typical day?
A typical day usually starts before 8.00am. The first thing that I will do is check e-mails that have come in over night and respond to those that are urgent. This may be to simply clarify some points or it may be that an issue has arisen with material supplies or quality of components and these will be directed to the managers of the areas that are directly responsible.
A lot of my day is taken up with meetings, these may be preplanned ones to ones with my direct reports or project / dept. meetings, in other cases they may be as a result of some unexpected issue that has arisen and we need to bring a group of key people together to decide how we should work our way through the situation.
On a Thursday for example I will attend the senior management meeting between 9.00am and 1.00pm, this meeting serves a number of purposes, firstly it looks at performance to date; secondly it looks at open issues and proposed actions to deal with these and thirdly it looks at the strategy that is in place for the plant and what we need to do to make it happen and as time progresses develop it further.
Outside of meetings a fair proportion of my time is spent looking at how the plant strategy should be adapted and implemented for my areas of responsibility.
No two days are the same and you can always be sure that the next challenge is waiting just around the corner, the unknown is whether that challenge is dealing with an issue that has arisen or whether it is a new opportunity that has presented itself.
What are the main tasks and responsibilities?
As Operations Support Manager I am responsible for the Planning, Purchasing, Warehousing & Logistics functions within the plant; I also have responsibility for the Injection Moulding and Extrusion areas. In each case there is a Team Manager (reporting to me) responsible for the day to day running of these operations and in the case of Moulding & Extrusion the operation runs over three shifts (days, evenings & nights).
The basic role of the department is to: (a) ensure that the production schedules are agreed with the distribution centers and they correlate with the capacity available in the plant (b) that the raw materials (purchased or manufactured in house) are available to support the production plan, this includes negotiating pricing etc. (c) that the production plan is coordinated with the manufacturing areas (d) that all finished product is sterilized (ETO) where necessary and shipped as scheduled to the distribution centers.
What are the main challenges?
The main challenges are being able to divide your time between all of the different competing areas while ensuring that priority is given to those areas most in need.
The cost of materials / manufacturing in Ireland is also obviously a major challenge if the plant is to remain competitive.
What's cool?
Results – meeting the challenges and delivering the expected results.
Diversity – The role is very diverse and allows me to work in many different areas. Being part of a successful multi national also allows you to look at business on a world stage.
Travel - (but not too much of it)
What's not so cool?
Some of the difficult decisions – Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions with people or situations that do not meet expectations, this can be hard at the time but you have a responsibility to do your job and ensure that the company remains successful; ultimately this ensures employment for all of those people that do a good job.
What particular skills do you bring to your workplace?
Patience, a hard work ethic, a calm positive attitude, a drive to complete all tasks even those that I would prefer not to do.
I get on well with people and I believe I strike a balance which allows me to get the best out of people.
I have a broad knowledge of Engineering / Manufacturing / Supply Chain Control
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