Paul, who joined the business nearly a year ago as a Planner, has recently been appointed as the new Production Manager for Westbury. He will increase his responsibilities to officially lead the production office team and oversee the running of: planning, purchasing, supply chain management and processes, and customer services.

Value and expertise

Glynn Westbury, Managing Director explains Paul’s useful background: “Paul came over to us with the benefit of working in different sectors, and I felt confident that with his outside experience, he would be able to add value and expertise to our production team at Westbury.”

Over 30 years of experience

Indeed, Paul’s work experience of over 30 years, includes: the managing of planning and processes for manufacturing of aerospace materials, handling supply and demand for a worldwide leading brewery, as well as managing a logistics team for a national retailer. As such, he is an impressive candidate to lead the planning for control panel production at Westbury. Paul encapsulates the primary objective of planning very concisely, explaining in simple terms: “It’s what gets made, and when”. This exemplifies Paul’s straight forwardness, which has seen him develop into a very competent professional within the Westbury production team, and across the manufacturing shop floor. Glynn adds: “It was clear Paul wanted to impress us; he’s been very committed, enduring long hours and navigating through very challenging times, whilst faced with a raft of supply chain issues often beyond anyone’s control – still, his persistence has paid off for everyone”.

Skills for the role

Paul describes himself as a well motivated individual, with an approach which includes ‘flagging up’ issues before they become real problems internally or externally, with suppliers and customers. An excellent communicator, Paul also uses his analytics skills and quick thinking to overcome ‘day-to-day’ problems whilst maintaining a ‘big picture’ perspective. Control panel building can be complex, as often a panel consists of hundreds of parts and as Paul rightly claims “Just one thing missing can mess the whole thing up!”. Therefore managing customer expectations is vital. “I try to be proactive whenever possible – sitting on a problem is not the right way – it’s much better for the customer to be in the know, well in advance”.

Greater engagement

Paul intends to develop his input at Westbury even further, as the new Production Manager: “I really want to be out onto the shop-floor more often; getting to know the staff, listening to their suggestions and feedback, with a view to implementing improvements where we can, and when it makes sense to do so”. This will also include; expanding training records, H&S procedures, well-being and workshops, like regular ‘tool box talks’. Paul’s pragmatism and open minded approach means that greater engagement will lead to greater productivity. “It’s clear, many of the staff at Westbury are extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and want to be included in how to run our manufacturing processes and procedures”.

Voluntary work

Paul’s communication and interpersonal skills also stand him in good stead as a volunteer for Leicestershire Search & Rescue. “Offering my time to help other people is very rewarding, whilst helping to develop my people and problem solving skills under pressure, which I regularly bring back into the workplace.”