The first thing I do every morning is check my emails, even before letting my two border terriers out, much to Olive and Eddie’s annoyance. I get up at 6.30 am most days, which allows me to have a tea and get ready before heading into the office for 8.00 am. The factory is based in Milnsbridge at the bottom of the Colne Valley, so it’s a short commute from my home in Golcar, where I’ve lived with my wife Janet, daughter Katie and son Jack for 11 years.
As Managing Director, my role includes managing the company finances and overseeing the company’s production departments. Therefore, of a morning I usually update financial records and customer payments first of all to ensure everything is in order. I’ll then check any new enquiries that have come in and if any are particularly interesting, I’ll highlight directly with the sales team myself. An interesting order for us would be something like the recent work we did for Crossrail’s new London railway, the Elizabeth line, where we delivered over 2,000 flat and curved glass panels for signage. We offer quite a few different products and services, particularly in curved, flat, and structural glass so orders can be wildly different, and we never know what bespoke job might come in next.
Mid-morning, I’ll check that production and deliveries are all as they should be. Despite being the MD, I still like to be really hands-on with the orders and personally check that they are correct and on-track. I am passionate about our business and the products that we create here and like to be as involved as time allows. After this, I’ll do a full factory walk around to ensure that I am up to date on the day-to-day goings-on of the factory floor by talking to the staff.
We’ve recently added a 42,000sq ft extension to the site that allows us to manufacture oversized glass (6000mm x 3210mm) as well as very small curved panels which we previously had to outsource to the continent. These new products are now part of our offering, along with the products we already manufactured such as curved glass and bespoke laminated glass. The new factory building was a significant investment but will allow us to really grow moving forward and meet our long-term financial goals as we are now the only business in the UK that can carry out this type of work and create these particular glass products. It has resulted in the creation of more jobs and we always try to hire staff locally to support the regional economy.
At lunchtime, I go into the centre of Milnsbridge and pick up a sandwich from one of the shops or eateries. There are a handful of cafés so I am spoilt for choice. I’m usually a desk-eater but as I’m up and about most of the day in the factory this doesn’t bother me. I quite enjoy grabbing a quiet 10 minutes to check through my to-do list and make sure that I am on top of everything.
After lunch, I attend the weekly production meeting with the production team. We review any issues that we are currently facing to see how we might overcome them and going forward how we are going to prevent them. This is really important in the manufacturing industry as we are extremely process-based and need to ensure we are operating efficiently. We also discuss future work schedules to ensure that we are operating as close to capacity as possible and to plan what orders can be completed and when. This enables us to correctly inform our clients and keep them up to date in regard to when they can expect their orders from us. Often the type of glass products we create are specified for particular builds that are working to tight deadlines, so it is really important that as a supplier we ensure that our outgoing orders are on time so as not to hold up the rest of the construction.
After the production meeting, I head out to attend the Grand Depart of the cyclists taking part in the Jo Cox Way. We’ve sponsored the initiative for two years in a row now and it is something that I am particularly passionate about. The Jo Cox Foundation is doing some excellent work so we are happy to support it. After snapping a few pictures and meeting with the cyclists and others taking part or sponsoring, I head back to the office to get the last few things ticked off my to-do list.
At the end of the day, I usually leave the site at about 5.30 pm. I am extremely lucky that my commute is only ten minutes long and I can spend the evening relaxing. Getting some fresh air after a day spent at the factory is really important to me so I head out to walk the dogs when I get home. We consider calling at the local pub to enjoy a pint but decide instead to head home for tea. my wife Janet is generally the chief cook in our house but from time to time I do take over and quite enjoy preparing a meal. Once the washing up is done, I enjoy watching a bit of TV before heading to bed.
