Door Industry Journal - Spring 2021

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 34 THE door industry journal spring 2021 Industry News Day in the Life of Hörmann UK Operations Manager – Kerry Seager In this article we meet Kerry Seager, the new Operations Manager at Hörmann UK, and obtain an insight into what her job involves on a daily basis. How long have you worked with Hörmann? I joined Hörmann in the middle of the first COVID lock-down at the beginning of May 2020, with my interviews taking place over MS Teams. At that time over 40 of the operations team were on Furlough, so all my meet and greets with the team were carried out online. I have still not been able to go out to meet any customers or been on the usual introductory visits to Germany - so, it’s been an unusual introduction. What is your job at Hörmann? I am employed as the Operations Manager at the Coalville site, which basically means that I am responsible for getting product to our customers. This involves managing logistics, the warehouse, production, and the modified service. Facilities and maintenance, along with the stock control department also fall under my remit. What training was required? My background and experience have all been in the Warehouse and Logistics sector. I started my career with a construction products company where I discovered my passion for operations and process improvements, which prompted me to study Transport and Logistics at the University of South Africa. Roles as a Warehouse Manager and a Delivery Service manager followed until I moved to the UK, working as a Distribution Centre Manager before joining Hörmann. A thorough training schedule covering all Hörmann systems and products has been carried out in-house, which is vital to my success as our product offering is so vast. What does a normal day look like? One of the things that I like about being in Operations is that no two days are ever alike. Currently we are successfully working at mitigating the effects of Brexit and have been bringing in additional stock to ensure minimal disruptions. Things are always changing and fast-moving constant communication with all departments within the organisation is key to our success. What are the best and most challenging parts of your job? The best part has been getting to know the other Managers within the business, albeit a lot of time has been spent on Teams rather than face to face. Everyone has been supportive and helpful, and keen to share their knowledge of the business. Equally as important has been getting to know my team who have all stayed focused and have meet every target set for them since July of last year. The most challenging part has been the ever-changing COVID restrictions. Have you worked on any interesting projects? I have been involved with the introduction of a new Transport Planning system, which went live in January. This provides us with full visibility of all our vehicles and enables contactless deliveries for our customers amongst other operational benefits. This is an exciting development which will provide real benefits for both Hörmann and our customers. I have also worked with our Transport Planner on a large project to look at the efficiency of our transport operation. This has resulted in improved levels of customer service alongside some significant cost savings. What have been your proudest moments at Hörmann? Seeing the results of the review into our transport operation was important, but I have to say that my proudest moment must be the reaction of my team to the constant challenges posed by COVID. They have adapted to a huge amount of change and every single one of them has gone above and beyond in their commitment to Hörmann, whilst ensuring that our customers have continued to receive the product and service levels that they have come to expect from the market leader. For further information on Hörmann UK’s, call 01530 516868 or visit www.hormann.co.uk